I meet so many people who have a problem with the church. Some have been hurt by the church and others just get tired of religious tradition. I certainly understand. I have been hurt by people in the church and I too get tired of religious tradition...
Our home area of Lancaster County, Pennsylvania made national news this week. According to data collected throughout 2011 for the Gallup-Healthways Well-Being Index, Lancaster County PA is the area of the USA where well-being is highest, compared to all other U.S. metro areas. Gallup and Healthways interviewed 1,000 people a day over the course of [...]
Jesus told the story of a man going on a trip (Matthew 25:14-29) who gave three of his servants a great opportunity by entrusting some of his property to them. To one he gave five talents, to another two talents, and to another one talent, each according to his ability. God gives us opportunities according [...]
I read in an airline magazine article this week that IBM chairman Thomas Watson said in 1943: “I think there is a world market for maybe five computers.” He was wrong. Physicist William Thomson (Lord Kelvin) said in 1899: Radio has no future. Heavier-than-air flying machines are impossible. X-rays will prove to be a hoax. [...]
The Scriptures speak in Isaiah 54:2 of lengthening our cords and strengthening our stakes (NIV). There is a leadership application here for us to experience. Some of us are created to be lengtheners and some of us are born strengtheners. Lengtheners are often visionary leaders who want to see their influence and their teams grow [...]
A few years ago a Catholic church in England gave money to finance a youth pastor in a Pentecostal church in their city who needed a youth pastor. The kingdom of God was more important to them than their own local church. We are instructed in Matthew 6:33 to “seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness and all of these things will be added unto you.” Rick Warren has said it so well: “It is not about us.” It is all about Jesus our king, and His kingdom. Here is the question we must ask ourselves on a regular basis. “Are we building our kingdom or God’s kingdom?”
I have a dream. This is a dream that I share with millions of God’s people in the nations of the world—that our God would visit His people in our generation, both young and old together, in a way that we will experience His power and presence in our families, our churches, our communities and [...]
Dwight L. Moody, the world renowned evangelist from the latter part of the nineteenth century, once said two and a half persons were converted to Christ at one of his meetings. A friend asked if he meant two adults and a child. The fact was just the opposite—two children and an adult—because a whole life is saved when a child is led to Christ. Do you know the following statistics?...
A farmer in Thailand will plant a bamboo seedling and will not see any growth for the first year. He will patiently continue to water and tend the seedling for the next three years. Then suddenly, in the fifth year, the bamboo tree will begin to grow. In fact, it will develop so rapidly that it will shoot up to two-and-one-half feet each day for six weeks until it reaches some ninety feet in height! Although he could not see it with the human eye, the past four years the tree was developing an underground root system, many miles long, beneath the surface. It now has a foundation established to provide for the significant growth that would eventually occur. 2012 is a year for you to experience God-given dreams and visions you received years ago...
2011 was a hard year for many of us. I met many in our nation and beyond who walked through deep waters this year. Some felt stuck; unable to move ahead. They had a vision for their future, but changes in the economy and unmet expectations caused them to feel trapped and confused. Recently I [...]