Friday is typically date night for me and my wife. But after another intense week it’s painfully difficult to slow down and simply be present. Sadly, I can be a poor date. Could this be how Christ and our pastor feel about us on Sundays? With hectic schedules, 100 channels, 24-hour news, Facebook, Twitter, and [...]
Posts Tagged ‘legitimacy’
A Better Date
Posted in Bahler Family Doing Life, Relevant Ministry, tagged Bahler Family Doing Life, Connecting, legitimacy, love, Purpose, Valuable life goal on August 6, 2011 | 2 Comments »
Do Young People Desire Anguish?
Posted in Empowering Leadership, Evolving Culture, Relevant Ministry, tagged Authentic, building momentum, Empowering Leadership, Evolving Culture, Faith, Leadership, legitimacy, Purpose, Relevant Ministry, Valuable life goal, vision on July 14, 2011 | 6 Comments »
They may frustrate you with their expectations or intimidate you with their social connections. They’re “Digital Natives” while we struggle as “Digital Immigrants”. What they want from church is very different as well. Here is research data from Dave Tonen regarding what the 18-30 year old crowd want from you and I at church: Community [...]
Why Traditions Scare Our Kids
Posted in Empowering Leadership, Evolving Culture, Relevant Ministry, tagged Connecting, connection, Empowering Leadership, Evolving Culture, Leadership, legitimacy, missional, Relevant Ministry, trust on November 29, 2010 | 3 Comments »
With pain in their voices, two friends recently shared how their teenage kids weren’t embracing their faith traditions. They had a healthy relationship with them but the kids were no longer buying into what the parents believed. Could this be due to the new challenges that kids must navigate? They’re growing up in a multicultural, [...]
Danger Love
Posted in Bahler Family Doing Life, Empowering Leadership, Relevant Ministry, tagged Bahler Family Doing Life, Connecting, connection, Empowering Leadership, Evolving Culture, Faith, Hope, legitimacy, love, missional, Missional Ministry, trust on July 23, 2010 | Leave a Comment »
Li Mei is a 16-year-old orphan here in Guangzhou that nobody ever came for. She’s now too old to be adopted and is no longer eligible for government support. An Indiana couple we’ve gotten to know met her on one of their previous adoption trips and have introduced her to an American missionary here. The [...]
The Most Important Person
Posted in Bahler Family Doing Life, tagged Bahler Family Doing Life, communication, Connecting, Consumerism, Faith, Hope, Leadership, legitimacy, love, Purpose, trust, Valuable life goal, vision on July 16, 2010 | 4 Comments »
Pastor and sociologist Tony Campolo explains the concept of “The Looking Glass Self” like this: We see ourselves as we believe the most important person in our life sees us. Tony tells us that if we make Christ the most important person in our life and recognize that he loved us enough to die a [...]
Gotcha!
Posted in Evolving Culture, Relevant Ministry, tagged Authentic, Bahler Family Doing Life, Evolving Culture, Faith, Hope, legitimacy, love, Purpose, Valuable life goal on June 18, 2010 | 10 Comments »
We found out yesterday that our “Gotcha Date” is July 12th. That’s the date we actually pick up our new 12-year-old daughter in China. “But why the term Gotcha?” I asked Sara Lang at Madison Adoption. Sara explained that at age 14 the Chinese government considers orphans adults, which terminates their availability for adoption as [...]
Sitting in the Smoking Section
Posted in Evolving Culture, Relevant Ministry, tagged communication, Empowering Leadership, Evolving Culture, Leadership, legitimacy, Relevant Ministry, Valuable life goal, vision on March 11, 2010 | 4 Comments »
Neal Cole, one of the national church-planting gurus, recently asked if we care enough about connecting with smokers to sit in the smoking section. That was a challenge, especially in light of the fact that I gave up far less threatening risks like coffee, meat, and milk products after my heart scare last year. He [...]
