Recently I was asked by my friends at CRU’s Creating Options Together Conference to share my thoughts on “How to Keep Going When Ministry is Hard.” As I work with the Persevering Church, this is something we deal with daily – it’s always hard. Actually, “hard” becomes the norm… They asked me to speak to their […]
The Desert Lily
When I first met Deborah*, the word that came to my mind was “firebrand.” Deborah lives among an unreached people group. Long ago, they were stripped of their dignity, identity and God-given purpose in life. Grave injustices have brought this entire population to a place where is no electricity or water. There are very few economic opportunities, and […]
Identity Satisfaction Through Union with Christ
This is a reprint of an article I wrote that was carried by the Journal of Urban Mission. This article will address (1) how mentors may biblically affirm a disciple’s physical cultural differences within a dominant culture’s message that there is something inherently flawed in his or her design, (2) how theology addresses a body/spirit […]
Motherhood, Untimely Born
A curious command and promise opens Isaiah 54: 1 “Sing, O barren one, who did not bear; break forth into singing and cry aloud, you who have not been in labor! 2 For the children of the desolate one will be more than the children of her who is married,” says the Lord. “Enlarge the […]
What Good Can Come From Suffering…
It’s telling that Dostoyevsky, himself a Christian, offered no direct theological rebuttal to his character’s speech. The counterpoint to Ivan in “The Brothers Karamazov” is supplied by other characters’ examples of Christian love transcending suffering, not by a rhetorical justification of God’s goodness. In this, the Russian novelist was being true to the spirit of […]
Freedom From a One-Dimensional Identity
I see myself as a walking paradox. There are many manifestations of the human condition that I find repugnant, yet that I also find present in me. Some would say that this makes me conflicted at best, hypocritical and self-loathing at worst. Yet and still, I know I’m not alone, as many similarly struggle with […]
Endurance. 