From My Heart and Mind

I have had an idea bouncing around in my head for a few days about how to deal with this Covid-19 outbreak and what it will take us to get "back to normal."  What if we took our entire country and labeled each area by a ZONE depending on population density?  The number of people who live, commute and work near each other is a HUGE factor in the spread of new and contagious diseases.   You are far more likely to acquire a new and untreatable virus in New York City than you are in Kingman, Arizona, for example.  Like this: In addition, what if we set up a series of CODES or warnings (like they do for fire danger in forest areas) for each zone?.  Something like this: Every location in America would have both a Zone number and Code number (which would change as needed).  If you live and work in Manhattan in New York City, you are in Zone 10 and you might be under Code Red 2-  Shelter in Place but you are permitted to go out for essentials only.   But if you live in K

     For the last year, I have been really RESTLESS. Part of the problem is that for the last two-and-a-half years I have either taken or lead the Kairos Course about 12 different times. Over 100 people here in Las Vegas (Kairos is a 2.5-hour, 10-session course using the Perspectives on the World Christian Movement material) have taken the course and it’s been very meaningful to them. About 40 of those have trained to facilitate a future course. The course is life-changing and probably the best discipleship tool I know of to help people understand God’s purposes, His heart, and their place in His world. Unfortunately, the course also highlights what the church SHOULD be doing in fulfilling the great commission of Jesus. Max Chismon, the original developer of Kairos, a New Zealander, and highly respected in the Global South has said, “The greatest impediment to fulfilling the great commission of Jesus is the church itself.” What?!!      Then I made a HUGE mistake by reading Frank Viol

This year I celebrate following Jesus for forty years of my life.  I became a Christian at the age of eighteen and a senior in high school in Anaheim, California.  If you can do basic math, you now know how old I am.   In those forty years, I have learned some things and made tons of observations about a lot of things in life.  I have also run, walked, stumbled, fallen, gotten up, run again, walked again in the Christian journey.  I have been two steps forward and one step back like so many other pilgrims.   I was pondering the other day the whole idea of following Jesus and I realized that there are post-conversion "conversions" that happen to those who follow Jesus.  There may be more than three but I have noticed these and experienced them.  Perhaps someday I will write a blog about the five post-conversions that Jesus followers have but today I see only three.  Here they are: A post-conversion experience with the Holy Spirit.  Well, I got your attention there, didn

I have been a follower of Jesus for 43 years now. Amazing.  I have been a Pastor for 33 years.  I have one of the best seminary degrees in the world (an M.Div. from Talbot Seminary) and an almost (ha ha) D. Min. from TEDS in Chicago.  You would think that I would know what I am about to share with you....but I missed it, completely missed it. Here it is: In the Book of Acts, there are 30 accounts of conversion.  In 90% of those cases, it is NOT individual conversion-- it is family, group or mass decisions!  There are only 3 cases of individual conversion in Acts (Saul/Paul (Acts 9) , the Ethiopian Eunuch (8:35), and Sergius Paulus (13:12).  90% of the conversions in the Book of Acts happened in mass.  That is difficult to imagine in the west because we are highly individualized in our thinking.  We hear of "people movements" in other parts of the world- whole tribes coming to faith in Jesus and we wonder how that could possibly be genuine-- but it is and (incredibly) some