Vision & Culture

Do you have big dreams of what you want to do for the Kingdom? After decades of striving to build, serve and write for God, I’ve learned a few things. I’ve learned about the incessant presence of pride in every ministry endeavor. About the destructive power of sin, even among Christian leaders, and the need for repentance. About the people and spiritual forces stacked against ministry work. I’ve also learned we must be willing to sacrifice and pay a price without any guarantees of success (however “success” is defined in your context). In the 1932 classic titled Hudson Taylor’s Spiritual [...]

When Hudson Taylor was young and in love, his heart was broken by the woman of his dreams. She didn’t want to go to China and live with him on the mission field. The young missionary had hoped and waited for two long years that she would say “yes” to a life together, but it wasn’t to be. In Hudson Taylor’s Spiritual Secret (1932), his journal reveals his sadness during this time: “I had a melting season. I was thoroughly softened and humble….” This surely wasn’t the encouragement he’d prayed for before heading out to the field. The young [...]

Sometimes we look at what someone else has built, what someone else has been given, where someone else has been placed, and we begin to compare our own life against theirs. Peter did it too. After Jesus had restored him and given him his calling, Peter looked over his shoulder at John and asked, “Lord, what about him?” Jesus answered: “If I want him to remain alive until I return, what is that to you? You must follow me,” (John 21:21-22, NIV). Theodore Roosevelt once observed that “comparison is the thief of joy.” He was right, but Jesus goes [...]

There are seasons when the demands of life simply outpace our ability to meet them. Paul knew something about this. Writing from prison, he said: “…I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances. I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want,” (Philippians 4:11-12, NIV). Notice that word learned. Contentment in all things wasn’t something that came naturally to Paul. It was something he [...]

Have you ever been in a season where you felt stuck? Not because of anything you did wrong, but simply because nothing seemed to be moving forward, no matter how hard you pushed. It can be hard to know what to do with that feeling. We are wired to get things done. Waiting doesn’t come naturally, and sometimes it can feel like we have been forgotten. But waiting is baked into the Christian life. Isaiah says: “[T]hose who hope in the Lord will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow [...]

It’s rarely a crisis that pulls us away from our deepest intentions. More often, it’s the back-to-back demands of a full life that slowly crowd out the things we care about most. Paul wrote, “Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for human masters,” (Colossians 3:23, NIV). The problem is that even when we want to work with all our heart for God, the demands of a full life have a way of quietly putting this desire aside. In other words, it’s easy to forget. Dallas Willard put his finger [...]

Every leader I know tracks numbers. Revenue. Attendance. Headcount. Growth. There's nothing wrong with that. Data matters. But here's a question worth asking every day: What am I really optimizing for? It's easy, almost imperceptible, how the urgent crowds out the eternal. A full calendar. A tough quarter. A difficult personnel decision. Suddenly, the kingdom feels abstract, and the movement of business feels very real. But Jesus doesn't leave us guessing about priorities: "[S]eek first his kingdom and his righteousness…" Not second. Not when things settle down. First. A.W. Tozer put it plainly: "We are called to an everlasting [...]