This post is part of a teaching series on Catalyzing Mission through Preaching. Read part one, part two, part three, part four and part five. You Must Be on Mission The only way to preach missionally is to have relationships with friends and neighbors who do not…
Every good journey begins with a fresh awareness. An awakening perhaps. This article is written for those in ministry whose enjoyment of Jesus is missing in the current season. It is for those who deeply desire to ENJOY JESUS and…
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. Not-yet-believers have been and will be deeply affected by COVID-19. If they’re not connected…
When your focus is activity, you can get people to do good things. But what happens when they are done doing those things? Our experience has been that they’ll come back for instructions on what to do next. In this…
During our family meal last week, my five-year-old son Caleb perched attentively on the arm of the padded chair in which I sat––my Bible sprawled open on the coffee table in front of us. “What does it mean for…
MONDAY Who is God? God is gracious. The Lord descended in the cloud and stood with him there, and proclaimed the name of the Lord. The Lord passed before him and proclaimed, “The Lord, the Lord, a God…
MONDAY Who is God? God is our perfect Father. Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our affliction, so that we…
Wherever he reigns, His thriving and flourishing will be there, too! His law is peace. On May 19, 2018, Prince Harry of England married Meghan Markle in Windsor, England. The event was marked by the usual fanfare of such…
“Hey, I listened to your podcast.” My fictional podcast had been released for weeks, and I could count on my fingers how many local friends had listened to it. This had been a sensitive source of tears, anger, and…
Read part one, two and three of this series. Once you have understood yourself and your leaders, assessed your church’s seasonal needs, and have hired the right complimentary team members, you are ready to establish the new team in strength. Beginnings matter….
On these last days of Advent, we turn our gaze to the love embodied in the crib. The incarnation carries into our world not just hope, peace, and joy, but Christ brings with Him a love of…
I’ll never forget where I was when I first heard the news: LeBron James was coming to Los Angeles to play for our Lakers. King James was going to come! After years of trying to read between…
The Soma Family of Churches lost a leader, friend, brother, husband, and devoted father last week. Randy Sheets’ impact for Jesus’s kingdom will never be fully known until we are together again in the new heavens and new earth….
This post is a part of a two-part series on Grief and the Gospel. In case you’d like to go back, here’s part one: Not Alone in Our Grief. Evidently, it matters how we grieve. Paul mentions a godly grief…
There’s no question the pandemic has dramatically affected church planting efforts. The Send Institute works closely with church planting organizations, and over the last year, we’ve seen newly launched churches revert back to pre-launch phases, teams indefinitely push out…
I’m not sure why, but every time I’ve heard the word Advent this season I’ve thought of the song “Jesus Is Coming Soon,” a song I’ve never particularly liked. I didn’t know whether to laugh, cringe, or cry the first…
The holiday season is one of the busiest times of year for most of us. We buy gifts, decorate the house, visit loved ones, enjoy traditions, and plan big get-togethers. Although 30% of all charitable giving happens in December and…
We have considered adding “Storyteller” as one of the team leadership roles for our missional communities. And I would love to fulfill this role. I love stories—especially stories of God’s faithfulness. But I’ve faced some ethical dilemmas in the past…
Often we clarify our convictions hoping to strengthen unity—“Here is what I believe… Who’s with me?” But what if a doctrine becomes destructive or divisive not because of what it is, but because of how we hold it? Isn’t it…
This is an excerpt of Chapter One from Ben Connelly’s newest book A Field Guide for Genuine Community, © Moody Publishers, 2021. Get your copy here or wherever you buy books. Most of the Bible’s commands that translate into…
Regardless of which ditch we have a tendency to fall in, regardless if we are more like Child 1 or Child 2, God in His love pursues us and sanctifies us with His grace and His truth as He…
After working tirelessly only to see so many potential hopes, dreams, and plans for ministry fall apart, this past year has left many burnt-out and tempted to question their direction from the Lord. Additionally difficult, our culture has fostered…
This blog is an excerpt from our recently released Leader Cohort Series. We designed this series of videos and guides to help groups of pastors and leaders to meet together in cohorts for the purpose of growing in health, learning…
A few years ago a lady who had lost her first husband to brain cancer came to me before she married her second husband concerned for her daughters. She was worried that they would doubt her love for them…
The legendary American poet and activist, Maya Angelou, once wrote, “Prejudice is a burden that confuses the past, threatens the future, and renders the present inaccessible.” As we consider how our presuppositions affect our view of the world, it…
Early Death In 2010, Holt-Lunstad published a study on social relationships and mortality rates. The team’s research verified “that people with fewer social relationships die earlier on average than those with more social relationships.” They measured the influence of…
One of my favorite things in my book A Field Guide for Everyday Mission is the “101 ways” we suggested, to help followers of Jesus engage not-yet-believing neighbors, co-workers and friends in winsome, tangible, and meaningful ways. In a…
My wife took our three young kids to her parents’ house this week to add some variety to the suddenly three-week spring break produced by coronavirus-related school closures. The kids are enjoying the longer break and playing with cousins, while…
The Backstory When we introduced missional communities to our church just over a year ago, the concept was new, not only to the members, but also to some of the leadership. People thought they had a basic idea of…
One of the (innumerable) benefits of reading through the Bible every year is that God causes me to notice different things than in previous years. As most pastors acknowledge, there is no end to the depths to which we…
