Courageous Resolutions

I’m in need to rally some prayer partners together again.  I’ve been so humbled to be a part of this Courageous movement by helping develop the Honor Begins at Home curriculum that is available in January.  And, for whatever reason, it appears God doesn’t have me done with this work of ministering to fathers just …

READ MORE

Courageous is Coming to Greenwood

I was thrilled to find out the other week that the movie Courageous will be showing on opening weekend in Greenwood!  We were able to get a private screening for leaders in Greenwood, and the response was incredible.  Church, ministry, and business leaders got behind this and we made a plea to get it here, and God obviously wants this movie on fatherhood to impact this community.

We are working out the details for advanced tickets, and I should be able to give you some info on that soon.  I am indebted to Alan Quigley and others for doing so much to help get the movie here.  This movie will impact homes, and churches need to be ready for what the next step is if you can get the people to the movie.  It’s a great, emotional experience, but don’t leave it there!

For those of you who follow my blog, you are aware that I have been blessed to be a part of writing a Bible study to accompany the movie entitled “Honor Begins at Home.” Since so much of the study has critical clips to the movie, it won’t be released until after opening weekend.  I am planning on leading the study at some time in some place, but just waiting on some few details.  So any fathers, aspiring fathers, mothers, empty-nesters, etc. who want to hear more of what God expects in the home, I would love to have you join me in this 8-week curriculum.  You can see an early sample of the curriculum here.

Here’s the synopsis of the movie:

READ MORE

Biblical Songwriting Tips

As the Worship Academy has been progressing through the summer, we have studied many different roles of the worship leader.

One of those roles is that of a biblical songwriter.  I made a lot of mistakes when I first started writing songs.  I’m still learning so much with each attempt, but I’ve found some things to watch out for when you write a worship song.

Here’s a list of biblical songwriting tips that I shared with the group a couple of weeks ago:

READ MORE

Bad Church Sign of the Week: Loving the…

Someone sent me this church sign this week.  Theologically, I understand what they are trying to convey, but I am curious in your thoughts. Was this a wise phrase to put up on their church sign?

Update on Courageous

I’ve had some people ask as of late concerning progress for Courageous. On one end, the movie has been edited and being screened around the country.  If you have seen the Soul Surfer movie, you can check out the exciting trailer for Courageous. On my end, I have been asked to write a few more …

READ MORE

Founding Freedoms – New LifeWay Curriculum

  I was so excited to receive these copies in the mail of LifeWay’s LifeTruths upcoming quarterly edition.  The crew at LifeWay does a fantastic job at this Bible study curriculum geared towards parents. I was honored to write for the second time for this publication.  The first time I wrote a curriculum called “I …

READ MORE

Robert’s Rules of Order vs. the Holy Bible (Which Guides Your Church’s Meetings?)

I’m still in awe of a meeting we had at church last night.  A group of 100 leaders from our church have been gathering together to pray and to plan in this One Initiative our church has been going through.  Last night, we discussed some possible changes that would affect everyone.  From the report that I get from friends, if those type of changes were being discussed in some congregations, it would have gotten ugly.

Let me give you an example.

A friend called me a couple of years ago after a church business meeting.  In tears, he retold of the ungodly things stated among the people of God.  He told me concerning personal attacks that took place.  He told me of the name-calling, the cursing, and the selfishness that pervaded the entire meeting.

He asked me what I thought went wrong.

READ MORE

10 Things That Will Kill Your Men’s Ministry

Recently, I was talking to a buddy about why or why not men’s ministries work in certain churches.  I tried to condense what we talked about, so here is a list of 10 things that will kill your church’s men’s ministry:

1.  Hypocritical Leadership – You won’t find perfect men to lead your men’s ministry, but you better find men who are consistently striving towards godliness.  Men can spot fakes easily and provides easy excuses for them.
2.  Getting Too Close and Personal – You need to allow them to get close, but don’t force them to act in a manner against God-given manliness.  Your group can be spiritual without group hugs.
3.  Not Getting Close and Personal Enough – While you don’t force men to be something they are not, don’t also settle for anything less than biblical community.  They need to be close enough to push each other to love and good deeds (Heb. 10:24-25).
4.  Cliques – When men come to your church’s functions, you need to remove the clique factor among them.  Make sure to get men with the gift of hospitality (that just means they make people feel welcome) at your doors and get men connected with others in the room.
5.  Trying to Copy the Church’s Women Ministry – Just because your church’s women ministry has a hanging of the greens doesn’t mean you get your guys to decorate the church too.  It works cause it is for women.  Let guys be guys while always challenging them to be men of God.

READ MORE

I Could Use Some Courageous Prayers

This week, I am hunkering down and working on the Bible study curriculum for the upcoming movie by Sherwood Pictures, Courageous.  I shared on the blog a while back about how humbling an opportunity it was to work on this project.  As the Kendrick brothers are working on the production side of the film right now for a September 2011 release, I have the task of sorting through the movie themes, taking their direction, and working on some of the Bible studies that will be a curriculum for a church to go through to accompany the movie.

I’ve met 2 of 4 deadlines, but the most difficult are on their way.  One Bible study has been submitted for editing, but now I’ve got to work on the remaining 7.  The goal of this entire project is for men to step up and be the godly fathers that He requires.  There is no telling what God could do through this entire project to impact homes, churches, and even cities if the boys started rising up and become men of God.

As I lock myself away for the next few days, I would surely appreciate some prayer partners.  If you can pray once, or if you can put my name or the word “Courageous” somewhere where you will see it this week and remember to pray each time you see it, anything would be much appreciated.  This whole project has been bathed in prayer and I want make sure that every word that goes down on paper is from God’s leading!

Here’s specifics on how you can pray:

READ MORE

Election, Limited Atonement, and Other Things That Make You Think

After Jeff’s message on Sunday dealing with election and predestination, I have gotten the chance to have some great followup conversations with church members.  That means, people have had some questions.  So, I thought I would give you a brief summary of some of the conversations.

  1. God is God – If God says that to get into heaven, you have to stand on your head and cluck like a chicken for 475 days straight, you have to.  He’s God.  Get over it.  So the first rule before entering into this conversation is just because something doesn’t feel right or fair doesn’t mean it might not be reality.
  2. Election is in the Bible – Like it or not, the concept of election and predestination are in the Bible.  Are they as thoroughly explained as church discipline, the Great Commission, or Christ’s work on the cross?  No.  But the concept is there even if it isn’t explained in Scripture as thoroughly as we may desire.

READ MORE