The 10 blogs over 10 days didn't really work out as planned.  The preparations for this upcoming Vision meeting became a little overwhelming.  The last post offered quick summary of an apparent "cycle" of church planting later in the book of Acts.  After the Holy Spirit empowers the disciples, the church settles into a comfortable rhythm within Jerusalem.  Unfortunately, it is possible they became too comfortable because they apparently were forgetting Jesus' command to be witness in Jerusalem AND Judea AND Samaria AND to the ends of the earth.  In order to "encourage" their movement, God allows the church to be persecuted.  Without question, this is an attack of the enemy.  It should give us great confidence to know that Satan's attacks are always under God's sovereignty and always employed for his purposes.  We see that the persecution climaxes in chapter 8 with the martyrdom of the first Christian, Stephen.  A [...]

The second chapter provides us a snapshot for the entire book of Acts. The chapter gives us a glimpse into how God, by His Spirit, builds His Church through gospel truth, gospel community, and gospel living (our core values).    Before we can identify any pattern of sorts, it is important that we understand the form and function of the particular Scripture that we are reading.  Specifically, we must understand the genre of the literature, its intended audience, and its historical purpose.  Paul says that ALL Scripture is breathed out by God, ALL Scripture is useful, and that ALL Scripture is designed to build our faith (2Timothy 3.16; Romans 15.4).  But ALL Scripture doesn't do this at the same time in the same way. While all Scripture plays a part in the larger story of the Bible, we need to understand how each book of the bible, or letter, or song, is [...]

More than once Jesus told his disciples that He had come to serve and that, eventually, He would suffer and die (Mark 8.31; 9:30, 31; Matt. 17:12, 22, 23; Luke 24:7).   As that time approached, Jesus assured his disciples that God would help them to complete His mission--to do even greater things than He had accomplished.  To that end, they would not be "sent into the world" alone by themselves.  But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you. John 14.26.  In his gospel, Luke makes it clear that Jesus' ministry led, empowered, and protected by the Holy Spirit.  Jesus was led by the Holy Spirit.  Jesus was comforted.  Jesus spoke, taught, and preached by the Holy Spirit.  Jesus performed miracles by the Holy Spirit.  Jesus prayed [...]

After His Resurrection, the Bible says that Jesus spent 40 days with his disciples teaching about the kingdom of God.   We can only imagine what Jesus taught , what he clarified, or what he warned his disciples about.   The only words that we have recorded are Jesus' last words to His disciples.  It follows then that these are the only words, from those forty days, that Jesus wanted us to concern ourselves with.  All three of synoptic authors record His last words at the end of their gospels, all sounding slightly different: Matthew 28.18-20; Mark 16.15;  Luke 24.44-49.   Additionally, Luke records a variation of Jesus final words at the beginning of the book of Acts. Most are familiar with Jesus final words as "The Great Commission."   The truth is that the heart of the Great Commission actually first was heard somewhere in the middle of Jesus’ ministry.  [...]

Our church will officially turn 7 years old in November.  In that time, God has done more amazing things, personally and corporately, than I could ever possibly list--and those are only the ones I know about!  There are countless attacks God has protected us from, mistakes he has turned us from, and decisions he has stopped us from.  By grace and power, Jesus has built his church despite us. From the beginning, we intended to be a church planting church.  Even as we were planted ourselves, we supported church planters locally and internationally.  We have always intended for our core values, especially church planting, to extend beyond words on a piece of paper.   We learned rather quickly, that a commitment to church planting never fails to inspire the same kinds of curious, or down right critical, questions that parents of more than 2.5 children (and less than 2.5 dogs) [...]

Throughout the mission in Honduras we had many “moments of grace.”  These are those brief moments of revelation, when the Holy Spirit makes one truth beautifully clear.  Sometimes that truth is about God’s heart and sometimes they are about our own—but all the times they are unexpected gifts from God.   The timing of these moments are divine.  They have come to me while I am parenting my children, praying in my office, driving my car, or even standing in the shower.  This one came when I we were giving a single-mom a house.On Friday, friends, family, and neighbors all gathered to dedicate the house to Jessica.  We all had the opportunity to share any thoughts or reflections we had.  Only a few of us shared before her pastor prayed.  As the pastor of this team, I obviously felt compelled to speak not only for myself, but for our team, our [...]

I was reading in Matthew 4 today and couldn't get passed the first verse:  "Then Jesus was led into the wilderness to be tempted (tested) by the devil"Jesus' 40 day journey into the wilderness is a replay of Israel's 40 year wandering in the wilderness.  Hungry, weak, and vulnerable, the devil himself comes and tempts Jesus to deny God the Father, to lose faith, to sin.  Using the Word of God, Jesus success where Adam, Israel, and every man who has ever lived fails.  That is why Jesus is our sinless Savior and perfect substitute in death and life.What I was struck with most, however, was the fact that the SPIRIT LED Him into the wilderness.  And as I recalled the the story of Israel's from Exodus through Joshua.  Specifically, I considered how the Spirt led them at different times.  A times, the Spirit led them into a time of [...]

First, I am not a "missions" expert.  These are simply my rambling reflections about our recent mission trip to Roatan, Honduras. As our trip for Honduras approached, I became more and more anxious.  Part of my anxiety came from the "unknown".  The other half came from what I knew, rather, what I had learned from our Dwellings contact about our build.  In the weeks prior to our departure, he posted pictures first with posts in the ground, then with floor joices set, then with a floor on! Though you would think such progress would encourage my excitement, it only served to discourage it because we weren't the ones doing it. I feared the 10 strong men on our team would not have enough to do, that we would be unchallenged or bored, that we wouldn't struggle or work hard, that we might not suffer enough, or that we would otherwise [...]

Forgive me for my delay in sending this report. I wanted to take a moment to give God glory for all that He accomplished Sunday night in Snohomish. God is good and I delighted in watching Him work. By grace, he planted a new church in an old town. He filled it with his presence and began to gather what I hope becomes a family of families in Snohomish. By His Spirit, he employed the time and talents of his children to lead worship, clean glasses, set up chairs, hang signs, watch children, greet newcomers, and preach the word. I can recall a hundred ways he blessed us, and I can imagine a hundred more things He protected us from. Thank you all for being a part of this new work. For me, there are very few things more energizing than being on mission with a group of fellow-gospel workers. [...]