Entering a new culture is like admiring Austin’s Barton Springs pool from the top of the hill and then suddenly getting plunged into its icy plant-filled waters. This is no ordinary pool, and it sure is cold! When students first...

This semester I have been writing about the character traits and skills of effective missional community leaders. I wrote about missional leaders being proactive, hospitable, generous, and available. This week I will write about missional leaders being attentive.  I will reference a great...

In Luke 21: 12-19 (the Olivet Discourse), Jesus utters a prophecy about the future disciples and their response to persecution.  Persecution on this side of the globe, though painful in our eyes, is nothing compared to the persecution of those...

They are all around us, those who give the impression that being a Christian is all about condemning and judging others. They come in the form of the traveling preachers who stand on our campuses and condemn all who pass...

Not Prepared! It was an evangelists dream. I had been visiting with Shelly for a good hour about her thoughts about God, her experience with church, her life dreams. Our conversation had moved to a place about talking about Jesus,...

Hello Barcelona Rising from the horizon, it will be the tallest church in the world when completed. Even so, it won’t compare to the tallest mountain in city of Barcelona. There stands the unfinished work of architect Antoni Gaudi –...

Among all the sermons, books and blogs in the world, it seems everyone wants to talk about what appears to be concrete, the “musts,” “shoulds,” and “should nots.” But I have learned over nearly a decade of leadership and ministry...

Christians at universities popularly seek the presence of God in retreats – heading to camp sites, rural churches , or outdoorsy camps to seek God in motivational speakers,  great worship bands, and some much needed time away from our iPhones,...

Something New “Missional communities” is one of the hottest trends and buzz words in Christianity right now. They have become so popular that in a recent campus minister’s meeting I was in one pastor commented, “I’d be interested to know...

I am in my fourth year here at Missouri State as the director of the Baptist Student Union. Each year, I have had to monotonously fill out state reports that would require me to list the number of salvations or...