From My Heart and Mind

Once again, race and race relations are in the news with a major incident this last weekend in Charlottesville, VA.  Last week I was also privileged to hear from Immaculée Ilibagiza, a survivor of the genocide in Rwanda in the 1990's, as she spoke at the Global Leadership Summit in Chicago.  The atrocities in Rwanda between the Hutu tribal people and the Tutsi tribal people prove that "race" problems are not always based on skin color.  It is a universal human problem. Billy Graham, the famous evangelist, has called racism "the greatest sin of the human race."  I would entirely agree.  Most of the mind-numbing atrocities of the 20th century can be tied back directly to racial prejudice and a sense of racial superiority.  Much of that comes out of the evolutionary worldview espoused by Charles Darwin and picked up by Karl Marx, Vladimir Lenin,  Mao Zedong and others.   From a biblical worldview (and I know...you may not agree with me but please listen to me

I'm starting a new organization because I want Jesus to come back.  I'm tired of this present world (wars, terrorism, violence, divorce, trafficking, injustice, graft) and I believe the promises of God that He has a MUCH better place for us.  But some things have to happen first and honestly, we just have not done a good job doing what Jesus told us to do -- go into all the world and make disciples among all people groups.  Today, about 2.5 billion people of the world's 7 billion people have never even heard the name of Jesus.  That's an injustice.  One billion people SAY they follow Jesus or believe in Him in some way.  Jesus made it very clear too that He would not come back until there were believers from every tribe and tongue and people and nation (see my footnote on this).  This was part of God's plan from the very beginning.   So, I have decided to start a missions organization that will seek to hasten (speed up) the coming back of Jesus.  The Hastening

It was the 19th century missionary, William Carey, who famously said, "Expect great things from God, attempt great things for God."    My experience has been that when you step out, in God's power and with things that are important to Him, he is more than able to support you. I remember standing on the platform of Redwood Chapel Community Church (in the San Francisco East Bay where I served for all of the 90's) in about 1992 with Dawson McAllister.  We were in the worship center alone.  He said, "I have a vision.  I see this place filled with students...packed.  What if this Fall we do a crusade here and we do assemblies in public schools and invite students to an event each night?"  I saw what he saw– it was from the Lord not just our own dreams or desire.  I said, "Let's do it!"  Six months later we did exactly that:  we did all-school assemblies at several local high schools and middle schools, invited kids out, spread the word.  On Mo

When we came to the Las Vegas valley in the summer of 2000 to start South Hills Church Community we had some strong advantages:  we didn’t know where our church would meet, we didn’t know when our church would start and we didn’t know who would be there (besides our small group of launchers).  “Wait a minute!” you say.  “That doesn’t sound like ADVANTAGES, all those things you just mentioned sound like DISADVANTAGES.”  No, here’s why:  we had enough funding and enough time on our side to do the most important part of church planting:  meeting, hanging out with, encouraging and sharing our faith with hundreds of people without putting pressure on them to attend our church.  But we did meet literally hundreds of people.  One of our more outgoing team members got a job as a barista at Starbucks and met dozens of new people every day.  Our family joined the Boy Scouts with our sons and met people.  We went door-to-door and just simply met others.  We passed out Cokes in front of high scho

Six months before I went off to college as an 18-year old, I found myself embracing Jesus Christ as my Lord and Savior and Leader and Forgiver. My life was transformed because of it.  I was a new man.  College was a blast as I developed new friendships, got involved in a dynamic church and college group and led out on my college campus.  Shortly after trusting in Jesus and starting to follow Him, I bought a Bible and the book “Evidence that Demands a Verdict” by a guy named Josh McDowell.  I gobbled up both.  Those two books gave me a love for God’s word and a love for apologetics (the ability to defend your position against rivals).   When I was in my senior year of college, I ran across a guy about three years older than me who had just spent about a year traveling around the country with Josh McDowell.  Josh offered young Christian leaders the chance to watch his ministry up close in exchange for setting up venues, selling resources and answering people’s questions.  I mentione

Stop for just a moment and say these three words slowly:  Vacation.  Bible.  School.   Could there be three more oxymoronic words out there?  It's sounds to me like the "Hawaii Business Marathon" or the "Vail Indoor Championship."  For the uninitiated an oxymoron are two or more words that we use but stand in contrast to each other:  Found Missing, Alone together, the Living Dead, Adult Male (sorry I couldn't resist), Microsoft Works (oops, I did it again).    Maybe it's because I did not grow up in church.  Maybe it's because I favor the new over the old.  But it really is beyond me why churches still call one of the most important outreach opportunities of the year something that is a complete oxymoron.  And don't even get me started on the phrase "Sunday School."   I know what you're thinking: "Ok, smarty pants.  What's your idea?  Don't just sit there and criticize...come up with a suggestion."  OK!  Befo