Category: gospel
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Why Multiplication Feels So Far Away
For nearly 20 years, I’ve prayed for and pursued the multiplication of disciples and churches here in Austin, while also supporting the spread of the gospel overseas. I believe multiplication is at the heart of the Great Commission—Jesus calls us to make disciples of all nations, and that work necessarily includes both sending and reproducing.…
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Fluent in Feelings, Silent in the Spirit?
Over the past several years, I’ve enjoyed the growing fluency in the language of emotion. Feelings wheels were used in a web design sprint I was involved in. Therapeutic language is more commonplace, for both good and bad. But this all is a vocabulary to help us name our experiences and emotion with nuance and…
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Forerunning, Not Competing
I recently got back from a spring break trip to Florida—family, friends, sunshine, the usual mix of chaos and rest that comes with traveling with kids. I left a day early, though. My oldest had a playoff soccer game, so I packed up and hit the road solo while everyone else stayed behind. That night,…
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Lost and Led: Learning to Trust Jesus in the Unknown
I hate feeling lost. I love leading. Recently, I found myself in an environment where I had zero familiarity—a dance competition for my daughter. Let’s just say I’m not exactly a seasoned “dance dad.” I showed up feeling like I had been dropped behind enemy lines with no map. The dance world has its own…
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Hope that Does Not Put Us to Shame
Early this week, I found myself staring at the daunting task ahead. A quarter of my time has already passed for support-raising, and as I evaluated the results so far, I felt the creeping weight of doubt. Will I reach the goal? Some days, it just seems insurmountable. To make matters harder, I was receiving…
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Meekness, Humility, and Humiliation
In the trials I experienced during the fall of 2023, one of the most profound insights I received came during a conversation with a friend. As we worked through conflict, he encouraged me to ask God for and pursue meekness. The word struck me. I have always relied on intelligence, and leadership roles have often…
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From Faith, By Faith, and For Faith
In this transition to a new season of ministry, I’ve been reflecting quite a bit on the journey God has led us through. I have often described this interstitial season as a feeling of “wandering in the wilderness,” which is an allusion to Israel and Exodus. While I can’t see fully what lies ahead, I…
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Strategies I Use to Share the Gospel
I’ve been teaching a Theological Survey course at The Austin Stone this past fall and spring, and it has been a great experience in equipping the saints to think deeply about God, to love Him with a whole heart, and obey His commandments with willing hands. Yesterday, one of the class participants asked me about…
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Jesus and Mission
I’ve spilt quite a bit of digital ink over the last few months working through the reasons why we pursue missional communities, the core practices of missional communities, leadership systems for missional communities, and a variety of other practical things related to missional communities. For today’s post, I wanted to share a sermon that my…
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An Interview with Eric Geiger
My friend Eric Geiger did a short Skype interview with me on the topic of the Gospel and Community. I’d love to hear your thoughts!
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The Difficulty of Balancing Ministry and Discipleship
I’ve found that it can be extremely difficult to continually cultivate the centrality of discipleship, or the process of selectively investing a small number of individuals in order to teach obedience to what Jesus taught (Matthew 28:18-20). I tend to think of Ministry and Discipleship in two different grids: Ministry Discipleship Reactive Proactive Low relational…
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Soccer and the Kingdom of God
I played soccer up until high school, and always enjoyed the game, so when it came time to put Micah into sports, soccer was a natural choice. After a few stints at the YMCA, we joined our neighborhood league and I volunteered to help coach our team. It’s been an interesting few weeks in the…