He wants me to rest in Him and invites me into what He is doing for His glory. That doesn’t sound like a burden that sounds like freedom. I remember it well. I was sitting in my dining room…
Results For"rest"
Post: There Is Rest Waiting For You
A non-rested person has little capacity to live in Christ’s way. Like the first disciples, what many of us need is for Jesus to stand and still the storm (Mark 4:35–41). And like those first disciples, standing in awe of who…
Post: We Work and Rest in Jesus
As church planters or disciple-makers we may too readily think our job is all about problem solving—there are plenty of problems to be solved. While Scripture is the foundation for all, we often find ourselves studying theology, apologetics, business strategy,…
Post: The Beauty of Rest
Sabbath ceasing means to cease not only from work itself but also from the need to accomplish and be productive, from the worry and the tension that accompany our modern criterion of efficiency, from our efforts to be in…
Resource: Practicing Rest and Solitude
While you might consider life as a disciple to be filled with activity, one of the more important invitations Jesus gives us is rest. Solitude and silence work together in disciplining our hearts…
Resource: Sabbath Rest
One of the biggest hinderances to living on mission is our complete exhaustion born out of a belief that we can do life apart from God. We falsely believe we can do the things of God apart from God…
Post: Walk in a Redeemed Life of Leadership
Not only did we repent and believe the gospel publicly, we also walked in redemption and healing. We set our sights on learning from Jesus what it meant to follow Him while serving His church. As pastors, we must…
Post: Sabbath Action
“Man was created on the sixth day right before God rested, so man was created as it were to enjoy the weekend with God.” – Michael Wilcock Summer Camp and the Already but Not Yet Reality During most of…
Post: Making Space for Heart Renewal
(Part two in the Everyday Sabbath Rest series from David Achata.) The Holy Spirit grows people so they can work from a rested place. We’re prone to unbelief. Doubting God is in charge and that He’ll care for the needs of…
Post: Leading Well
It was not a question I ever expected; it was not a question I ever thought I’d have to answer. A half-week into the COVID-19 lockdown, I ended an email to a pastor with the phrase, “Let me know…
Post: Re-Ordering Your Loves
Restlessness is an indicator that something’s gotten out of whack. (Part three in the Everyday Sabbath Rest series from David Achata.) About 1,600 years ago, Augustine of Hippo prayed to God, saying, “You have made us for yourself, and our…
Post: Restoring Shalom
Page: Making Space Resources
Post: Future Victory and Present Joy
We find ourselves between two arrivals – the first in Jesus in Bethlehem and the second as He comes again. We stand between resurrection and restoration. That’s precisely why this season is so important; it locates our hope,…
Post: The Call & The Wilderness
Scripture shows consistently that when God calls someone, he sends them to the wilderness. If it’s an important enough category for God, then we need one too. Moses, Israel, David, Elijah, the Apostle Paul, even Jesus all were sent…
Post: From Jaded to Jeweled
A guy who has hung around on the outskirts of our missional community sent a message asking for gas money this week. He said he missed us, but he has been going to another local church. My gut reaction…
Post: Missional Living Unhurried
One of the most powerful practices for the Church today is examining His purposeful, unhurried rhythms, and how He lived counter to the culture of this fast-paced world. Studying the ways of Jesus’ life on earth has led me…
Page: Resources During the COVID-19 Pandemic
Post: Unforced Rhythms of Grace
Life has rhythms. Learning to go with these rhythms was how Jesus organized His life. Jesus criticized His opponents in this area once by saying, “You know how to interpret the appearance of earth and sky, but why do you…
Post: How Missional Community Life Exposes Unbelief
When we feed our hearts with the gospel and allow God to influence our lives rather than the world’s theology, we will be strengthened to fulfill our calling to make disciples. Sooner or later every MC faces a standstill;…
Post: Jesus’ Call to Come as We Are
Prior to meeting Jesus, we were lost and broken in desperate need for a Savior. However, such a necessity was not bound to our pre-salvific state. As believers who securely hold salvation by the name of Christ and are…
Post: Holy Saturday
Luke’s account of Good Friday reveals: “It was now about the sixth hour, and there was darkness over the whole land until the ninth hour, while the sun’s light failed. And the curtain of the temple was torn in two….
Post: Slow Down Your Missional Rhythms
“Slow down!” is the urgent signal that appears on my car’s dashboard at least once a year. It coincides with the first sign of warm weather. At some point on trips out of town, when I’ve been going at high…
Post: Redefining Team Leadership
Most established churches in North America speak of the value of team leadership, yet the outworking, from church to church, varies widely. In one church, “team leadership” is what Jim Collins has aptly termed “a-genius-with-a-thousand-helpers.” Here team leadership means…
Post: Take A Walk . . .
About a year ago I picked up a book from Leonard Sweet and Frank Viola called Jesus Speaks – Learning to Recognize & Respond to the Lord’s Voice. It was ten dollars well spent. I enjoyed the first half of…
Post: Accepting Ordinary Invitations
My wife Bethany and I are suckers for weird artsy puppet shows, so of course we were pumped to see that Fort Worth’s Amphibian Theater was producing just that with Geppetto: Extraordinary Extremities. We grabbed a few friends and…
Post: Recovering Liturgy
This is part one in a five-part series on Gospel Liturgy, check out the full series here. “Liturgy” is a loaded word. For some, liturgy drums up memories of musky pews and lifeless chapels. Many consider liturgy a formulaic…
Post: Beginnings Matter
Check out part one of our Gospel Liturgies series here. A single mom stumbles through the foyer, dragging a sobbing infant who’s sick for the third time this winter. A pair of empty-nesters stroll in smiling after a silent…
Post: Go… But First, Wait
And while staying with them he ordered them not to depart from Jerusalem, but to wait for the promise of the Father, which, he said, “you heard from me; for John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with…
Resource: Making Space
The discussions and exercises in this 8-week interactive handbook provide a step-by-step immersion of your mind, heart, soul, and life in the gospel.
Post: What is Racism?
Cultural terms have a range. Racism is no exception. Effective transcultural missionaries have the humility to recognize the influence of their own cultural presuppositions. They know they must devote themselves to active listening in order to love and lead well….
Post: Care in the Family of God
This post is part of a series on Caring and Sharing Hope during COVID-19. If you haven’t yet, read the first post in the series here. What Might a “Care Call” Look Like? Prepare Well and Ask Good Questions…
Post: Gospel Saturation in Mexico
Seems like the perfect place to get carjacked or kidnapped”, I thought while driving down the street. In the distance, dozens of apartment buildings pierced the skyline. A single street to get in or out. It’s the area of…
Post: How Do You Create a Culture of Heart Care?
Part 5 in the 6 Questions We Answer Again and Again series. How does a culture like this care for members’ hearts? A church organized around missional communities—a vision of church that focuses on getting people wrapped into the…
Post: Being the Church Everyday
Church is not a building. Church is not an event. Church is the people of God filled with the presence of God set apart for the purposes of God in the world. For this reason, we must commit to…
Post: Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas
Cultural celebrations are not man-made institutions. Like much of God’s creation, holidays can be—and have been—distorted for all sorts of less-than-holy purposes. But what if “Santa” really isn’t an anagram for “Satan”? What if we can we redeem this…
