daddy4ms

As men, we often find it hard to have another man in our lives who knows us well.  And I mean knows all about us--the good and the bad.  This is one area that I have not invested a lot of time in over the years.  Obviously, I share with my wife, fellow pastors, and others within leadership.  But what about someone else. As a pastor, it is nice to have someone outside of my church to share with openly and challenge me. I don't like to use the word accountability because it tends to focus on trying harder or relying on self rather than being empowered by the Holy Spirit.  A great book on this topic is Gospel Centered Discipleship by Jonathan Dodson. He has a great section about what he calls "fight clubs." You can view posts about the book here & here. I have been meeting for several weeks now with a guy who is helping me in this area.  I share openly about how I am doing spiritually, specifics about marriage & parenting, what is going on in the ...

I finished Gospel Centered Discipleship by Jonathan Dodson on Thursday.  I highly recommend the book.  It along with Jesus + Nothing = Everything by Tullian Tchividjian have been great reminders of the importance and need to focus on the gospel for all of life not just salvation.  I plan to share some quotes over the next few posts about the book.  "the gospel of grace wasn't just something that makes you a disciple; it matures you as a disciple." "Instead of being the church, we have fallen into merely doing church, and far too often our doing is disconnected from being." "But the biblical gospel is much more than personal conversion to gain a reservation in heaven. It is conversion to Jesus Christ as Lord. Moreover, the gospel has two more "thirds." The gospel calls us into community and onto mission." "Unfortunately, many of us have a disembodied Jesus, perhaps a bobble-head Jesus, all Head and very little body." ...

I am reading through Gospel Centered Discipleship by Jonathan Dodson.  I am thoroughly enjoying the book as it resonates with many of my thoughts regarding evangelism, discipleship, and the gospel.  On Thursday, I read a great chapter on the Holy Spirit.  Here are a few quotes for you to ponder: "Fear of charismatic excess has driven many evangelicals to emphasize Jesus to the exclusion of the Spirit." "Evangelicals rarely emphasize the role of the Spirit in motivation for discipleship." "What is gospel holiness? In short, gospel holiness is obedience to Christ procured from belief in the gospel, not from one's moral effort. . . Morality is self-centered; gospel holiness is Christ centered. . . .Gospel holiness requires both truth and grace." "What if you began to expect unplanned change and interpreted it as an opportunity to rely on the Spirit?" "Yet, instead of failing at each temptation of food, faith, and fame, Jesus su...

Currently, I am serving on a committee at church called the Discipleship Ministries Committee.  It has replaced the Christian Education committee.  We have been discussing for a few months what we should focus on and what are responsibilities are.  One of the committee members sent us an email with a link to an article.  This article linked to a specific website called Gospel Centered Discipleship.  I went to the site and downloaded two free e-books.  I started reading one of those e-books on Thursday.  It is called Grow: Reproducing through Organic Discipleship by Winfield Bevins.  I have not finished the e-book, but was challenged by several through provoking quotes.  Here are a few quotes from the introduction and first two chapters: "In a similar way, a church's discipleship strategy must be structured enough to maintain order, but organic enough to change with the ongoing needs of the church as it grows or it will hinder its growth."...

Today has been a busy day!  I started my normal Thursday routine by heading to the Perk for coffee and reading.  I was blessed by the encouragement of a couple who stopped by for coffee on their way to a meeting.  You know who you are!  I  finished Holmen's book, Impress Faith On Your Kids and will write a review later this week.  I also started an e-book I received from Gospel Centered Discipleship.  You can visit the site here . I will share a few thought provoking quotes from this e-book later too.  I also was able to spend some time today serving pulled pork at Kropf Lumber's Customer Appreciation Day.  It was a fun change of routine and kept me busy.  I enjoyed conversation with Jena as we served hundreds of sandwiches.  It was good to see many unfamiliar faces as I don't spend a lot of time at Kropf, not because it is not a nice store, but because I am handy-man challenged.  If something breaks at my house, I am not mu...