The Me God Made Me to Be

I wrote an end of the year reflection in December, doing some introspection. Its the final chapter in my Soul Artisan book. I thought I’d risk sharing some of it here.  -JB Planting the church almost killed me. There are parts of me that still haven’t recovered 6 years later. I think I’ve been burned out since…

Everything IN the Lord

“I hope in the Lord Jesus to send Timothy to you soon, that I also may be cheered when I receive news about you. I have no one else like him, who takes a genuine interest in your welfare…. I hope, therefore, to send him as soon as I see how things go with me….

Parents Shocked by Daughter’s Lack of Faith (Babylon Bee)

From the Babylon Bee, a Christian satire site. Attendance, Parents Shocked By Daughter’s Lack Of Faith April 7, 2016 Fullerton, CA—Local father Trevor Michelson, 48, and his wife Kerri, 45, are reeling after discovering that after 12 years of steadily taking their daughter Janie to church every Sunday they didn’t have a more pressing sporting commitment—which was…

Gotta Keep ’em Separated (Greg Boyd)

When it comes to how followers of Jesus ought to engage in politics, I’m an Anabaptist. Anabaptists believe in following Jesus’ radical ethic laid out in the Sermon on the Mount, and keeping the church separate from earthly power and politics. Here’s Greg Boyd, another Anabaptist thinker, giving 12 reasons to keep the kingdom of God…

SERMON: The V-Shaped Life

SERMON 3.25.18 – The Prayer of Jesus & the V-Shaped Life This is an example of the kinds of sermons I’m preaching these days. They are thick, juicy but too long! There’s at least 3 different sermons packed into this one. Don’t tell my congregants, but I really am setting a goal to shorten them…

God’s Gift of Limits

by Pete Scazzero Limits are often the last place we look for God. We want to conquer them, plan around them, deny them, and fight them. We attend leadership conferences so we can step out in faith and break through the limits before us. The problem is that when we fail to look for God…

Farewell to the Rapture (N.T. Wright)

This is a classic piece by N.T. Wright re-examining the meaning of some biblical texts in their Jewish context that have been hijacked by other interpretive schemes over the years. From Bible Review, August 2001, reprinted at NTWrightPage. Little did Paul know how his colorful metaphors for Jesus’ second coming would be misunderstood two millennia later….

The Palms of His Hands

I tend to be a bit forgetful at times. I’ll walk upstairs to get something but forget what it was when I arrive. I’m still in my 30s but I swear my short-term memory is fading!  The obvious solution for this affliction is to write things down, make lists, or plug it into my iPhone calendar….