Photo from Myers Elementary School This past week, I have been thinking a lot about the issue of power or authority. Everywhere you look there are people who have power and authority – the power to make decisions, the power to direct people, the power to open up opportunities and the […]
The Reality of Spiritual Warfare
Photo by weeklyrob I remember growing up as a new Christian in high school and some of my spiritual leaders would tell me the catch-22 that Christians face, especially when it comes to spiritual warfare. The catch-22 goes like this – “If you are growing spiritually, Satan will come against you […]
Prelude to Revival
Photo from chrisbraymusic.com A. W. Tozer wrote, “Have you noticed how much praying for revival has been going on of late–and how little revival has resulted? I believe the problem is that we have been trying to substitute praying for obeying, and it simply will not work. To pray for revival […]
From the Crowd to the Core
Photo on dpnow.com In all new church plants, one of the biggest concerns or dilemmas is trying to figure out how to get people who visit your church to become committed disciples who will take on the role of leadership. Usually the linear process is: bring visitors in, reach out to […]
Obsessed with Fame
Photo by AP The whole world was riveted with the thought of a boy stuck in a runaway balloon. But horror turned into shock when evidence slowly emerged with the possibility of the whole ordeal being a hoax made up by the parents. The shock then turned into disbelief and anger. […]
Preaching the Gospel to Ourselves
Photo from images.com Over the years, I have been trying to teach our congregation(s) the importance of the Gospel. The Gospel is critical in our journey with Christ, not only when we get saved, but in the present and into the future. So often we apply the Gospel message towards a […]
The Reminders through the Call to Prayer
Photo from Freewebs I think one of the things that people have to get used to while they are in Indonesia is the daily calls to prayer. All throughout the day, you are able to hear the multiple calls to prayer for the Muslim people. The retreat center that I am […]
My First Exam as a Professor
Photo from nomadlife.org This past week was my first time writing up a midterm exam on the college level. So many things ran through my mind. I thought about some of the most difficult exams that I have taken in my life. I thought about some of the easiest test that […]
Power Outages
Photo by uchicago.edu I have heard about the power outages that occur once in awhile in Indonesia. People have told me to be prepared for them because it happens randomly and the electricity can be out for hours. It was all head knowledge until we experienced our first power outage. Now, […]
I Don’t Want a Revival
Photo by Northview Some years ago, I was reflecting on how God sent revivals throughout history. At first, I was baffled at the fact that we haven’t been experiencing the type of revival that we read about in history. There were some of the more recent revivals in the 1990’s and […]
Enough is Enough
Photo by pdesigner.com I don’t know how many of you have been following the news this past week, but there are a lot of global things going on right now. Recently, the United Nations (U.N.) had their 61st General Assembly session in NYC. Not only was this meeting a bit tense […]
The Concept of Personal Space
Photo by Reuters As you can tell from the picture above, things are crowded in Indonesia. This picture describes not only the massive amount of motorcycles on the road, but also the chaos on the streets as people are all trying to get home for the Hari Raya Idul Fitri holiday. […]
The “I” in Idolatry
Photo by Anne Elliott The American Heritage Dictionary defines “idolatry” as, “blind or excessive devotion to something.” It is interesting that throughout the Bible one theme that keeps on coming up is the topic of idols. It is germane to who we are as God’s people. God created us to worship […]
True Freedom
Photo on Diane Beeler website In class yesterday, we had a good discussion on the topic of freedom. I challenged the students to think about the true meaning of freedom as we were going over the Old Testament. I pointed out that we see the plight of humankind constantly disobeying God, […]