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First impressions aren’t infallible. We all know it, yet we all tend to live like they are.

What’s the first thing a pastor might think when he sees his church membership dropping? “Invite more people,” of course. What if the numbers aren’t going down from a lack of invitations, but from a lack of substance? Barna research suggests a perception among non-Christians that church-goers are only interested in numbers, not depth. Are we Christians shallow, only caring about attendance figures? Do we truly want to glue apples to unfruitful trees? Or is our mistake that we are letting “first impressions” dictate solutions? Evangelism is wasted when reduced to a “first impression-solution” to empty pews. It should remain part of our ongoing charge to fulfill the Great Commission: making disciples.

Remember the bible studies we’d go to as a youth? We’d open to a passage, we’d all shared our thoughts. How did we come to understand what the Bible meant?  · · · →

According to a recent George Barna article, How Teenagers’ Faith Practices are Changing, discipleship is on the decline and young people are leaving Church. Why?

Young adults who want to be challenged in their growth will walk out on anything if they find it mediocre, including the Church. The best kept secret of the Seven Ecumenical Church Councils is that Holiness is more desirable than heresy—to the people a discipleship ministry should be focusing on.

Why haven’t willing young people had access to deeper levels of discipleship? I don’t think the pastors have failed, there just haven’t been enough good mentors that young people have access to. Many teenage Bible studies are led by a layman who’s trying his best, and the youth like him, but the really good leaders are in demand and simply don’t have the time for the necessary tailored-coaching to answer deep questions asked by inquiring young minds.  · · · →

It’s high time somebody speak-up. In our age of political correctness, it seems that one demographic of people are radically overlooked, undermined, and oppressed every day. This group is made up of people who are black, white, red, orange, and mostly blue in the face. It is made of both men and women, young and old, underemployed and over-managed. What group am I speaking of? The despised group of people I’m referring to is best known as “The Majority."

The Majority of people in the United States ascribe to some form of Christianity, yet Christianity is the only religion that gets stopped in its tracks at every school. The Majority of the people are heterosexual, want to stay heterosexual, want to raise their kids as heterosexuals (so they will have grandkids,) and their only objection to the gay rights drama is vulgar people parading and imposing their sectarian ideals as the “new world disorder.”  · · · →

 

Boldness is like a knife.  A sharp sword is safer in a crowd, unsheathed, and in the hands of a samurai, than sheathed, in the hand of a drunkard who is all alone. Too often we try to make the world safer by dulling each other and raising our kids not to have an edge. Safety comes from skill, whether it’s in the form of prevention of friendly fire or protection from intrusion. In the hands of a skilled surgeon, a knife can save a life. But a dull knife on an operating table often does more harm than good. Boldness is like a knife.

 When a knife is sharp it penetrates with less force. The smaller edge impacts less surface area. Sharpness is an issue of direction and focus. With a sharp edge, less is more.

 If “winners focus while loosers spray” then we need to get comfortable with silence.  · · · →