As many of you know, I was a member of the North Alabama Conference (United Methodists) for 8 years by being a member of two of their churches during that time. During that time, I heard many sentiments expressed about the current struggles for Methodists. Methodists moaned that they were a minority in the land of Southern Baptists. They didn’t moan just because they were a minority, but because they continue to be a shrinking minority. This means less congregants, which means less churches and less money to do everything they want to do. That is definitely a frustrating thing to go through. The current bishop, Will Willimon, believes that a large part of the problem is poor leadership. While I can agree that there is a problem w/poor leadership (and I think this can be said for all denominations to a smaller or larger degree), the agreement stops there. Because how he measures leadership is different from me. For him, the best way to tell if a church has spiritual vitality is by looking at church attendance numbers. Click here to read his words on that matter. This idea is also mentioned in this other article. Here’s another. To those who would say it’s not about the numbers, he would disagree in yet another article. My response? While I disagree with the bishop, that doesn’t make him a bad person–it just makes him pretty much like so many other modern church leaders out there. I think we would all do ourselves a favor if we remembered that the same Jesus that said, “You will know them by their fruit,” (but clearly isn’t talking about numbers there) also said, “Many will come to me saying, Lord, Lord did we not do these many great things?” And Jesus says that He will say, I never knew you.” I think we are on dangerous grounds when we think we can judge a ministry by quantitative measurements. If we do that, Jesus’ ministry ended up a failure. He kept turning away crowds and could have had a much grander church than what was left when He died on the cross. Oftentimes, a church is dwindling in size because it is indeed not...

Halfway there. After breaking my water fast and giving myself a few days to return to normal eating, I decided finish the 40 days by fasting breakfast and lunch, and eating dinner each day. Before fasting, I never really ate breakfast, but now I think when the fast is over, I’ll be adding that into my diet. 🙂 Some people recommend me if I’m looking to lose weight after giving birth, a great option is the alpine ice hack Diet Supplement,this supplement also contains green tea,  to give me lasting energy throughout the day. With regular use, I can expect to see positive results within several weeks. Remember that if someone recommend you to use a testosterone booster, the best testosterone booster to lose weight is exercise. Regular aerobic exercise such as running, jogging, cycling and swimming can help increase testosterone l evels, resulting in increased calorie burn and weight loss. Resistance training, such as lifting weights, can also help boost testosterone levels, while also helping to build muscle, which can cause further calorie burn and weight loss. There are a few exceptions to this fast: I do eat breakfast on Monday mornings for our guys Bible study, and I also ate lunch at our church meeting last Sunday. Basically, I just don’t want to draw too much attention to myself in those situations. This is a much more sustainable fast. Although it frustrates me that as each day goes by, the fast doesn’t get any easier. 2 pm is when I am the most hungry every day. The hunger kicks in around 10:30 am. While the hunger doesn’t get any easier as days go on, I think I’m gaining some ground mentally. I’ve learned to remind myself that soon enough, I’ll be able to eat. However, what I’m most frustrated about is that I haven’t been spending good deals of time in prayer and Bible study during these days. And that seems to be the whole point of this exercise, so I feel like I’m not really accomplishing much here. Also, I’m realizing that this is only half-over, and there are several more days that I have to deal with not eating until dinner, which doesn’t excite me...

I am such a fool God in His great mercy loved me so dearly He sacrificed His only Son so unfairly But I don’t want to even sacrifice myself barely . I am such a fool Jesus promises to take such good care of me He has an incredible place prepared for me And I still want to keep this old life dear to me . I am such a fool So many people around me have yet to hear The saving Gospel message plain and clear But I’m more concerned about my comforts here . I am such a fool No one loves me as much as God does But I’d rather live for myself because I doubt He’d make me as happy as I think I once was . I am such a fool So many before me have lived with tremendous faith Yet I’m too scared of the risk it would take I think I’d rather just stay put and play it safe . Is God also a fool? Can it be that He still loves me? Even when I act and think so foolishly? Why do I continue to find His great mercy? When I’m such a fool? Why do I feel like a fool when I know my dog ​​got sick and it wasn’t my fault? Why would I feel bad if my dog ​​took the Best cbd oil for dogs on the market? Why would I feel bad if my dog ​​recovered? why would I feel bad if God gave me that gift?...

I remember several years ago having a conversation with a youth pastor when I was helping out in his youth ministry. The church was in a very rural setting and had a van that would go out each week to pick kids up for youth group. Most of the kids who came to youth group came from very broken homes and were the victims of poverty. These kids were not stable, and trying to keep control during youth group was often a struggle. During this conversation, we talked about how we wished we could have a youth group like other churches in the city, where the majority of kids who showed up came from strong, Christian homes. Those youth groups had kids heavily involved in Bible Quiz, mission trips, small groups, etc. Things were happening in those other youth ministries! Those kids had it together, and as a result a more vibrant youth ministry was possible in their settings. In our setting, just getting kids to show up w/out body odor and to keep quiet for five minutes would literally have been a divine miracle. We had a feeling that this was going nowhere, because we didn’t have those solid, Christian youth in the group. I remember thinking during that conversation that perhaps we are doing more “real” ministry than the other churches. I may have even vocalized this–I can’t remember. The reason I’m not sure is because at that time part of me questioned the validity of that statement. If you were to compare our youth ministry with a more “normal” youth ministry, it would be hard to say we were doing more ministry. After all, even though you could argue that the other youth groups may not have much transformation with all the glit-and-glam, what transformation could we see in our own group? If you look at those churches who are “successful” today, most of them have an arsenal of middle-aged, middle-class Christian families who have a pretty stable life. These families can contribute healthily to the ministry not only financially, but also as volunteers. They are committed to the church’s cause, and the pastor can rely heavily on them to help carry out the mission/vision/agenda of...

