“But what do I do?”

I hear that a lot after I talk to a group. I tell them about how following Jesus calls us to change the world. I tell them how Jesus came to inaugurate the new age, to make it “on earth as it is in heaven” and that he needs our help to do it. I encourage them to come on board. They are all excited and charged up… and then somebody wants to know what to do next.

Jonathan Wilson-Hartgrove over at Rutba House in Durham posted 50 ways you can get started…

1. Fast for the 2 billion people who live on less than a dollar a day.
2. Contact your local crisis pregnancy center and invite a pregnant woman to live with your family.
3. Ask your pastor if someone on your church’s sick list would like a visit.
4. Join an open AA meeting and befriend someone there.
5. Adopt a child.
6. Mow your neighbor’s grass.
7. Volunteer to tutor a kid at your local elementary school. (Try to get to know the kid’s family.)
8. Grow your own tomatoes–and share them.
9. Ask a small group in your community to meet regularly for intercessory prayer.
10. Build a wheel chair ramp for someone who is home-bound.

Go here to read the rest of the list.

I have known him for almost a year.  I have helped him move into three different places in that time, have watched him enter and end bad relationships, have been incredibly blessed by him, have laughed with him until my sides hurt, have been frustrated with him, have yelled at him once or twice, have held him as he cried, have held his daughter in my lap and fed her my breakfast and wiped her nose on my shirt tail. By any definition of the word, he is my friend. » Read the rest of this entry «

All my life, I have been warned about the ‘wrong crowd’. We are told the way the world works is that one bad apple will ruin the whole barrel, that the bad kids will influence the good kids, that bad is more influential than good. It even sounds right.

The big thing for me, though, is that Jesus did not seem to believe it. » Read the rest of this entry «

It will come as no surprise to long-time readers of mine that I believe in the Kingdom of God, not as an abstract concept or just the hope of heaven when I die but also as a present, current reality and the Gospel Jesus preached.

I came across a beautiful discussion of the Kingdom of God by Brian McLaren. While his views will not be a surprise to anyone who has read his The Secret Message of Jesus (which is a must read, and one of the 10 or so most influential books on me and my ministry), they are definitely different than what is taught in churches all across America.

The kingdom of God, Jesus said, was “good news for the poor.” There is a personal dimension to the kingdom of God, to be sure, in which we have a personal relationship with the King. But there is also a social dimension to the kingdom of God, a dimension that challenges normal human (and religious) assumptions about peace, war, prosperity, poverty, privilege, responsibility, religion, and God.

You can go here and read the whole article

By the way, I know I have been largely silent on the blog of late. It is not because nothing is happening, but because so much is happening. I hope to get caught up on my blogging soon. In the interim, feel free to peruse the archives and please, tell your friends about us.