Writing
Essays and working ideas from more than fifteen years of writing about faith, leadership, discipleship, the church, family, and life in Austin.
Start here
A few essays that introduce the questions and convictions behind this site.
- The Organizing Principle of the Church
- Leadership and Administration
- What Is a Missional Community? — Definition
- Transitioning Your Church to Missional Communities
For sustained explorations of a topic, browse the Selected Series.
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All writing
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The Calm Before the Storm
These last two weeks have been very restful. College ministry has been winding down for the year, and I had a full blown retreat with our staff and a mini-retreat with the Nearly/Newly Wed class Leadership…
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Inconvenience
Small inconveniences are a good opportunity to slow down and think. I’m waiting for my tire to get fixed, and it’s been a good forty-five minutes of nothing to do. I’m reflecting on my last post…
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Redeeming Love
At The Austin Stone today, Aaron Ivey led us in worship to song called “Praise for a Fountain Opened” or more commonly, “There is a Fountain Filled with Blood”. The last line of the fourth verse,…
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The Holy Spirit
I’ve been dwelling on the Holy Spirit as I read Jaeson Ma‘s book The Blueprint. Here is my simple, yet difficult, thought that arose: the degree to which the gospel is central in my life is…
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Multisite Church
I just finished reading through the new 9 Marks Journal on Multisite church. I thought it was a fantastic and balanced presentation of arguments both for and against the concept. Ed Stetzer dialogued through the basic…
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The Austin Stone Family Reunion
Join the Austin Stone on Saturday, May 16, for our church-wide Family Reunion + Baptism at First EV Free Church. Family Reunion + Baptism is a chance for us to gather as an entire church family…
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Google Searching
Apparently, Google performs 400 million queries per day. My question is: “who answered all these questions before Google came around?” For me, I think I just spent most of my time wondering what the answer would…
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The Reason for God | Chapter 4
I just finished chapter 4 last night, which wrestles with the challenge of the church perpetrating so much injustice in the world. Keller approaches the question in a couple different ways: He addresses the common argument…
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Retreat!
I’ll be spending the next few days at a retreat with our staff team from The Austin Stone. It should be a great time of refreshment and encouragement as we seek God together for the future…
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6 Month Bloggerversary
Yeah, that’s right…I know it’s a nerdy title, but I’ve officially been writing here for 6 months. Below is a summary of my favorites and yours: Forgiveness in Marriage Web Tools I Use Attractional and Missional…
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Reading “The Reason for God”
I’ve found myself needing to repent of my lack of reading actual books as of late, so I’ve got a few things on the docket I want to read. I just picked up and started Tim…
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Paper Pastors | Pyromaniacs
Pyromaniacs is a blog I frequent often. Although their tone can often be a little on the combative side, I thoroughly enjoy the truth that they dish out. The excerpt below is from a blog post…