Never underestimate how seemingly small incidents, circumstances, or experiences can end up changing your world. All of history is built from small catalysts.   Personal catalysts spark movements A young Peter the Great found a small British skiff in his family’s palace storage that had been given as a gift long ago. He restored it and learned to sail – the catalyst for his drive to build his nation all the way to the Pacific – making Russia a world power. John Ambrose Fleming, the great inventor, was going deaf and was compelled “to find some instrument to record radio telegraphic signals which […]

He was practiced in the art of deception. People back then knew him as Alexander of Abonoteichus, a second century character Lucian describes in his essay “Alexander the False Prophet.” Apart from Lucian’s descriptions of him, we know little about the man. However, his impact in the ancient world was profound and even commemorated in coins from the second century.    Looking good, but… Lucian regarded Alexander as quite good looking: “He was a fine handsome man with a real touch of divinity about him, white-skinned, moderately bearded; he wore besides his own hair artificial additions which matched it so […]

“Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect” (1 Peter 3:15).   We saw last month that the good news of the Gospel is both reasonable and desirable. During this cultural moment, it is important that we share Christ through both reason and romance, engaging both heads and hearts with the Truth and Beauty of Jesus. Last month we saw the Searching Mercy of Jesus displayed in His encounter with the woman at the well; this month we will […]

The best way for Christians to get an audience in our cultural moment is by communicating how the good news of the Gospel is not only reasonable, but absolutely desirable. We must share Christ through reason and romance as we engage both the head and the heart with the Truth and Beauty of Jesus. For the next few months, I will share some beautiful biblical stories of how Jesus engaged both the heads and the hearts of those He encountered. The Bible is God’s story about His mission of mercy; Jesus declared that His mission was “to seek and to […]

As churches look to the changing landscape of the future, explosion of choice is clouding a clear sightline. With so many opportunities for ministry, how do you choose what will make a lasting impact? Psychologist Barry Schwartz describes the shackles freedom of choice binds us with in his book The Paradox of Choice. “… choice no longer liberates, but debilitates…But clinging tenaciously to all the choices available to us contributes to bad decisions, to anxiety, stress, and dissatisfaction…” Let me highlight what I believe is one of the most critical dimensions of mission activity in the world today. It’s the […]