Over the years I’ve read a lot of books that make reference to and even try to describe what the first century, post-Pentecost Christian church might have been like. It was probably somewhat different in the non-Jewish communities verses Jerusalem. But, was it anything like the church of today? If not, how did it differ. […]
I’ve spent many years trying to understand how best to disciple others. Mostly I keep wondering where to find the best discipleship materials. The question I haven’t been asking is what is God’s idea of discipleship?ÂÂ
It didn’t take much effort, with the right question in mind, to discover several well neglected biblical notions of discipling […]
My doctoral studies in clinical psychology focused on family systems. Over the years I’ve also become fascinated with church systems. It has been said that systems don’t really change, differentiate, much. Actually, systems change very slowly over time, unless of course there is some major intervening event. System ‘forces’ tend toward stability, pulling efforts toward change […]
Today was a different kind of day at the cafe. It was quite busy. there wasn’t any time to really visit with anyone. People came and went. Smiles were exchanged. An encouraging word was shared now and then. I saw quite a few new faces. People I wanted to get to know. Even during brief […]
A young man came into our cafe recently appearing a bit out-of-sorts. I’ve seen that ‘look’ many times before, though  I had not seen this particular person before. So I introduced myself and we began what turned into a rather lengthy conversation. After about 15 minutes of talk on a variety of issues (weather, politics, business, the war) […]
I rather dislike the term ‘Christian Witness’ - because of what it has come to mean. I do believe that the Bible calls some to public evangelism. I think it is appropriate to confront society with the gospel whether or not they ‘want’ to hear it. I think it is biblical to have visible places […]
One of the more difficult obstacles we have faced in trying to pursue a incarnationally missional work through a cafe is being able to pay our bills. Our faith has been tried. Our prayer life has changed. We rejoice in every penny we find. We went from receiving monthly salaries that, together, exceeded $8,000 plus […]
As a high school student I imagined that I would be an aeronautical engineer and fighter pilot. My career counselor thought otherwise. She suggested that I would do well in biology, psychology or even ministry. I attended a Catholic high school.ÂÂ
I entered college as an engineering student. It wasn’t long before I was forced to […]
