The Most Underestimated Leader in the American Church

The Most Underestimated Leader in the American Church
Last week I had the privilege of spending the week with Bob Russell.  You may never have heard of him, but in my opinion he is the most underestimated leader of the American church.
For the past forty years, he’s done nothing but quietly and with great humility build [...]

Today at The Gathering, April 8 – Easter

Today at The Gathering, April 8 – Easter
Today at The Gathering far exceeded my expectations.  Almost every seat was taken in the early service, and every seat was taken with people standing in the aisles in the second service.  Plus, when I came in, all the hallways were full of people talking and serving, loving [...]

Is God Obligated to Love Everyone?

Is God Obligated to Love Everyone?
I often hear the question, “If Jesus Christ is the only way to God, what about people in India or Africa or others who haven’t heard?”  This is based on two false premises.  One, that a person enters eternity, and is rejected by God and eternally separated from God on [...]

Nashville Doesn’t Need Anymore Churches

Nashville Doesn’t Need Anymore Churches

About a year ago I went to a meeting held by Louie Giglio, the popular speaker and founder of the Passion movement in this country. This is a movement where college kids come together for a two or three day worship experience. Giglio was in town promoting the event and had [...]

Today at The Gathering

Well, today is March 4th, the second in our series, “Loving God Without Becoming an Arrogant, Self-righteous Know-it-all.”  Today I talked on “I Don’t Want to be Better, I Want to be Different.”  I knew this was going to be a great day when I began to hear the music.  Ken and Barbie Isham and [...]

Advancing the Agoraphobic Church

Advancing the Agoraphobic Church
As a writer people often ask me,  “What are you writing about?”  It’s always a welcome question for me because it gives me an opportunity to try out my new ideas on people.  Because, believe me, as a writer what sounds good to you in your writing room can sound really ridiculous [...]

Commitment in the Concrete

Commitment in the Concrete
Last weekend at The Gathering we talked about the importance commitment. Basically the things we commit to define our lives. But once we make a commitment, that commitment makes us, for to fail to commit is indeed to commit to fail. The problem I believe, in our culture, is [...]

Commitment in the Concrete

Commitment in the Concrete
Last weekend at The Gathering we talked about the importance commitment.  Basically the things we commit to define our lives.  But once we make a commitment, that commitment makes us, for to fail to commit is indeed to commit to fail.  The problem I believe, in our culture, is not that we [...]

What I Learned From My Visit to Alcatraz
This past week Paula and I were able to spend some time in San Francisco.  It was our first visit there.  And when time allowed, we took in all the touristy destinations like the Golden Gate Bridge, Napa Valley, and a must-trip down Lumbar Street, the curviest street [...]

Credit is Way Over-Rated

Credit is Way Over-Rated

Why is it so many people are so quick to take the credit and yet so reluctant to accept the blame? It’s always been a confusing contradiction to me. Maybe it’s because people need attention. They need to be validated. They want to know their life is worth something. As Andy Warhol [...]