Blog
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Blessed Savior, I am not good at resting in the hollow of your hand. Nothing in my experience has taught me this resting. I have been taught how to take charge. I have been taught how to be in control. But how to rest? No, I have no models, no paradigms for resting. That is [...]
"Does anyone really know me?" Loneliness is such a pervasive experience in our culture. We are often surprised and saddened by the degree of aloneness we experience in adulthood. From the outside, it seems like family and work and church would provide a vital sense of place and belonging. The reality of our hurried and [...]
“How can I describe the kingdom of God? What story should I use to illustrate it? The kingdom of God is like a mustard seed planted in the ground. It is the smallest of all seeds, but it becomes the largest of all garden plants; it grows long branches, and birds can make nests in its [...]
God of history and of my heart, so much has happened to me during these whirlwind days: I’ve known death and birth; I have been brave and scared; I have hurt and helped; I’ve been honest, I’ve lied; I’ve destroyed, I’ve created; I’ve been with people, I’ve been lonely; I’ve been loyal, I’ve betrayed; I’ve decided, [...]
On Generosity On our own, we conclude: that there is not enough to go around we are going to run short of money of love of grades of publications of sex of beer of members of years of life we should seize the day seize the goods seize our neighbor’s goods because there is [...]
Almost every day around the VantagePoint3 offices we hear what we call a “mustard seed way” kind of story. God initiates something without fanfare in the human heart. And, over time it grows, without applause, to be fruitful and impactful. Today I was schooled afresh in the solid, fascinating conviction from Pastor Josh Johnson with [...]
Gracious God, from whom every family in heaven and on earth is named, deliver me, I pray, from the easy habit of thinking that my spirituality is something between me and you alone. It is so difficult to accept the idea that my spiritual wholeness cannot be attained outside my life with others. Help [...]
Between last week's wonderful vacation getaway with my wife in Jamaica and this week's prepping for VP3's upcoming Life Rhythms: What Matters Most? webinar conversation, I am finding myself aware yet again of the need to pay attention to the rhythms of my life. Amidst all the stuff of life—demands and tasks, relationships and [...]
God, giver of life you alone know how our life can actually succeed. Teach us in the silence of your presence to reverence this mystery: how in the encounter with you, how under your gaze and in your word we recognize ourselves as your image and likeness. Show us how to let go of whatever [...]
My first introduction to Oak Hills Church in Folsom, California was in the early 2000s at a gathering called the Spiritual Formation Forum in Los Angeles. Several hundred, primarily church leaders like myself, were hungering for and exploring deeper ways of forming adults spiritually in Jesus’ name. I sat in on a session with Mike [...]
“A quiet move of the Holy Spirit across the globe.” Unexplainable. Remarkable. Almost without effort on our part, we are making connections with like-minded ministry leaders who are looking for a process to deepen their own leadership of companionship and lead other to do the same. Enter Michael Pratt, an Indiana-born pastor serving in Ukraine [...]
Sarah was looking for the resource that had changed her sister’s life. I have great conversations with a lot of people when they call into our offices. But this was an exemplary story: A woman from the west coast––we’ll call her Sarah––was on the line. She said, “My sister, Rose, has been a Christian all [...]