A few months ago I was in Stuttgart, Germany with a few hundred young German Christian leaders from Hope International Ministries. I learned that a few years earlier they had made a commitment to plant a new church within one-hour driving distance from every person living in their nation. Now—220 churches later—this vision has become [...]
For as long as I can remember, I have desired to experience God and His church like I have seen modeled in the book of Acts. As a young man, I remember studying the Scriptures to discover the necessary components of church from God’s perspective. I knew that if two or three gather in His [...]
Every generation needs new churches, or as Jesus called them, “new wineskins,” to meet the spiritual needs of their present generation. Tim Keller, who pastors Redeemer Presbyterian Church in New York, in his article, Why Plant Churches, says, “The vigorous, continual planting of new congregations is the single most crucial strategy for 1) the numerical [...]
I have heard it said hundreds of times: “We do not need more churches in our community. We have enough churches already.” I disagree. We cannot fulfill the Great Commission without planting churches. We need new churches! Jesus, when He ascended into heaven two thousand years ago, left a spiritual family of 120 believers in [...]
Some varieties of trees, when first planted, need to have a stake driven into the ground next to the tree. A rope then is tied around the tree and stake until the tree can grow tall and strong enough to hold itself. God has called you and me to be “stakes” for people, helping to [...]
I have a friend who served as a pastor in India for many years. He said, “In Eastern cultures, we see the Bible differently than you do. We see in pictures. We read in the scriptures that faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of God (Romans 10:17), and we really see faith [...]
"There are opportunities that have been hidden during 2014, but now in 2015 the Lord is revealing them to his children. It is a year of opportunity. For those who stumbled through 2014, following the Lord in what seemed like dark times; when obedience to the Lord did not seem to make a difference…now obedience [...]
Ralph Waldo Emerson once wrote, “What lies behind you and what lies before you, pales in comparison to what lies inside you.” If we purpose in our hearts to read and study the Bible daily in 2015, it will change our lives forever from the inside out. John Adams, the second president of the United [...]
We wish you and yours a blessed Christmas and a prosperous New Year. As we celebrate the birth of our Savior this week, let’s remember His promise; “The knowledge of the glory of the Lord will cover the earth as the waters cover the sea” (Hab. 2:14). May 2015 be the year when you experience [...]
The right question is not, “How do I get faith”? but “How do I exercise the faith that God has already given me”? Faith is a “gift of God” (Ephesians 2:8). God uses His divine spoon to give each of us a “measure of faith” according to Romans 12:3, ”in accordance with the measure of [...]