Check out this first paragraph of an article by Michael Brown: One of the greatest failures of the contemporary Church of America is our attempt to make the gospel of Jesus palatable to lost sinners, our effort to take away its offense, remove its reproach, water down its contents, and explain away its standards. In doing so, we dishonor the Lord and contribute to the damnation of the lost. It’s time we wake up and repent of this worldly, faithless approach. Wow. Seems like he’s put a lot of people into one bucket. Your thoughts? (Read more here...

“Because of our love for the Scripture we’ve had some differences of opinion, but the problem is that while we are arguing about these topics, lost men, women, boys, and girls are dying and going to hell every single day…While we are arguing about these topics and debating about these topics, America is going to hell every day…Time is running out. We do not have time for debate. We do not have time for arguing. The world needs to know that Jesus saves … for the sake of those who are lost.” BOOM. More...

From CNN: Pope Francis said a “gay lobby” exists inside the Vatican, a surprising disclosure from a pope who has already delivered his share of stunners, and a resurrection of church conflicts that had bedeviled his predecessor’s papacy. “In the Curia,” Francis said, referring to Catholicism’s central bureaucracy, “there are holy people. But there is also a stream of corruption.” “The ‘gay lobby’ is mentioned, and it is true, it is there,” Francis continued. “We need to see what we can do.” Hints that the Holy See contained a network of gay clergy surfaced last...

Here’s the quote of the day, from Thom Rainer, president of the Southern Baptist Convention’s LifeWay Christian Resources, recounting the words of a Houston restaurant server as the SBC has its annual convention in Houston this week: “I told my fellow employees at the restaurant to get ready for small tips, lots of gospel tracts to go with the cheap tips, and plenty of people ordering desserts.” I would hope that’s not the case. I have been to conferences where before the lunch break, attendees have been asked to ‘tip generously’ so that the reputation of the host...

Each month, Ministry Briefing finds that top trends that are happening in the church and ministry world.  In June’s edition, we tackle the top 35 trends we’re seeing.  We think these are trends that you need to know about… some of them will… either directly or indirectly… affect your ministry in the next months and years. I would encourage you to invest in keeping up with the trends.  Matt Steen and I have done the research and groundwork to help you do that with Ministry Briefing.  Here are the trends we’re watching this month: -Research Into Religion and...

FASCINATING article recently by Os Hillman on what it takes to change culture. Here’s an excerpt: For centuries, Christians thought culture would change if we just had a majority of Christians in the culture. That has proven to be a false assumption. Culture is defined by a relatively small number of change agents who operate at the top of cultural spheres or societal mountains. It takes less than 3-5 percent of those operating at the top of a cultural mountain to actually shift the values represented on that mountain. For example, this is exactly what advocates in the gay rights movement has...

I like this quote from Noah Callahan-Bever, editor in chief of Complex Magazine: If you surround yourself with the smartest people you can find, people will think you’re a lot smarter than you are. Only insecure people think this works the other way.” I learn much more when I surround myself with smart people. And I’ve very privileged to be the dumbest person in the room most of the time. Seriously. Now if I can just work on getting people to think I’m smarter than I am, I’d have it made. But seriously… do you surround yourself in your ministry with people that are smarter...

I’ve said for a long time that this debate on homosexuality is not going away anytime soon. But this article headline caught my eye. It asks a very pointed question… well… actually it doesn’t ask the question.  It just gives an answer:  Practicing homosexuals CAN NOT be Christians. Here are the six points.  You can read more detail here… 1.  To call oneself an authentic Christian and remain a practicing homosexual is a direct contradiction of biblical teaching and contrary to the “abundant life” promised by Jesus. 2. Practicing homosexuality is most...

“While we are deeply saddened over the crimes committed and asking God to bring healing to the victim and her family, we are convinced that Delaware Grace had no connection to Brian’s criminal activity.” That’s the statement from the Grace Brethren Church in Sunbury, OH. Their former Senior Pastor, Brian Williams, has been convicted of raping a 15-year-old girl. But the church had no part in it… according to the church.  At least that’s what they’re saying after they’re being sued for negligence. The prosecution’s case? Brian Williams, as a pastor, had two...

My friend Tony Morgan has a GREAT post this week at his blog.  It talks about a new study that found many business executives do not believes their company’s strategy will lead to success. Tony draws from that study why churches might not have a clear strategy for life change. I think these are spot on: Churches are afraid to define success. They realize that if they establish a clear vision for their future, there’s a new level of accountability from leadership, staff and the congregation. Or, if they do define a vision, it’s so broad that it doesn’t establish any focused direction for...