Don Williams: Shaping the Theology, Praxis, & Culture of Worship

Don Williams,[2] “one of the Vineyard’s premier theologians,”[3] was the founding pastor of Coast Vineyard Christian Fellowship in La Jolla, CA from 1989 until 2002,[4] as well as the primary author/editor of the Vineyard Statement of Faith.[5] In addition to his...

The Spirit as the Power & Presence of God

Theological discourse has changed in some significant ways in the past few decades. In the 1980’s, serious debate existed between scholars as to the relevance and reality of the ongoing work of the Holy Spirit. Some scholars, holding to a viewpoint known as...

Trinitarian Creedal Christianity

For most of my life, I've been connected to Vineyard churches, a unique movement of churches that has historically identified itself as the "radical middle" between Evangelicals and Pentecostal/Charismatics. I don't think I'd even heard of a "creed" until I was in...

What is Our Ecclesiological Kingdom Identity?

A dear friend of mine recently suffered a tragic loss in his life and, after all of the chips had fallen, wondered to himself, "What the hell is the point?" This vulnerable question seemed to get at this nagging question related to faith -- what's the point of...

The Cross & Resurrection of Christ…

While I'm not a fan of simplistic faith or anti-intellectualism, I do have a high value for discerning central themes or what some have described as the "simple" gospel, though sometimes I'm confused by what people mean by that term! Confusion aside, I think it is...

Power in the Name of Jesus

Years ago I was at a prayer gathering and we had a number of visitors from out of town. One of them, a young lady from Canada, requested prayer but was seemingly unsure of what she wanted prayer for. Our group spent the next hour praying for her and as we continued,...

On Associations, Networks, & Denominations…

Anaheim continues to be on my heart and mind as I have continued to receive emails and other forms of correspondence from people who have been significantly impacted by the decision to disassociate from the Vineyard movement. This has me thinking a bit more about the...

Be Like Lance…

The first time I attended the Anaheim Vineyard, I was pretty overwhelmed. John Wimber, the founder that local church, has made an indelible impact on my life. Though I grew up as a kid in the Vineyard, it wasn’t until around the age of twenty that I read Bill...

Ep 21: Gender Dynamics & the Politics of a “yellow” Kingdom w/ Melody Winderweedle

On episode twenty-one, I'm joined by Melody Winderweedle to discuss the various dynamics attached to women in ministry as well as a good bit of thinking in relation to how the politics of the kingdom of God are "yellow." About Melody: Melody Winderweedle is the...

Ep 20: Africans, African Americans, & Cultural Challenges in Church w/ Edgar King & Ramon Mayo

On episode twenty, I have a conversation with Edgar King and Ramon Mayo to discuss a lot of different topics, including Church, theology, and ethnic diversity. https://youtu.be/1zNvoVNDvhA You can download the audio...
Warfare in the Old Testament, by Boyd Seevers

Warfare in the Old Testament, by Boyd Seevers

Two weeks ago I was talking to a young twenty something who classified herself as a "skeptic." Our conversation was about Jesus, faith, church, and the Bible. It was really fun and I think we both were enjoying our conversation. At one point in the discussion, she...

Can a passage of the Bible have multiple meanings?

Can a passage of the Bible have multiple meanings?

Everyone reads the Bible with some basic assumptions about how the Bible best speaks. For example, these are the types of questions that people are often thinking of: What did this mean when it was written? What did the author intend for this to mean? How have people...

Exegeting Your Way to Being Left Behind…

Exegeting Your Way to Being Left Behind…

We are all aware of the fact that within North American Evangelicalism, Tim LaHaye and Jerry B. Jenkins are considered two of the most influential authors on eschatology, the study of end times. This is due to the fact that the series that they co-authored, and the...

How to be a Good Friend…

The church I serve is blessed to have a wonderful lady named Sara White in our community. She put together a great list of eleven characteristics of a good friend that I thought I'd share with you! Here is her list: Loyal - stick by me in any circumstance. Honest -...

The Results of a “Spirit Filling”

The Results of a “Spirit Filling”

Peter Kirk has some helpful comments regarding some technical notes that Mike Aubrey made, all in relation to Ephesians 5. Mike suggests that we understand the participles of Paul's Greek as pointing us to the results of being filled with the Spirit as opposed to...

On the Molt’s Crucicentric Oversimplification

On the Molt’s Crucicentric Oversimplification

Years ago, when I first started reading the Molt, I started with his infamous The Crucified God. The following quote stood out: "If it is true that the inner criterion of whether or not Christian theology is Christian lies in the crucified Christ, we come back to...

Planning Lent w/ Logos Bible Software…

Planning Lent w/ Logos Bible Software…

Lent starts tomorrow. For most of my life, Lent hasn't been a tradition that I participate in and I've gone back and forth as to whether or not Evangelicals should participate. I've come to the conclusion that participating in Lent can be a really great way to grow in...

How does the Molt think about Jesus and the Kingdom?

How does the Molt think about Jesus and the Kingdom?

I have a lot of academic interest in Christology and the Kingdom of God. Much of the reading I've been doing lately is related to how the two subjects tend to fit together. The Molt has a fascinating statement concerning Jesus and the kingdom: "The kingdom of the Son...

Thoughts on Leaving Your Church…

Thoughts on Leaving Your Church…

Jason Isaacs has written a very interesting post on "How to tell your pastor you're leaving the church." Wow, some very transparent and honest thoughts. He has four words of advice: Don’t say, “It’s not personal.” Instead say, “I know this is going to hurt, but…”...

ReCreatable, by Kevin Scott

ReCreatable, by Kevin Scott

Since I'm a pastor, I'm deeply interested in being a part of and/or seeing God bring restoration and healing into people's lives. It's a joy to see God's work in this area. If you have an interest in that, I want to recommend that you pick up Kevin Scott's new...

Ray Van Neste on the Frequency of the Lord’s Supper…

Great quote here: "A typical argument against this idea [of the weekly celebration of the Lord's Supper] is, "If we do this so often it will become less meaningful." At first this has the appearance of wisdom; but with just a little pondering the illusion fades. Do we...

The Molt on Science and Faith…

The Molt on Science and Faith…

So this week has been full of buzz regarding the relationship between faith/religion and science. For those of you sleeping under a rock, Bill Nye "the Science Guy" and Ken Ham of Answers in Genesis participated in a "debate" about creation (video here). I watched it...

Doing the Raps…

Last year I participated in a project release show with my buddy Michael Rambo. Here is one of the songs I was on: [youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g90krLFKGdY?list=UUOX379eBbvIQieWZLnSy1QQ&w=560&h=315]

Moltmann on the New Creation…

Moltmann on the New Creation…

For today's Fridays with the Molt, I would like to point you to something I stumbled upon. Writing about the Apostle John's Revelation, the Molt writes, "Whom does John see? He sees the infinite, eternal God coming to the finite beings he has created and to this...

Writing Papers Using Logos Bible Software

Writing Papers Using Logos Bible Software

Last month I started working on a paper for the academic program I'm currently in and I'm very glad I had Logos Bible Software to help me. There are a couple reasons why Logos saved me time and energy and gave me more time to research and read helpful books and...

Apostle of the Last Days, by C. Marvin Pate

Apostle of the Last Days, by C. Marvin Pate

Pauline studies has been arguably one of the main focuses of scholarly inquiry for hundreds of years, especially after the Enlightenment. In some circles, it is far and away more important than even Jesus studies (yikes!). Yet in other circles, the Pauline corpus is...

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