Join Rick for the eighth episode in a new ongoing series—“JESUS IN THE REAL WORLD.” In a curious encounter with His disciples and a gathered crowd, Jesus suggests that weather forecasting is a good metaphor for moral decision-making. Then He asks a question that seems self-evident: “Why can’t you decide for yourselves what is right?”…
Join Rick for the seventh episode in a new ongoing series—“JESUS IN THE REAL WORLD.” Here in January our focus has shifted to resolutions—making commitments to change or improve aspects of our life. But are New Year’s resolutions consistent with the way of Jesus, or not?…
Join Rick for the sixth episode in a new ongoing series—“JESUS IN THE REAL WORLD.” The “messaging” around Christmas is deeply embedded in us—at no other time during the year is gift-giving such a major focus of our life. And there’s a lot on the line for us.…
Join Rick for the fifth episode in a new ongoing series—“JESUS IN THE REAL WORLD.” Jesus said: “You parents—if your children ask for a loaf of bread, do you give them a stone instead? Or if they ask for a fish, do you give them a snake?…
Join Rick for the third episode in a new ongoing series—“JESUS IN THE REAL WORLD.” We live in an age of enemies… Never has it been easier, or more likely, that we will create enemies just by living our life… Case In Point: Choose any random post on the social media site Nextdoor and you’ll see enemy-making up close—guaranteed.…
Join Rick for the 9th episode of the new series KINGDOM COME. Miracles are startling because they are supposed to be impossible, right? And in this episode, Rick tells a personal story that certainly qualifies as a miracle on every level.…
Join Rick for the fourth episode in a new ongoing series—“JESUS IN THE REAL WORLD.” An ideology is “a system of ideas that aspires both to explain the world and to change it.” Another way to describe an ideology is the story we live inside.…
Join Rick for the 7th episode of the new series KINGDOM COME. Rick often uses a favorite phrase to describe the mission of Jesus: He came to make beauty out of ugly. Not “pretty”… Beauty. In a very real, practical, visceral way, beauty-making and beauty-revealing is exactly what Jesus is doing in the world, and in your life, right now… We need “beauty-fighters” in this season of ugly… And it’s always been a season of ugly in the world.…
Join Rick for the 12th and final episode of the series IN HIS IMAGE. The tough, marginal, and challenging conditions that produce rare wine from stressed vines also produce martyrs and saints and “beautiful messes” like you and me. Paul tells us we are “struck down, but not destroyed… so that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our body.”…
The other day a youth pastor friend asked me a question that pinpoints a major shift that’s changing his ministry landscape: “How do I get my kids to care about worship? Nothing seems to be working.” My friend isn’t alone. The “worship problem” is quickly spreading, and deepening, in youth ministry.…
