Are You In Hell? I’ve Been There, Too. (Thoughts On Suffering)

In 1793 Andrew Fuller, Secretary of the first Baptist Missionary Society of England, commenting on the need for missions efforts in India said, “… it seems almost as deep as the center of the earth. Who will venture to explore it?”

To which William Carey replied, “I will go down, but you must hold the rope.”

I love that.

I love the idea of standing up and volunteering to go bring the Gospel to people who are suffering. The imagery of Isaiah 6, where Isaiah steps forth and courageously responds to to God’s call, “Here I am! Send me!” sets my heart on fire every time I read it. Oh that I were that...

Kingdom Conversations – Keith Duff, Shepherding Pastor, Village Bible Church

I just got off the phone with Keith Duff who is the Shepherding Pastor at Village Bible Church (http://www.villagebible.org/) in Sugar Grove, IL. I asked Keith what his top priority for the church is this year.

He said that the main thing they are trying to figure out is “How do we mover our people to be passionate about the kingdom of God?” Not just who they are as individuals in Christ but about getting involved in what the church is doing as a whole.

Within that Keith sees a number of things they as church leaders could be doing better: helping people to understand their own gifts and how they could be used; communicating about existing ministry opportunities; identifying and going after new ministry opportunities.

To...

Planning the Next Phase of Haitian Relief

The devastation of the 7.0 magnitude earthquake on January 12, 2010 in Port-au-Prince, Haiti (and the 49 magnitude 4.5 or greater aftershocks) is heart-wrenching. The pictures of the damage… of the hurt and suffering experienced by the people there… of the chaos of a massive world effort to provide the basics: emergency care and medicine, food, shelter, security… are haunting. (Click the following links to see pictures from January 13th , January 18th, January 22nd, and February 1st. WARNING: the images are graphic.)

According to a...

Clarifying Business as Mission Objectives

The following is another excerpt from the BAM Survey 2007 Report. The BAM Survey 2007 Report is an in-depth assessment of the state of the Business as Mission movement based on survey responses from 497 people in 38 countries. You can purchase an electronic copy of the BAM Survey 2007 Report for $14.99 here.

Whereas evangelism, profit, and (to a lesser extent) mission to the developing world were the historic points of...

“But, If Not” My Favorite (lesser known) MLK Speech

Everyone knows Martin Luther King, Jr.’s “I Have a Dream” speech. At least I hope they do. I remember in grade school spending a lot of time studying Dr. King and his contributions to the Civil Rights movement (I’m particularly happy about this seeing as I went to school in, what was at the time, a rural suburb of Atlanta, GA where racism was very real).

But my favorite — FAVORITE – speech by Dr. King is from a sermon he gave on November 5, 1967 at Ebenezer Baptist Church called “But, If Not” (download MP3 of the sermon).

I say to you, this morning, that if you have never found something so dear and precious to you that you will die for...

Is one day really enough?

Full text of the speech after the jump…