Monthly Archives: May 2017

BLOG 5/30/17. “I FORGOT THE MESSAGE!” A New Yorker cartoon some years ago pictured the runner Phidippides standing before the elders in Athens with this humorously bewildered and befuddled look on his face, declaring: “I forgot the message!” He had … Continue reading →

BLOG 5/27/17. THE FRIGHTENING METAPHOR OF DARKNESS I have come to have a new appreciation for the frequent use of darkness in Scriptures as a metaphor for all kinds of frightening realities. It so happed that the other morning I … Continue reading →

BLOG 5/23/17. THE GIFT OF THE PASTOR-TEACHER In the key passage on the essential components of disciple-making (Ephesians 4:10-14), or those gifts that bring all of God’s people into their maturity, and into the ministry to which they are called … Continue reading →

BLOG 5/20/17. EQUIPPING ALL GOD’S PEOPLE TO BE APOSTLES I operate on the presupposition that the divine purpose in the church is in order to recreate the human community into what God intended the human community to be, so that … Continue reading →

BLOG 5/16/17. THE CHURCH: EQUIPPED TO COMMUNICATE In my last Blog, I was trying to make somewhat intelligible how important it was for the Christian community to equip all of its members to understand their culture, i.e., to be equipped … Continue reading →

BLOG 5/13/17. THE ROLE OF PROPHECY IN THE NEW CREATION COMMUNITY I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again: I’m continually disappointed at how consistently Biblical expositors skip over the awesome consequences of Paul’s reference to the Ascended Lord’s … Continue reading →

BLOG 5/9/17. GOD’S CALLING INVOLVES RADICAL CHANGE IN US I don’t know whether it is some kind of mindlessness, or is downright humorous if one looks at it carefully, but we folk who profess faith in Jesus sometimes get lost … Continue reading →

BLOG 5/6/17. THE CHURCH: CALLED FOR A PURPOSE There is a generous degree of obscurity, or maybe amnesia, in the church as to its purpose in the design of God. When one joins Alcoholics Anonymous, or the Boy Scouts, there … Continue reading →

BLOG 5/2/17. BEYOND THE HAZE AND DISTORTIONS SURROUNDING THE CHURCH, WHICH OBSCURE ITS PURPOSE AS INTIMATE COMMUNITY OK, I know that the traditional church institutions that have dominated the scene for so long, and still are present, have been a … Continue reading →