Writing to Help You Find and Share the Hope of Jesus
“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
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”
“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 three and a half years ago when I first became director of ATLAS. He rightly understood that if I wanted others … Continue reading Why You Need a Mentor: 4 Good Things Mentors Give Us
As my daughters get older, I’m increasingly aware of my decreasing voice in their lives. Other influences (friends, media, etc.) are becoming more prominent. My dad jokes aren’t funny anymore. (Well, they’re still funny, they just biologically won’t be able to laugh at them again for probably another 15-20 years). Yes, I realize I still … Continue reading Wrecking Your Witness – 6 Ways to Make Sure Nobody Listens to You
At our ATLAS Mentor Workshops we often talk about examples of mentoring found in the Bible. We’ll talk about elements from different relationships like Jesus and his disciples, Paul and Timothy, Jonathan and David, Priscilla and Aquila with Apollos, and others. These are almost always entirely positive examples. But I’ve been in the book of … Continue reading Mistakes Were Made – Examples of Mentoring Mistakes in the Bible
So Philip ran to him and heard him reading Isaiah the prophet and asked,“Do you understand what you are reading?” And he said, “How can I, unless someone guides me?” And he invited Philip to come up and sit with him.Acts 8:30-31 In this perfect example of a divine appointment, the Ethiopian Eunuch invites Philip … Continue reading Help Me Understand
Cast your burden on the Lord, and he will sustain you; he will never permit the righteous to be moved.”Psalm 55:22 My brothers and I spent many summers growing up at my grandparents' trailer at the Old Mille Inn on Green Lake near Spicer, MN. If my grandpa didn’t already have us out in the boat … Continue reading Learning to Cast
