My wife LaVerne and I are taking a few days away this week to celebrate 40 awesome years of marriage. It was not always easy. In our fifth year, we began to struggle in our marriage. God by his grace led us to a Christian counselor who gave us hope that we could make it through this dark tunnel...
Have you ever put off making a decision until the time feels really right, when in reality, you should have just taken a step of faith? I sure have. The time was now, and I missed it by playing it too safe. The Bible tells us: “Indeed, the ‘right time’ is now...
This past weekend we remembered the lives lost September 11, 2001 – known as 9/11, the day that changed the world. Horrible as that day was, I encourage you to gain a new perspective by focusing on what I call a parallel reality found in Amos 9:11, which reads: “On that day I will restore the tabernacle of David, which has fallen down, and repair its damages; I will restore its ruins, and rebuild it as it used to be.” This verse reflects God’s desire to restore all that has been lost...
Through reading, I have learned so much from past generations of men and women of God. For example, A. W. Tozer, who died about 50 years ago once said; “What we need very badly these days is a company of Christians who are prepared to trust God as completely now as they know they must do at the last day. For each of us the time is coming when we shall have nothing but God...
“Catch on fire with enthusiasm and people will come for miles to watch you burn” is the famous quote by John Wesley, the founder of the Methodist Church. As followers of Jesus, we have so much to be enthusiastic about. We have found freedom in Christ, a purpose for living, a divine destiny and eternal life – and that’s just the beginning...
About an hour ago, I felt the table move in front of me. We were experiencing the tremors of an earthquake. When I checked the news, I realized our nation’s Capitol, the Pentagon and downtown Washington D.C. were being evacuated. Amazing what an earthquake can do. Everything instantly changed. Within moments I received an email from New Zealand...
I am presently in Nairobi, Kenya ministering to present and future apostolic leaders from Rwanda, Uganda, Kenya, India, South Africa, Netherlands, and the USA. Many are young leaders, filled with vision from God to start churches and church planting movements in their nations. It is thrilling. Last week I experienced the same in Malaysia, ministering to young leaders called to expand the Kingdom of God in the nations of Asia. It gives me such hope for the generations to come...
Yesterday, my friends in Malaysia told me that if they are caught sharing their faith in Jesus with a Muslim, they will go to jail. In this tightly-controlled Muslim nation, the government requires any brochure inviting people to come to a Christian meeting to state “for non-Muslims only.” Regardless of what the government says, the Kingdom of God cannot be restrained. The Christians in Malaysia have grown to number ten percent of the population. Nothing can hold back the power of the Gospel of Jesus Christ when God’s people pray and obey the voice of living God whom we serve! I have been told first-hand this week of amazing miracles happening throughout the darkest places of Southeast Asia – a tumor falling off of a woman’s body whose husband was the main Muslim leader in the community...
Some believers are pretty discouraged these days due to the craziness around them. They feel a bit like Elijah in the cave. In the story told in I Kings 19, Elijah asked God if he was only one left in the midst of the craziness of his generation. You don’t need to look far to see the craziness in our generation: Christian leaders questioning the validity of hell, and others claiming they know when the Lord is coming back even though the Bible explicitly tells us no one will know the day or the hour. When we hear of another Christian leader falling from grace, and see the craziness of...
I leave next week for my first trip around the globe. I plan to minister to church planters and leaders in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, and then continue on to Nairobi, Kenya, for leadership training of young apostolic leaders from Kenya, Uganda, Rwanda and India. This is a season of my life that is focused on training and mentoring the next generation. As Elijah passed on a double portion of what the Lord gave him to Elisha, we are called to do the same...