4. Keep the Passion Alive Priorities can be easily replaced by other seemingly urgent or pressing matters. As we become busy with so many things in church life we can begin to drift from our mission. That’s why the work of an evangelist also involves keeping the evangelistic passion of a church community alive and … Continue reading Evangelism for Non-Evangelists (Part 4)
Evangelism for Non-Evangelists (Part 3)
3. Create Evangelistic Opportunities The third thing that evangelists should do is to create evangelistic opportunities for people. The Great Commission involves both “Go” (Matt.28:18-20) and “Come and see” (John 4:29). In other words, believers are to go and share their faith out in the world and they are to invite their friends to come … Continue reading Evangelism for Non-Evangelists (Part 3)
Evangelism for Non-Evangelists (Part 2)
2. Equip People to Share their Faith The second thing we must do if we are to do the work of an evangelist is to train people to share their faith. One of the tasks of an evangelist it to “equip” the entire church to do the ministry of evangelism (Eph.4:11-12). God wants every Christian … Continue reading Evangelism for Non-Evangelists (Part 2)
Evangelism for Non-Evangelists (Part 1)
Many years ago, when I began a new role as senior minister of a large church, I knew that God was calling me to help the church become more outward focused. The evangelistic passion and effectiveness of the church needed to lift considerably. My main spiritual gifts are leadership and teaching. Evangelism is not a strong … Continue reading Evangelism for Non-Evangelists (Part 1)
Parenting Teenagers
You may or may not have a teenager in your life right now but these years are often stereo-typed by rebellion and relational difficulties. This can cause a lot of parents to experience a great deal of fear as their children approach the teenage years. Nicole and I are the proud parents of three … Continue reading Parenting Teenagers
Information Overload
One of the challenges we face today is 'information overload'. Knowledge is increasing at such a frenetic pace and it's just so hard to keep up with everything. It is estimated that human knowledge is now doubling every 10-15 years. We can so easily feel overloaded and stressed by it all. Here are a few … Continue reading Information Overload
Recommended Newspapers and Magazines …
In addition to reading the Bible regularly, and a variety of other books (see Recommended Reading and The Art of Reading), I also like to browse through various newspapers (online) and magazines from time to time. Here is a list of my favourites ... Newspapers ... The Herald Sun - Melbourne's most widely read newspaper. … Continue reading Recommended Newspapers and Magazines …
A great quote for book lovers …
"When I get a little money I buy books; and if any is left I buy food and clothes." [Erasmus]
MARGIN
‘Margin’ – every book has one. Margin is the space between the words and the edge of the page. It helps the book breath a little. Unfortunately, most of us live our lives without any margin. It’s a modern day problem: margin-less living. We fill our lives to capacity. There’s no space, no room to … Continue reading MARGIN
FAMILIARITY
One of the most dangerous yet subtle enemies in our lives is a thing called familiarity. It is so easy to take things in life for granted - to become familiar with them. When things are new and fresh they often have a lot of excitement linked to them. Here are a few examples ... … Continue reading FAMILIARITY
OPENNESS
I’ll never forget having lunch with an influential leader a while back. I asked him how he was doing and he went on to tell me how great things were and about all the good things happening in his life. He then asked me how I was doing. I paused for a moment … things … Continue reading OPENNESS
REJECTION
Have you ever felt rejected? Pretty much all of us have at one time or another. Maybe you were teased during your school years – just because you were different than everyone else. Maybe you were laid off from your job for no good reason – they said you were ‘redundant’. Maybe you were an … Continue reading REJECTION
LEADERSHIP
We live in a world in desperate need of more and better leaders. Leaders are people who can see a picture of a better future and then motivate other people to work together to make that vision a reality. Leaders create movement. They’re always pressing forward to bring about positive change. In a sense, we’re … Continue reading LEADERSHIP
RESPONSIBILITY
I’ll never forget when our kids were much younger, one of them running into our bedroom on a Saturday morning while we were sleeping and saying, “Dad, someone wet my bed”! I said, “What?” “Someone wet my bed”. I said, “Well, no-one’s been in your bed but you; it must have been you”. “No, no, … Continue reading RESPONSIBILITY
FORGIVENESS
Many years ago I was on a building site and I was cutting through a piece of wood with an electric saw. Unfortunately, I cut through the wood and then took a chunk out of my finger. There was blood gushing everywhere. It really hurt. I rushed off to hospital and got some stitches. Thankfully, … Continue reading FORGIVENESS