Writing to Help You Find and Share the Hope of Jesus
Posts related to sharing, teaching, and communicating the truth of the gospel to others.
As the school year ends, my daughter Kayla is finishing up her first year of playing clarinet in her school band. Playing clarinet quickly became one of her favorite things this year. She learned and improved so fast over the year, which we were very thankful for given some of those first practices at home … Continue reading Learning in Layers: What School Band Teaches Us About Growing As Disciples
“Because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it.”Matthew 7:14 (KJV) My family and I recently returned from a vacation to visit family in western North Carolina. Coming from west central Minnesota where our roads are wide and straight, the narrow, winding mountain … Continue reading Straight Methods, Narrow Message
And may the Lord make your love for one another and for all people grow and overflow, just as our love for you overflows.1 Thessalonians 3:12 At our ATLAS Mentor Workshops, we spend a fair amount of time talking about what motivates us to make disciples through mentoring relationships. If we’re firmly rooted in the … Continue reading Mentoring: Harnessing God’s Overflowing Love
“But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.”Acts 1:8 Pastor Jason Meyer, pastor at Bethlehem Baptist Church in downtown Minneapolis, said recently in talking about the church’s identity as … Continue reading A Divided Witness is No Witness
"As you sent me into the world, So I have sent them into the world."John 17:18 John 13-17 provides us with an intimate look at Jesus’ final meeting with his disciples before his crucifixion. It’s telling that as Jesus prepared the disciples for his departure, he made one thing very clear to them: trials, tribulation, … Continue reading Mission Readiness for Woefully Weak Witnesses: How Jesus Prepares Us To Be Sent
The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few.Matthew 9:37 There are many more people wanting to be discipled than there are Christians willing to disciple them. That’s the difficult truth I’ve learned working with ATLAS of West Central Minnesota, a mentor-based disciple-making ministry in Willmar, MN. There are more people wanting to grow in … Continue reading The Supply and Demand of Making Disciples
"What you have heard from me in the presence of many witnesses entrust to faithful men, who will be able to teach others also."2 Timothy 2:2 A guy I’ve been mentoring for awhile told me recently that he was able to share hope and encouragement in Christ to someone who had reached out to him … Continue reading What Snacks Teach Us About Making Disciples
"Two people are better off than one, for they can help each other succeed. If one person falls, the other can reach out and help. But someone who falls alone is in real trouble."Ecclesiastes 4:9-10 I was in a meeting earlier this week where the speaker, Rob Loane with Vantagepoint3, shared a great visual for … Continue reading In Search of More Mountain Guides: Making Disciples by “Traveling With” Instead of “Talking At”
“Unless the Lord builds the house, those who build it labor in vain.”Psalm 127:1 Mentoring is the focus of my work these days. ATLAS, the ministry I work with, disciples hurting people through their struggles by connecting them with volunteer mentors. For many mentors, myself included, there are times when helping someone follow Jesus seems … Continue reading The Rooting Power Of Prayer In Making Disciples
“As iron sharpens iron, so one man sharpens another.”Proverbs 27:17 “You need to make sure you have a mentor.” Those were the wise words Pastor Ben Green, a former ATLAS Board member, told me when I first became director of ATLAS. He rightly understood that if I wanted others to see the value of mentoring … Continue reading Why You Need a Mentor: 4 Good Things Mentors Give Us
A Thrill of Hope 