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Bible

Scripture Monday – Psalm 19:14

May these words of my mouth and this meditation of my heart be pleasing in your sight, Lord, my Rock and my Redeemer (Psalm 19:14, NIV). These words are very familiar to me. I remember hearing them before every Sunday sermon that my Dad preached. I do not remember wondering about their origin while I was growing […]

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church leadership ministry

Should I Change Churches?

I recently read How to Choose a Church by Bruce Reyes-Chow and wanted to take time to share with you some of the things that I share with people considering either leaving Resurrection for another church or beginning to attend Resurrection from another church. It really matter to me whether you attend Resurrection or not. […]

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Bible

Scripture Monday – Amos 8:11

“The days are coming,” declares the Sovereign Lord, “when I will send a famine through the land — not a famine of food or a thirst for water, but a famine of hearing the words of the Lord. Amos 8:11, NIV. What a powerful illustration! The previous chapters of Amos outlined many possibilities for physical difficulties for the people, however […]

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changing lives transforming the community

Can a Pastor Build a Friendship with a Congregant?

I hope to build deep social connections with others. I know that deep friendships have a great deal of positive benefit in my life. Friends are people with whom I can share encouragement, accountability, fun, conversation, support and a wide variety of interactions. As a pastor, there are times when I feel the distinction when […]

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Bible changing lives

Scripture Monday – 1 John 4:10-11

10 This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins.11 Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another (1 John 4:10-11, NIV). I don’t have much of a question about these verses. They are a beautiful […]

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communications fun ministry

The Preacher Your Preacher Could Preach Like

I first heard about this fantastic video from this update: http://twitter.com/#!/revsteven/statuses/54370585312100352 Here it is – The Preacher Your Preacher Could Preach Like: Likely, inspired by: Thank you to everyone involved!

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Bible ministry

Scripture Monday – Luke 10:17

“After this the Lord appointed seventy-two others and sent them two by two ahead of him to every town and place where he was about to go. … The seventy-two returned with joy and said, “Lord, even the demons submit to us in your name” (Luke 10:1, 17). The seventy-two returned to Jesus with joy. Their […]

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leadership life

Fortune Cookie #3

Not too long ago, I received a series of fascinating words from three fortune cookies. Here is the third one: Be assertive when decisive action is needed. This is timely guidance for me. One of my growing edges is taking and completing actions. I am great at coming up with ideas and not always so […]

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Bible

Scripture Monday – Mauled by Bears

There are some strange and wonderful stories about the prophet Elisha. Here is one example from 2 Kings. “From there Elisha went up to Bethel. As he was walking along the road, some boys came out of the town and jeered at him. “Get out of here, baldy!” they said. “Get out of here, baldy!” He turned around, […]

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leadership renewing the church

Fruitfulness: How long do you wait? (4 of 4)

Last week, I had a series of posts about fruitfulness. As I have thought more about this topic, I wondered, How long do you wait? How long do you wait: before naming that you have been busy and not bearing fruit? to make a change? to celebrate fruit that is being born? before checking something […]

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Bible changing lives

Scripture Monday: 2 Kings 1:10

There are some strange and wonderful stories about the prophet Elijah. Here is one example from 2 Kings. “Elijah answered the captain, “If I am a man of God, may fire come down from heaven and consume you and your fifty men!” Then fire fell from heaven and consumed the captain and his men” (2 […]

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life ministry

Fruitfulness: Every Day Living (3 of 4)

How do we help people live fruitfully in their day to day life? Ultimately, the church is not about keeping a variety of interesting programs running and giving people something that to do that is segmented from the rest of their lives. We are about equipping people to live fruitfully in their every day life […]