“For the sinful self is not my real self, it is not the self you have wanted for me, only the self that I have wanted for myself. And I no longer want this false self. But now, Father, I come to You in your own Son’s self… and it is He Who presents me to you. ” Thomas Merton, Thoughts in Solitude

Oswald Chambers in today’s Utmost writes that “Eternal life is the life which Jesus Christ exhibited on the human level. And it is this same life, not simply a copy of it, which is made evident in our mortal flesh when we are born again.” Eternal life has nothing to do with time. It is the life which Jesus lived when He was down here… Willard refers to this same idea by describing the kind of life we would live when living under Jesus reign and rule. Eternal becomes a reference to the quality of our lives, not the length. When living a life of surrender, we will increasingly...

The Lasting Legacy of Lesslie Newbigin by Michael Goheen. This is a great summary overview of the contributions that Lesslie Newbigin has made for the renewal movement of the church in the West.

There are few fat, theological books that I enjoy and read carefully.  Even fewer that I intend to read again. My current read is one of those books.  ”Dynamics of Spiritual Life” by Richard Lovelace wonderfully describes the various elements of a living and healthy orthodoxy and what is required to renewal individuals and congregations to this dynamic awakened faith. Bold Statement Alert: I cannot imagine a minister, church planter, or missionary being able to have an effective ministry in the postmodern Western world without a working knowledge of this book. In my mind this book,...

In recent conversations, I’ve been reminded of the classic book by Robert Coleman called, The Master Plan of Evangelism. I cut my teeth on the book some 25 years ago and I am pretty sure I didn’t really get the message back then. I’m sure I was looking for some grand master plan that would allow the church to convert the world. You can imagine my disappointment when all it talked about was how Jesus collected and trained disciples. What’s that got to do with changing the world? Apparently everything since “men were his method.” “It all started by Jesus calling...