Patricius grew up in England in the 5^th century, and when he was 16 years old, Irish raiders invaded his village, burned his town, and carried him off to Ireland and sold him as a slave to a pagan tribal chief.

And over the next six years, as he served as a slave and spent time in pastoral settings among the sheep, he…

Ten Little Christians - A Call Back to Mission



Satan wants us to get distracted from our mission of reaching out to the world, with petty squables, fractions, selfishness, and apathy. This little poem, Ten Little Christians, reminds us of needing to guard against these distractions--and of what…

Before Jesus went to the cross, John's gospel tells us that Jesus washed his disciples' feet. While his disciples initially objected to this, Jesus did this to teach them about service. He said, "14 Now that I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also should wash one another’s feet. 15 I…

New analysis of data from the 2014 General Social Survey came out recently, and according reports, there are a record…

Jesus calls us to feed the hungry, clothe the naked, and visit the sick. And if we do this to even "The Least of These," we have done this unto Christ (Mt. 25:40). So there are so many reasons to reach out to the poor in those in need in our community. It meets a need. It shows kindness. It brings glory to God. And as Mt. 25:40 shows, through this service, we…

One of the areas that church leaders and seminaries would do well to read and train in the area of sociology, the study of how individuals and groups of people interact with one another, for three primary reasons:

1. The church is a social system, or community, and a study of this field can provide valuable insights into how a church…

The Great Commission, as it is called, in Matthew’s gospel is “Therefore, go, and make disciples . . . “ (Mt. 28:19). Literally, the text reads, “Make disciples as you are going.” Yet despite the clear outward focus from the word “go” and “make disciples”, somehow this verse is sometimes…

Recently I was blessed to be able to take a trip to Scotland to visit one of our missionaries there. Following this, I went Lindisfarne Island to take a seminar in "Exploring the Celtic Heritage," a class offered through Fuller Theological Seminary, taught by John and Olive Drane.

This was a seminar that I had long wanted to take, and it was quite an…

Today the movie "Noah" is coming out to the big screen. And I want to share why Christians and churches should view this as a great opportunity to talk about their faith--and why it is foolish to waste time and energy attacking the film.

1. In our secular world, getting people thinking about God is a good thing. The problem with much of our culture today--and…

 In the above video, which we showed this Sunday, Kelly Weatherford talks about how she had prayed for her husband, Charlie, to become a Christian for 13 years. They went through the Story of Redemption, and at the end of the study, he was baptized! Now, everything has changed. Charlie has become the spiritual leader in their home, they are…

Here is the second in a series of blog posts on why Churches of Christ are shrinking. The first post,"A Left-Brained Fellowship in a Right-Brained World," has gone viral. While not everyone agrees with everything in the post, from the new members that joined the network, it would appear that a high percentage of these new…

Why are Churches of Christ Shrinking? - Part 1: A Left-Brained Fellowship in a Right-Brained World

For followers of this blog, you know that most all of my posts deal with larger kingdom and cultural issues. The Missional Outreach Network has readers from all different denominational backgrounds, and I want to bring people together…

Why are Young Christians Leaving the Church? - Part 2: Shallow - (Does not impact real life, wrestle with real questions, or emphasize what is most important)

Recently, I was asked by someone why I thought that we were losing the "postmodern generation"--why younger Christians are leaving our fellowship. It is a…

7 Ways the Spirit Leads from the Book of Acts

This morning’s worship message and theme is “renewed and revived by the Spirit.” One book where the Spirit’s role n our lives is emphasized is the book of Acts. Below are seven different ways the Spirit leads us from this book.

1. The Spirit Helps Us “Translate” the Gospel in an Understandable…

I am doing a bit of blogging through Michael Frost's bookThe Road to Missional. In this book he revives the long running debate about whether or not mission and/or evangelism includes social action…

Earlier this year, we made a video of the story of High Pointe teen Sean Dulock during our "Harvest Sunday" (outreach giving day) presentation. In this story, Sean shared how he had become addicted to video games, and so he threw them all aw ay in preparation…

Whenever I tell my story of how I got into ministry, I always include Let's Start Talking as part of this story. My dad left a very profitable career in industry when I was 14 years old to go to Oklahoma Christian University and help start the electrical engineering program there. It was a sacrifice, but one which my parents willingly made. They wanted to…

Jesus said, “As the Father has sent me, so I am sending you” (Jn. 20:21). As the “sent out” body of Christ, our life and mission is centered around Christ’s life and mission. In his own words, Jesus said that he came to seek and save the lost (Lk. 19:10), serve (Mk. 10:45), and share the good news (Mk. 1:38). Compelled by Christ’s love for us and our love for God and our neighbor, we have as our primary task the mission of Jesus.

If we are to fulfill this mission, we must do…

One of the major passages on spiritual formation, particularly within families, that is often pointed to is the "Shema":

⁴ Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one.^[…