I love what Augustine calls the Psalms in chapter 9 of his Confessions: “Outbursts of devotion with no room in them for the breath of pride!” Outbursts of devotion. I could think about that phrase for quite a while. What do outbursts of devotion look like in our lives… in my life? Was the capacity […]
I like this paragraph from the German theologian Karl Barth in 1948. “What objection could we really make if it should please God to carry his work onward and reach his goal, not through a further numerical increase but through a drastic numerical decrease of so-called Christendom? It seems to me the only question in
I know this might be a boring subject for some, but I love this quote I just read from Karl Barth (a theologian in Germany during the first half of the 20th century.) “No matter what may be said in detail, this is the point from which every single line of preaching must be drawn:
Barth on Preaching Read More »
I shared a part of a letter in a message this last Sunday at Antioch. It was a letter that I received in response from Eugene Peterson when we were getting ready to plant the church. It had been over a year since I looked at it and somehow I ended up rereading it last
A friend of mine sent me the blurb below out of his journal. He and I have been talking through the subject of faith and trust in God — something we both believe is underrated and under-emphasized. My friend (we’ll just call him Brad Pitt for short) is a pretty amazing writer and thinker. When
“I love change… it helps you know that you’re alive!” Brandon Reynolds (Wouldn’t it be nice if everyone thought that way?)
So I really liked this quote on a birthday card I got today: “Show me a day when the world wasn’t new.” Sister Barbara Hance
I came across a statistic on churches this week that was pretty interesting. “85% of churches retain 10% or less of their visitors.” Seems pretty crazy… that means that only 15% of churches connect more than 1 in 10 visitors!! Now I’m sure that some of that is because a lot of people aren’t really
Church and Visitors Read More »
So I was watching this cool documentary on the Gold Rush in California during the late 1840’s and 1850’s and heard a really good quote. They were spotlighting these three brothers who had come up to San Francisco from Chile to make their fortune. After failing at the mines and then losing their hotel to
In debating, one of the lessons you learn is to not offer up every argument that you have… rather, give only the best. The reason is pretty simple. The counter argument will usually always be aimed at the weakest – not the strongest – argument that you made. The principle is that sometimes excessive communication
