Blog
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When I heard that best-selling author and Christian counselor Larry Crabb had passed away last week, I got to some remembering. I recall seeing in the summer of 1989, a video series based on Crabb’s book Inside Out, in which he argued, if we are going to take seriously Jesus Christ, then we need to move […]
The highlight of our week around VantagePoint3 was Wednesday’s online conversation, Spiritual Formation: What Matters Most? Dr. Keith Anderson joined Pam Edwards and me as we explored, along with 90+ other friends, the topic of the Spirit’s forming work in our lives and our communities. In preparation for this time I asked Keith for five recommendations […]
I pin my hopes to quiet processes and small circles, in which vital and transforming events take place. Rufus Jones (1863-1948) VP3’s The Journey is a person-centered process. It sets the table for the development of people, not the mastery of the material. This does not mean that the wisdom of the content is unimportant. Rather, it […]
A Mentoring Round Table Prayer For all the different stuff on our plates and stirring in our hearts, Father, we ask for a generous dose of your Spirit’s care and nurture. We recognize very clearly as we look around this table of folks, seeing face-upon-face of individuals who know deeply your blessing in their lives, may these people have […]
Jesus tells a story of a person who was traveling down from Jerusalem to Jericho. Along the way the person gets attacked, brutally beaten, robbed, and left in a ditch on the side of the road. Three people come across this dying man. The first two, as Jesus tells it, are respectable people in the […]
Since early October we have sought to gather a like-minded network of friends to pause, pay attention, and pray. The 210 Pause. At 2:10 PM each day an alarm chimes on my phone reminding me to turn my attention toward the Lord, to engage in this practice of prayer. I pause and pay attention and pray […]
We are hosting an online event Leadership Development: What Matters Most? next Wednesday over the lunch hour (12-1:30 CT). In preparation for the time, I have been revisiting the Apostle Paul’s stunning words to the Corinthian church. Why? Because years ago Dallas Willard suggested that this is where all discussions, admonitions, strategies, and efforts of Christian leadership […]
I woke up early this morning because I’m worried about Heather. I’ve been reaching out to her for months. I call her my “precious one” and she calls me “her angel.” Heather was in a hard place before COVID. Then she lost her job. And her husband’s work transitioned home. Then her husband was furloughed […]
In 2015 I penned the sentence, “Many Christians are startled and saddened by the degree of aloneness they experience in adulthood,” in our Walking with Others process. The loneliness brought on by this pandemic brings an urgency to the need we feel in running toward people during this season. Few things are more predictive of not finishing well […]
During times of trouble, the church has historically run toward the fire. As you navigate this pandemic and the trials it brings to your everyday life, what does it look like for you to run toward the fire? As a ministry working with Christian leaders, we see it as running toward people. And running toward […]
In early April I repeatedly heard the word “pivot” to describe what we as leaders and organizations needed to be doing to adjust and survive in this global pandemic. I resisted the word. The metaphor is one I understand. I played basketball and could pivot with the best of my teammates. Redirect. Turn. Pass. And […]
Each Tuesday morning we meet as a VP3 team over Zoom. And each Tuesday morning one of us brings a focusing thought. This morning Pam brought a prayer. As we read it aloud to each other, twice through, I think it quieted us and centered us a bit, which is not necessarily easy in this […]