I don’t think coercion is the best strategy for getting people to follow Jesus. Last time I asked a question: What comes to mind when you hear “…make disciples”? I’ll bet a lot of us picture some form of coercion. Maybe it’s guilt-laced, fear-based preaching. Perhaps it’s some sort of transactional “service” in which the […]

What did Jesus ask us to do? He invited us to go and make disciples, right? And when we ask how we’re supposed to do that, He says, “Follow me.” “Live like I did. Do what I did.” Isn’t it really that simple? We do all sorts of complicated theology, spend endless hours parsing the […]

I use a wheelchair. If you notice that obvious fact, does that mean you’re labeling me? I don’t think so. Frankly, if you met me and didn’t notice the chair, I’d be a bit worried about you. It’s silly to pretend we’re all the same or to claim we don’t observe obvious differences like physical […]

Regarding yesterday’s post – it’s easy to oppose evil. Lots of horrible stuff in the world, like child sex trafficking for example, and it’s easy to get angry and want to go all Rambo about it. Easy to want to gather a group of like-minded folks and storm the gates, take down the bad guys, […]

Jesus told a story about a seed-sower. His parable referred to the kingdom message and those who hear it in a variety of conditions. But I have a couple of questions. Who grew the plants? Every gardener knows – once the seeds are in the ground, the plants are on their own. Scattering seeds is […]