In 1729, while a student at Oxford University, the humble but history-making pastor and preacher, John Wesley, started a discipleship group with his brother Charles. (Note: Charles went on to become the prolific hymn writer in history, writing almost 9000 hymns. Among them are “Hark! The Herald Angels Sing,” “And Can It Be,” “O for a […]
In our most recent blog post we presented the results of a Journey survey in which we asked young ministers to identify the “magic wand” changes they would make in the church if they had the power to do so, the changes they see as most necessary and significant. In that post (October 15, 2018) […]
A “Chance” Meeting Several years ago, my wife and I had the opportunity to visit San Diego, California. We loved our time there, discovering that its reputation as one of America’s most beautiful cities is well deserved. One day we went downtown to see the city on foot, a custom we came to appreciate during […]
A CARD COLLECTION & 2 KEYS Recently, on his Facebook page, a friend, posted a photograph of the many missionary prayer cards he has collected over the years. What a joy it was to see one of our family’s prayer cards in the mix of so many wonderful missionary-friends. My friend’s purpose in posting was […]
“TELL US THE STORY . . . “ As a former missionary, pastor, and now pastoral coach, I have been told countless times, “tell us more of those incredible stories of your life in ministry, and especially, from your life as a missionary.” Here’s one of those stories. Actually it’s two stories: one of life […]
“He called a little child to him, and placed the child among them.” Matthew 18.2 2017 was marked by two wonderful Ephesians 3.20-21 blessings of God in my personal life: My oldest daughter married, and she married very well, saying “I do” to a man who loves God and her very much. I was privileged to both walk her down the aisle […]
We live in Central Florida. We’re still cleaning up and putting our lives back in order following the visit this past week of Hurricane Irma. You wouldn’t believe the things Irma damaged and destroyed. A hurricane has a way of reinforcing life’s important lessons, and believe me, she (in this case) can be a very […]
In Part I of Journey’s blog post on Self-Coaching, we briefly considered David’s habit of self-coaching, a discipline that sustained him through the pressures of leadership, issues like: his own internal stress; gossip against his person and leadership; impending danger; the attacks of the people he led; the possible breakup of the community. I […]
I Samuel 30.6 records an incident in the life of David that speaks to every Christian leader: “David was greatly distressed, for the people spoke of stoning him, because the soul of all the people was grieved, every man for his sons and his daughters. But David strengthened himself in the Lord his God.” Who […]
God of Heaven, What do I have that I did not receive from you? (I Corinthians 4.7) Because you are the giver of every good and perfect gift (James 1.17) and because you are good, I give you thanks; truly your lovingkindness to me and to all people is everlasting (Psalm 118.1). The 16th Century […]
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