Category: Gospel-Driven
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Gospel Discipling: Romans as a Model
It would be presumptuous to claim that we can discern precisely the approach Paul and the first missionaries would have used under direct leadership of the Spirit. But I would encourage a view of his letter to the church(es) of Rome as essentially intending to take those who already believed the Gospel, and who were…
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Gospel Discipling: The Crying Need of the Church
by Stephen Smallman “Thirty years of discipleship programs, and we are not discipled.” This is the startling assessment of Jim Petersen, the visionary leader of the esteemed discipleship ministry, the Navigators. Petersen goes on in the first chapter of his important book, Lifestyle Discipleship, to ask some very hard questions about the real effectiveness of…
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Community is Identity
From Tim Chester: The church is not a building you enter. Nor is it a meeting your attend. It is not what you do on a Sunday. To be a Christian is to be part of God’s people and to express that in your life through belonging to a local Christian community. Our Belonging We…
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Measuring Up?
Do you ever feel that you have to measure up? Do you wonder sometimes how you are grading out in God’s eyes? I suspect the answer for most people is “Yes”. Our theology may tell us otherwise, but I think most people struggle with this from time to time – especially when we feel emotionally tired and as…
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6 Ways to Pursue Christ Thru Fatherhood
Scott Thomas, President of Acts 29 Network, has recently posted a brief article outlining Six Ways Fathers Pursue Christ in Their Fatherhood. In other words, these six principles applied together help fathers to grow in grace even as we seek to lead our families in grace. The 6 ways are: See their children as a blessing from God…
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Gospel at the Center
At my core I am committed to gospel-centeredness and being gospel-driven. But I confess I don’t really know what that means. The rich complexity of the gospel and the scope of the implications from the gospel are far beyond my ability to grasp, plumb, or fathom. So I am drawn towards faithful expressions of the gospel that expand my understanding and depth of insight. I am…
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Centered on the Gospel
What does it mean for a church to be gospel-centered? That’s a popular concept these days. What if we were scrambling to be law-centered? The difference may not be so easy to see. Ray Ortland adresses this question with keen insight and simplicity in his brief post: Centered On One or the Other. And what…
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The Least We Can Do
If Jesus could rise from the dead, we can at least rise from our bed, get off our couches and pews, and respond to the Lord’s resurrection life within us, joining Jesus in what he’s up to in the world. We call on others to join us—not in removing ourselves from planet Earth, but to…
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Grace Will…
I was blown away as I thought about the paradoxes of the Gospel as it was described by Paul Tripp in his book, Broken-Down House. Don’t just read through quickly. Stop and consider the contrasts: Grace is a story and grace is a gift. It is God’s character and it is your hope. Grace is…
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Crazy Love
I don’t know Francis Chan, but I think I like him. I know I like what I see so far. A friend, who is also an Elder in our church, introduced me to Chan a few months ago. He had just finished reading Chan’s book, Crazy Love, and said that Chan was teaching the same…
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More Narrow Than Conservative
In the Foreword to CJ Mahaney’s book, Worldliness, John Piper writes: “The gospel makes all the difference between whether you are merely conservative or whether you are conquering worldliness in the power of the Spirit for the glory of Christ.” What an awesome and insightful statement. In my circles I encounter way too many…
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The Jesus Pledge
What does it mean to be a disciple of Christ? What does it mean to be Gospel-driven? I think my friend, Paul Miller, expresses it beautifully in The Jesus Pledge: I pledge my life to Jesus and the Gospel. I want Jesus not to be just part of my life or something that…
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Hope for Humility
I’ve heard Steve Brown offer this amusing anecdote: “I was given a pin by my club for being the most humble member. They took it away because I wore it.” I have much to be humble about. But, if I was in Steve Brown’s club, no one would have ever given me a pin in the…