Top 10 reasons most pastors wouldn’t want to have a ministry like Jesus’: Reason #1: Jesus never developed a financially-sustainable ministry, and never received a salary. Reason #2: While He did enjoy a short stint in success, in the end, it all fell apart as quickly as it started. Reason #3: None of His hired staff had any ministry experience and didn’t even really understand what His purpose was. Reason #4: Jesus’ idea of sending out missionaries/church planting included taking no money with you to help start the venture and just looking for homes to stay in. Reason #5: His target audience was the poor and the outcasts of society. Reason #6: He didn’t network. Reason #7: There was no building–church was always in some different location. Reason #8: One of the requirements on the membership form to join Jesus’ church was, “Will you give away all your possessions and follow Me?” Reason #9: It wasn’t until after He died and the next pastors took over that the thing took off. Reason #10: He tried His best to be a nobody. I’m not saying that our churches should model everything that Jesus did–obviously He did certain things for reasons specific to His own mission. My point is simply that most of us pastors zealously strive toward building a successful ministry. I wish we would re-channel that zeal/passion towards simply following God in our lives. Isn’t it interesting that it was only after Jesus had died that He became such a huge figure in history? Paul himself said it in Philippians 2:5-11: Have the same mindset as Christ Jesus: 6 Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage; 7 rather, he made himself nothing by taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. 8 And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to death— even death on a cross! 9 Therefore God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name, 10 that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth,...

The Son of God didn’t need to come in order that people who are hungry could have food. There’s already plenty of food on earth, and people could be fed without Him having to leave His heavenly throne. He did, however, instruct us to feed the hungry. The Son of God didn’t need to come in order to give people money who were in poverty. If so, He did a poor job fulfilling His mission. The poor Guy (pardon the pun) had no money of His own. He did, however, instruct us to take care of the poor and give them money. But if the Son of God had never come to save humanity from our sins, we would all still be lost and eternally separated from God. That was the reason why He needed to come. Jesus did, in fact, perform “social” acts of justice. But these “social” acts of Jesus were done in the context of declaring that the Savior of the World had come. Not just as acts of social justice. For example, when Jesus would heal people, He often told them their sins were forgiven, and they would be healed. In one instance, Jesus tells a paralyzed man that his sins are forgiven. The leaders get upset at Him for claiming to have such authority. So Jesus proves it to them by telling the guy to rise up and walk. It’s no different today. Today, we declare a Gospel that itself declares that Jesus is the only Son of God, and that only He is worthy of worship. That all other gods and religions are just man-made. And just like back then, today’s leaders (even within supposed “Christianity”) object. These proponents of a social gospel get upset: “How dare you claim that He has such authority! What narrow-mindedness! Jesus was about loving the poor and feeding the hungry–THAT is the gospel.” Case in point: Audra and I met a lady several months back in Alabama who left her denomination, and the last straw for her was the that denomination’s response in the relief effort in Haiti. According to her, churches were encouraged to provide much-needed packages for the survivors of the earthquake. However, they weren’t...

I’m back to eating normal foods again! Although it’s great to be eating again, I realize that food doesn’t satisfy as much as my mind made me to believe when I was fasting. There’s a slight shallowness in the satisfaction of eating. As I end this fast, one question lingers: Did I fail at fasting? That depends on how you look at it. When I set out to do this water fast, I intended to fast after the initial hunger pains subsided all the way until “true hunger” manifested itself. For many people, that’s around 40 days. I was expecting that to happen for me at about 25 days, because of my low weight and body type. That didn’t happen–I didn’t make it that far. So from that angle, I failed. But I don’t see this as a failure. I see it as a learning experience and a time of growth. I also think that anytime we attempt to do anything to draw us closer to God, it’s never a failure. God has already done some great things in my heart. I think this idea of failure is why people are afraid to try anything–why we keep it safe. And it’s why people in ministry put so much pressure on themselves to over-perform. After all, I don’t want to become a pastor of a church, only to have the attendance dwindle in size after a year–I want it to grow! But can we look at it from another angle? Maybe the true measure of success is if we give it our all to God. If we follow Him where He leads–even if that means less people are onboard. Let’s not judge whether what we do is or isn’t a success until we stand before God on that day. Would He say that I failed in this fast? If you were to die on February 9th, what would He say about your life during those first 40 days of the year? Let’s live with THAT in...