I started dating Tina when we were both sixteen and in high school. We have now been together for well over half of our lives. I can barely remember a “me” without her in it. Love you, honey. We started out as friends who dated, and somewhere in all the years since we figured out…

There’s a version of faith that wears you out. You know what I mean. The Sunday morning guilt when you didn’t read your Bible all week. The internal ledger — what you should have done, what you shouldn’t have said, how you ought to be further along by now. The creeping sense that if God…

There’s something most Christians don’t talk about openly. You know the gospel. You’ve heard it preached, you’ve read it in Scripture, maybe you’ve even shared it with someone who didn’t know Jesus. But when a real moment arrives — a friend confessing something they’re ashamed of, a family member clearly wrestling with something deep, a…

Most of us look for ways to talk about faith with the people we care about. But when the moment arrives, something locks up. We imagine ourselves launching into a presentation, handing over a tract, or saying something that makes the other person visibly uncomfortable. So we say nothing. We smile, we move on, and…

Most of us have stood at a party, a church gathering, or a backyard BBQ — cup in hand, nodding along to small talk — and thought, There has to be a better way to actually connect with people. We want real friendships. We want community that goes somewhere. But the distance between “Hi, I’m…

Someone asked me recently: “How do I begin to lead my small group toward true missional living? I want our people to really live out an authentic everyday faith in community with others. Where do we even start?” It’s a question I’ve been asked hundreds of times — and one I lived inside for years…

There’s a quiet frustration in a lot of church small groups right now. The group meets consistently. People open their Bibles, work through a study, pray for each other. And yet, when someone at work asks a hard question, or a neighbor shares that they’re barely holding it together, there’s this hesitation — this reaching…

Most Christians I know genuinely want to make disciples. They believe in the Great Commission. They’ve sat through the sermons. They’ve nodded at the vision statements. And yet — nothing much changes. The rhythms of intentional disciple-making never quite take root. I’ve been in ministry long enough to watch this pattern repeat itself in healthy…

There is a version of parenting that looks responsible on the outside but operates on a ledger on the inside. You love your kids, obviously. But love isn’t the only currency in the house. Behavior is. Compliance is. Reflected well on you is. If any of that lands close to home, you’re not alone. For…

Most small groups don’t fail because the people in them are bad. They fail because even good people doing good things together can drift toward the inside — toward comfort, toward sameness, toward maintaining what’s already working rather than risking what might grow. If you’ve been part of a small group that started well, maybe…

More people than ever are walking away from church — and the ones who haven’t left are often apologizing for it. Tell someone at a neighborhood barbecue that you’re a Christian, and watch what happens. A slight shift in body language. A polite change of subject. We’ve spent decades trying to solve this with better…

You probably feel the pull in two directions. On one side, you know you should be out there sharing the gospel — evangelizing, as the word goes. On the other side, you’re deeply committed to discipleship: walking with people, doing life together, helping them grow in Jesus. And somewhere underneath both of those is a…

No pastor wakes up hoping to lead an unhealthy church. No ministry leader sets a goal of producing nothing of eternal value. And yet — week after week — many of us find ourselves caught in a loop of measuring the same three things: attendance, budget, and building size. It’s not because we’re shallow. It’s…

A reader named Dale wrote me with a question I hear constantly: “I’m trying to learn how to integrate my missional life with my family life — balancing family time with discipling in community. How do I do that without killing my family or never really living on mission in community with others?” Dale, you’re…

You’ve done this before. You sin. You feel the weight of it. You confess, you repent, you mean it this time — and then weeks or days later, there you are again in the same place, feeling the same shame, making the same confession. If willpower were the answer, you’d have figured this out by…

Every pastor and leader knows this feeling. You cast a compelling vision for life on mission. You preach it clearly, model it consistently, and invite people in repeatedly. And still — most of your people stay on the sidelines. They’re kind, faithful in attendance, genuinely committed to Jesus in many ways — and completely unmoved…

Every missional community hits a wall eventually. Maybe it was a busy holiday season that stretched into months. Maybe life got overwhelming — a job change, a move, a new baby. Maybe your group started strong and then slowly, quietly, fizzled out. Whatever happened, you’re looking at your community and wondering: How do we get…

Every week you craft a sermon, plan a set list, and arrange a room — all in service of one message. But what if the room itself is already preaching? I’ve been asking this question for years, and the more I sit with it, the more convinced I am that it deserves a real answer.…