The Bible is not meant to be a book used to get information transfer but for life change. --D.L. Moody "We must shift from the traditional model of 'Knowledged Dispenser' to that of model, mentor and organizer of experiences that help students grow." --Lynn Stoddard director of National Alliance for redesigning education.
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"Our time, effort, energy and focus must be on houw the gospel is spread and how disciples are being made... It's a lot easier to build buildings, fill them up, and have special events than it is to pour into the lives of people and make multiplying disciples. But it is the only thing that will really work. " -Bob Roberts Jr. The Multiplying Church
Never Work A Day In Your Life. (This story comes from Mark Albion's book Making a Life, Making a Living.) I actually found it in John Maxwell's latest book Leadership Gold. "A study of business school graduates tracked the careers of 1,500 people from 1960 to 1980. From the beginning, the graduates were grouped into two categories. Category A consisted of people who said they wanted to mae money first so that they could do what they really wanted to do later--after they had taken care of their financial concerns. Those in category B pursued their true interests first, sure that the money would eventually follow. What percentage fell into each category? Of the 1,500 graduates in the survey, the money-now Category A's comprised 83 percent, or 1,245 people. Category B risk takers made up 17 percent, or 255 graduates. After twenty years there were 101 millionaires in the group. Once from category A, 100 from category B. The study's author, Srully Blotnick, concluded t
(Pastor Alejandro & Mayra Lopes in a conference in Costa Rica) Yesterday I visited a Hispanic church here in Amsterdam which was celebrating the opening of its brand new temple. Iglesia El Encuentro con Dios was founded 18 years ago by Mayra Lopez, the wife of Alejandro Lopez who is now the senior pastor. Their new church building has cost them more than 2 million euros (3 million dollars). It sits in the middle of a commercial/factory zone, so you don't expect to find a building packed with 400 Latin Americans worshipping God in their native language. It is an unbelievable story. Pastor Alejandro has planted churches in the other major cities of Holland as well as in New York and the Domican Republic (his native land). What I did not expect is that yesterday he called me and two other missionary families to give us awards. One award was to an elderly American missionary who led his wife to Christ 18 years ago. I mentioned to her that she was the spiritual grandmother of so m
I found this example of a brief gospel presentation by Tim Keller. It is written to speak to what our expressive individualistic culture in Western Europe looks for and that is things such as"True Freedom", "Community", etc. Why we are here. The one God is a community – a Trinity of three persons who each perfectly know and defer to one another and love one another and therefore have infinite joy and glory and peace. God made a good, beautiful world filled with beings who share in this life of joy and peace by knowing, serving, and loving God and one another. What went wrong. Instead, we chose to center our lives on ourselves and on the pursuit of things rather than on God and others. This has led to the disintegration of creation and the loss of peace – within ourselves, between ourselves, and in nature itself. War, hunger, poverty, injustice, racism, bitterness, meaninglessness, despair, sickness, and death all are symptoms. What puts the world right. But th
"Jesus was not crucified in a cathedral between two candles, but on a cross between two thieves--on the town heap, at the crosroads--so cosmopolitan that they had to write His title in Hebrew and Latin and Greek." "The Son of God was crucified at the kind of place where cynics talk smut, where thieves curse, and where soldiers gamble. Because that is where he died and since that is what He died about, that is where Christians can best share His message of love because that is what real Christianity is all about." -quoted by T.L. Osborn
Why I am green! I took a test on the internet the other day which told me I am very "green" or (environmentally conscious). The real reason may be because I am cheap, but also because I find being a good steward of everything we have (including the environment) all over the Bible. Here are just a few verses however. Genesis 1:28 God gives Adam and Eve the charge to care for all of the animals and all of the earth. They are to rule over it and subdue it. In other words care and protect it in the same way God protects us. Romans 8:19-20 Creation is groaning under bondage and waiting for God's sons (true righteousness) to be revealed. Hosea 4:1-3 Because of lying, murder, adultery, lack of love, selfishness and other sins the earth is dying. The fish of the sea, the birds of the air and animals are dying. The earth is mourning. Isaiah 24:4 The earth is dying because of its peoples sins. But...there is hope 2 Chronicles 7:14 promises that when people turn back to him he w
Empowerig Leadership: Avoiding Making Leadership a "Bottleneck" Today I heard a story that supposedly comes from the Kaballah (Jewish Mysticism). There was a poor uneducated man who prayed to God in his own simple way. But then a very spiritual man came to him who told him he was praying incorrectly and that he needed to pray differently. Later on the "spiritual" man came back to see how the man was praying. He answered, "I am not. Praying correctly is too difficult and the way that I used to pray is not good enough, so I just stopped." The "spiritual" man then told him to pray his own way because that was good enough. I have been working on a new membership course for New Life West, our church in Amsterdam. However, my slogan has been KISS: KEEP IT SIMPLE STUPID . I want to empower people to worship God and do church in a way that is highly reproducible and sustainable. I want to equip people with the basic essentials so that no one wi