Posts Tagged with "vibe check"

I once heard a church planter tell pastors, “Your culture will eat your philosophy of ministry for lunch.” What did he mean? On paper, your church may have a clear vision, carefully crafted mission, and sweet doctrinal statement. But in practice, it may reek. Church culture is the smell that lingers in the room long after you’re read the doctrinal statement. ...

“You must ruthlessly eliminate hurry from your life. Hurry is the great enemy of your soul and will sabotage your spiritual life.” That was what a Christian leader on the verge of burn-out heard from his mentor. It saved his life. ...

Farmers in Oklahoma during the late 1930’s faced an excruciating choice: would they hold onto their last seeds for self-preservation, or plant them for a larger harvest that would feed many? ...

It’s 1935. Germany is under the tyranny of Hitler and he is forming a powerful army trained to inflict cruelty and death. His tactics include fear, brainwashing, and domination. At the same time, Dietrich Bonhoeffer...

What do you do when your life becomes a dumpster fire, burning out of control? It’s scorching others, destroying relationships, pushing you closer to the edge, and you suddenly realize you struck the match? When you look in the mirror and see not an innocent victim but the guilty fool whose selfish actions are tearing the kingdom apart, then what? ...

In Dynamics of Spiritual Life, church historian Richard Lovelace writes: “Christians who are no longer sure that God loves and accepts them in Jesus, apart from their present spiritual achievements, are subconsciously radically insecure people...

About 15 years ago my wife and I vacationed in Hawaii. Upon landing, we were asked multiple times by the airport authorities if we were carrying any plants, fruits, vegetables, birds, mammals, or reptiles. We were repeatedly warned, especially about smuggling in a snake...

Culture is the “unspoken rules about the way we do things around here." Unspoken. Unanalyzed. Unchallenged. Unquestioned. Every church has a culture. Doctrine involves spoken rules, written rules...