Crises in our Churches – One
Classrooms at Gateway are more than conduits for information dissemination. They are a leader-shaping laboratory. During a recent presentation on ecclesiology, students poured out their discouragement and frustration over the state of their churches. The professor set aside his notes and addressed the issues at hand. He followed up that class session with a series […]
The Long View
Thomas Jefferson Bowen was the first Southern Baptist missionary to both Nigeria and Brazil. His largely forgotten, but captivating story is told in the new book Unthinkable: The Triumph and Tragedy of Forgotten American Hero T. J. Bowen by my friend Jim Hardwicke. The Nigerian and Brazilian Baptist Convention each have millions of members, thousands […]
A Global/Eternal Perspective
As Americans, even as American Christians, we think too much of ourselves and too much about ourselves and the problems in our culture. We are part of a global/eternal movement and maintaining a global/eternal perspective is essential to our spiritual well-being, as well as for the good of our mission. We tend to focus on […]
New Commitment to a Proven Channel
A few weeks ago, I began this five-part series on changing the channel of our denominational conversation. We are preoccupied with so many pressing issues—political, social, moral, ethical, and denominational—that demand attention. It’s hard to ignore the clamor and focus on goals related to our core mission, but we must do so! Dr. Ronnie Floyd, […]
Reaching Teenagers
One of the pressing challenges for Christian leaders is staying focused on our core mission of making disciples. Doing this requires evangelizing the lost, stabilizing new converts, developing stronger believers, and ultimately producing new leaders for our movement. There are so many other distracting agendas that demand attention. Staying focused on our core task is […]
Calling Future Leaders
Christian leaders face a significant challenge of staying focused on our core mission of making disciples. Doing this requires evangelizing the lost, stabilizing new converts, developing stronger believers, and ultimately producing new leaders for our movement. There are so many other distracting agendas—political, social, moral, ethical, and even denominational—that demand attention. Staying focused on our […]
More Churches
One of the most challenging aspects of Christian leadership today is staying focused on our core mission—the Great Commission—and devoting our efforts to fulfilling strategic goals toward that end. Competing agendas constantly shout for our attention. Focusing our attention on what really matters is even harder today. Since our denomination lacks centralized authority and one […]
Changing the Channel
One of the most challenging aspects of Christian leadership today is staying focused on our core mission—the Great Commission—and devoting our efforts to fulfilling strategic goals toward that end. There are so many seemingly pressing issues politically, socially, morally, ethically, and denominationally that demand attention. Media—legacy and social—do whatever it takes to drive eyeballs to […]
Chaos and Peace
When two people or groups have a disagreement, it’s called a conflict. When multiple conflicts break out, with people and groups changing sides depending on the issue, that’s called chaos. In the past, conflict has been considered a normal part of life—but not chaos. That seems to have changed in the past year as countless […]
What Always Matters
Over the past few days, many issues and events have clamored for attention. The political upheaval surrounding the impeachment of former President Trump has dominated the news. Confirmation of heinous acts by Ravi Zacharias has further embarrassed Christians who are disgusted by continued moral failures and abusive behavior by prominent leaders. Pastors attacking public figures—like […]