Ed Bahler’s Blog…To Enhance Ministry

Ten days ago I shared how God fulfills His promise to show up when we’re in big trouble. That was the first big lesson from my journey with cancer. The second lesson became clear when others showed up as well. The apostle Paul gave us this promise: For I am convinced that neither death nor [...]

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It’s rare to receive a death sentence. It’s even rarer to receive a death sentence and survive. With survival rates in the single digits, people considered my “Pancreatic Cancer” diagnosis last month as nothing less than a death sentence. And I did too. I’ll never forget that night, driving to each of my kid’s homes [...]

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I’ll never forget that night, ten years ago, when a lifelong dream died. We had made our decision, and I was realizing that I would never have the chance to work alongside my oldest son, Clint. We hugged and cried as we both let go of a vision that we had nurtured together from the time [...]

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“You have Pancreatic cancer.” They were the most devastating words a man could hear. My head dropped. I couldn’t look up. The world stopped. After conquering heart disease 30 months ago, I now have a new attacker. And this one is far more deadly. Don’t Google it and read the mortality rates, or you’ll have me [...]

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I like this from Seth Godin: In fact, wasting time is a key part of our lives. Wasting time poorly is a sin, because not only are you forgoing the productivity, generosity and art that comes from work, but you’re also giving up the downtime, experimentation and joy that comes from wasting time. If you’re [...]

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Here are some provoking questions from Seth Godin that connect well with my “Taking Risks” post from last week: Who looks you in the eye and says… “given your skills, you could do better.” “You have enough leverage to really make a difference.” “What would happen if you doubled the amount you donated?” “Could you [...]

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At some point, our new converts will read the book of Acts and ask how we ended up with the consumer church model so prevalent in the U.S right now. That was Francis Chan’s warning to 4,000 church planters and leaders as he opened the Exponential Conference here in Orlando yesterday. Last year this top-selling [...]

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Three weeks ago Fox news reported that the European Court of Human Rights ruled crucifixes to be acceptable in public school classrooms, and its decision will be binding in 47 countries. Could Christianity be making an astonishing comeback in secular Europe? While in England five years ago, I was shocked at the size of an Islamic [...]

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Johnson and Johnson conducted a major research effort a few years ago to discern what’s important to consumers. The #1 trend discovered was the desire for a valuable life–a life of purpose and significance. It’s no longer enough to be successful, independent, or pampered. It’s about being needed. Check out the graphic here. Rick Warren [...]

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Last week my friend Dave Ferguson challenged his church to eat on less than $2 a day for a week. As he explained to them, nearly half of the world’s population lives on less than $2 a day. And that’s for food plus all other living expenses. Dave and his wife Sue decided that their family would take on the challenge. Unfortunately for [...]

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We crave certainty–But our only hope is clarity! Dr. David Rock is a leader in the human-performance coaching field. Since the mid-90′s, Dr. Rock has trained over 10,000 executive, personal, and workplace coaches in more than 64 countries. One of the most useful insights that emerged from his five years of interviewing neuroscientists was an [...]

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We all recall how Christ challenged us to be as little children. Here’s a touching video about a five year old girl helping the 911 operator guide an ambulance to her house. Her dad is laying on the floor beside her suffering from a heart attack. Through it all she expresses an angelic spirit of [...]

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In recent discussions with leaders from around the country, the big topic is how to thrive in this new environment. Are we experiencing a reset…a step change in the way the world is working? The prospect of career congressmen being booted from office next week would suggest that there has been a change. The major [...]

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Six months ago, a couple from Taiwan moved in next door. They are professors who are fluent in both Mandarin and English. They are also passionate Christians. Meanwhile, my wife had been praying for help teaching our new Chinese daughter English. She had also been praying for a way to help her learn about Christ. [...]

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