It Is Well With My Soul
Posted in Empowering Leadership, Evolving Culture, Relevant Ministry, tagged clarity, Consumerism, Empowering Leadership, Evolving Culture, Hope, Incarnational ministry, Leadership, legitimacy, Missional Resurgence, Valuable life goal, vision on February 11, 2010 | 2 Comments »
I’m still trying to process what I saw and heard at the Verge Conference in Austin last week. With all the talk of the younger generation checking out, why did 3,500 young people show up for an aggressive three-day challenge to get beyond “feel good” Christianity? This wasn’t the typical boomer crowd that frequent many [...]
Who Will Save Us?
Posted in Empowering Leadership, Evolving Culture, Relevant Ministry, tagged building momentum, clarity, Consumerism, Empowering Leadership, Evolving Culture, Faith, Hope, Leadership, legitimacy, love, missional, Missional Ministry, Relevant Ministry, vision on February 3, 2010 | 2 Comments »
Who will save the church? That depends on what you mean by ‘save.’ If you mean “what will keep things just as they are?” then the answer is nobody will. It’s over. And if you mean “who will maintain that handy place where we get encouraged on weekends, have our weddings and funerals, hang with [...]
A Holding Tank with Pizza
Posted in Empowering Leadership, Relevant Ministry, tagged communication, Connecting, connection, Empowering Leadership, Evolving Culture, Faith, Hope, Leadership, legitimacy, Relevant Ministry, trust, Valuable life goal on January 29, 2010 | 5 Comments »
“Teens are looking for more than a holding tank with pizza,” said Ed Stetzer. “They look for a church that teaches them how to live life.” Even though they may hesitate to acknowledge it, teens do want insight and guidance when it comes to dealing with challenges. In a recent Bible study at Purdue University, [...]
Reflection And Wisdom
Posted in Bahler Family Doing Life, Evolving Culture, Relevant Ministry, tagged Authentic, Bahler Family Doing Life, Evolving Culture, Hope, Leadership, legitimacy, love, Relevant Ministry, trust on January 5, 2010 | Leave a Comment »
I recently read that we learn wisdom three ways: 1. by reflection, which is noblest; 2. by imitation, which is easiest; 3. by experience, which is the bitterest. I’ve always aspired to nobility so here’s my reflection on lessons learned from 2009: We need a deeply anchored faith when culture and values are shifting rapidly…seek [...]
2009 – Christianity In Review
Posted in Empowering Leadership, Evolving Culture, Relevant Ministry, tagged Consumerism, Empowering Leadership, Evolving Culture, Faith, Hope, Leadership, legitimacy, Relevant Ministry, Valuable life goal on December 21, 2009 | 6 Comments »
George Barna may be the most respected Christian researcher in the US. Here’s his year-end review of Christianity in America, synthesized from thousands of interviews and numerous research projects in 2009: Theme #1: Americans are more interested in faith and spirituality than Christianity. Faith remains a hot topic these days. And nearly everyone has something [...]
Escaping Neverland
Posted in Evolving Culture, Relevant Ministry, tagged Consumerism, Empowering Leadership, Evolving Culture, Faith, Hope, Leadership, legitimacy, Purpose, Relevant Ministry, Valuable life goal, vision on December 4, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
Michael Jackson built Neverland for kids, but was left stranded there himself. Could Michael’s lifestyle have been in part a product of our consumer culture? The culture that loathes maturity, discipline, and self control. The culture designed to keep adults thinking and buying like kids. As Benjamin Barber says, “For consumer capitalism to prevail, you [...]
Into This New World
Posted in Empowering Leadership, Evolving Culture, Relevant Ministry, tagged alignment, Authentage, communication, community, Connecting, connection, Empowering Leadership, Evolving Culture, Faith, Hope, Leadership, legitimacy, Purpose, Relevant Ministry, Valuable life goal, vision on October 14, 2009 | 9 Comments »
The progressives of today’s Church feel compelled to speak the Gospel into our current environment (and the world of our children) and are striving to adapt. The more careful members of the Church see this environment as a threat to their lifestyle and spiritual walk and are determined to live as a “separate people.” The resulting polarization [...]
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