Blog
Check out the latest articles and videos I’ve shared… but be warned, this is the acumilation of nearly a decade of work, and I’ve changed my thoughts on a lot of things, so don’t hold me to anything that I don’t agree with 🙂
Discipleship: The Process of Becoming like Jesus.
I've long been intrigued by the elusive subject of Christian discipleship. As a "child of the church," having spent the entirety of my life in and around churchianity, I'm well versed in numerous definitions of what it means to be a disciple and yet, as I've read...
Kingdom Ministry: Life, Questions, and Beer & Cigarettes
Over the years I've been approached by a few people who wanted to either use the gifts they believed they had or be trained and equipped to minister through speaking (e.g., preaching, teaching, training, etc.). In simple terms, they wanted opportunities to speak from...
Happy Women’s Day: Giving Women the Same Interpretive “Freedom” As Slaves
As I have continued studying issues related to women in ministry, gender, and hermeneutics (biblical interpretation), I have come to the conclusion that the Bible requires that Church does all that she can to both encourage and empower women to actively pursue...
Preaching 101: Provoking Hearts & Minds Toward Jesus & the Kingdom
Preaching is the art of provoking hearts and minds toward Jesus and his kingdom. I believe it's an art because I'm convinced it's similar to painting or composing music. You can take a class on painting and learn the basic mechanics of brush strokes, but that's way...
Does Our Order of the “Now” and “Not Yet” Prioritize?
One of my favorite worship albums is Jeremy Riddle's "The Now and Not Yet." This "now and not yet" theology was made somewhat "famous" amongst Evangelicals by the scholarly work of George Eldon Ladd, especially in his The Presence of the Future and The Gospel of the...
Hiding Behind the “Ministry Guise”: Avoiding the tough questions
Reading through the Gospels and taking Jesus' words seriously, not to mention reading through both the Old and New Testaments, leads me to the conclusion that it's perfectly "normal" for followers of Jesus to face persecution and to suffer. I mean, Jesus said that...
Backing Up, Building Slow, & Shaping Culture
I am going to be celebrating my six month anniversary as a pastor at the Red Bluff Vineyard in about a week. Wow, time has flown by and I am still absolutely loving the city, the church, and the trout fishing all that surrounds us. That being said, the last six months...
Politics in the Kingdom: On November 9th, Jesus will still be Lord!
According to Captain Snark, our very own Kenny Burchard, the following facts need to be accounted for: "Hi Facebook. Just a gentle reminder that there is only one way for a true Christian to vote. And that way, as expressed and clarified daily right here on Facebook...
Sustainable Revival? Must we kill ourselves in our quest for God’s presence?
What is revival? How do you define this religious experience? The esteemed J. I. Packer suggested that revival is "God's quickening visitation of his people, touching their hearts and deepening his work of grace in their lives." Robert Baird described revival as an...
