Photo by Courtney McLeod This time of the year is always hard for many people. With all the bombardment of love-oriented messages, it can be a difficult time for a person who is single. Who doesn’t want to have a life-long partner with whom they can trust and depend on through […]
HMCC of Austin Retreat Reflections 2011
I love the local church. They come in all different sizes, styles and shapes. We should never relegate the church to a building or even to a “place” where we go, but instead, we have to constantly remind ourselves that it is made up of people – people that Christ loves and gave Himself […]
Cultivating Creativity in the Church
I recently heard about how the Assemblies of God denomination is committed to raising up the youth to use their God-given talents in the area of the fine arts. Every year, they have the festival in a different major city in the United States. In August 2010, they had their national Fine Arts Festival […]
Reflections on 2011 One Desire Fast
Photo by HMCC Publication Team I will confess – I hate fasting, but it is a spiritual discipline that has been a part of my spirituality ever since I was in college. For some reason, with all the ups and downs of fasting, God has used it to really minister to […]
Lessons on Leadership from Steve Jobs
Photo from zdnet.com As many of you probably heard, Steve Jobs, the CEO of Apple recently took a leave of absence because of medical reasons. First of all, this is not his fist leave of absence attributed to health reasons. Back in 2004, Jobs took a leave of absence due to […]
MLK 2011
Throughout history, there were people who made an indelible mark on the hearts of humankind and in society. In fact, they became the catalyst for starting movements that transformed the world. Martin Luther King, Jr. was a person who lived in a time in American history where there were enormous injustices. King dared to […]
Wrestling with Transformation
Inevitably in my travels as I talk about the Gospel, the Church and the Kingdom of God, the topic of “transformation” comes up. Usually, I always get two responses from people. Either I get a passionate response as we talk about transformation or I get a cynical and jaded look from […]
The Bible Can Transform Us
One of the things that I always start in the new year is to make a commitment to read through the whole bible in one year. It is a habit that I have been doing for awhile now. There have been many times when I wanted to quit… been behind in the reading… didn’t […]
Chile Missions 2010 Update 5
At this moment I am sitting in front of a computer at the airport hotel lounge. So many different things are running through my mind, as one of the team members, Josiah and I are still here in Chile, while the rest of the team just arrived in Detroit. To make a long story […]
Chile Missions 2010 Update 4
This past Sunday we had a busy Lord´s Day. We started off by worshiping at the main church, Pueblo de Dios. Right from the start, we felt the presence of God as we started the service with prayer and then entered into an intense time of praise. There is something about the Latino praise […]
SGP & JKT 2010 Update 7
Photo on forumpakistan.com The more I travel out to Asia, the more I feel mixed emotions as I head back to the States. It is just humbling to see all that God is doing in this part of the world. I wonder if the amount of hunger and the openness to […]
SGP & JKT 2010 Update 5
Today, I had the opportunity to have dinner with the church planting team. It was great to reconnect with everyone. The dinner conversation covered everything from some personal experiences here in Indonesia to updating on the happenings in the various HMCC churches back in the States. Other conversations I am not permitted to mention […]
SGP & JKT 2010 Update 4
It has been less than a week here in Indonesia, but every single day I have been thanking God for the privilege of being able to come back to my “2nd home.” After Sunday Celebration, I ended up talking with so many people. It was awesome reconnecting with familiar faces, as well as meeting […]
Who is Really the Transient Person?
Photo by Getty Images In the last several months, I have been in several good discussions with various people about the transient nature of college students. People have always asked me, “How can you minister to a lifestage, where after four years they leave and then, you have to start all […]