One Jewish carpenter. A hand-picked team of twelve working class Jewish men who were required to leave their occupations and follow the carpenter around the regions of Galilee. A message about the present reality of God’s kingdom. Miraculous cures of the sick: people raised from the dead. Spiritual eyes and ears opened by the life-changing message and the power of an unseen member of the Trinity accompanying them. Religious systems overturned and conservative theologians of his day unmasked as religious bigots, blind charlatans, imperialistic traditionalists. The weak, marginalized nobodies given priority over the powerful and wealthy elite of his day. Imagine being part of it all!
When Jesus asked the question of his disciples, “Who do people say that I am?” he discovered that most people thought he fit the profile of a prophet. According to the disciples’ answers, some thought he was John the Baptist back from the dead (beheaded just prior to the above conversation) and others felt he was a modern-day reincarnation of Elijah or Jeremiah. The most important question, however, was directed at the Continue reading
Ever heard of churchcrawling? I learned about the social phenomenon of pubcrawling when we first moved to the United Kingdom: a group of friends get together on a designated evening, going from one pub to the other (most towns and cities have plenty to choose from), getting so drunk that they are almost forced to navigate by crawling. You get the point, I'm sure.
An interesting article, 
A couple of days ago, I met with a young Welsh church planter who has moved his family into a hilltop "council estate" (American translation: "government housing project") that needs a tangible, relational, relevant proclamation of the gospel in their needy community. This couple has actually purchased a home in the middle of the estate, indicating the seriousness of their commitment. He's originally from Pontypool, but the last couple of years has been spent in reaching young people in a similar—but more urban—situation in Cardiff, the capitol city of Wales.
Do you ever get tired of church meetings? Our church leadership team meets once a month and those meetings typically last an agonizing three hours: discussing all sorts of things that, at the moment, seem important to the efficient operation and ministry of the church. Last week’s focus was primarily aimed at things related to the Sunday morning gathering: the children’s sermon, structure of the worship service, an upcoming “40 Days” campaign, janitorial responsibilities, and various special emphases in the morning worship over the next six weeks or so. In other words, we have meetings to talk about other meetings! 
