#thingswelearnedontwitter that some #OurCOG people tweet more than others… You know what i’m talking about Mr. @bibliata…

I have been Executive Pastor at Renovatus for all of six months and feel fairly unqualified at this point in my career to impart inspiring leadership lessons.   However, in racking my brain over what to blog about, I realized that what I do have is a lifetime of experience in following.  I also happen to […]

A year ago today Sonja and I were involved in the Church of God Chaplain’s Commission’s bi-annual conference. Sonja recorded in her journal the words of military Chaplains’ wife Tami Gibson…
“As a military chaplain’s wif…

One of the things i do each day is read from Oswald Chambers’ devotional, My Utmost for His Highest. This was the devotion today. It spoke profoundly to me, so i thought i would share it with you, as well.

262011
Those things which proceed out of the mouth come from the heart . . . . For out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, blasphemies. These are the things which defile a man . . . —Matthew 15:18-20

Initially we trust in our ignorance, calling it innocence, and next we trust our innocence, calling it purity. Then when we hear these strong statements from our Lord, we shrink back, saying, “But I never felt any of those awful things in my heart.” We resent what He reveals. Either Jesus Christ is the supreme authority on the human heart, or He is not worth paying any attention to. Am I prepared to trust the penetration of His Word into my heart, or would I prefer to trust my own “innocent ignorance”? If I will take an honest look at myself, becoming fully aware of my so-called innocence and putting it to the test, I am very likely to have a rude awakening that what Jesus Christ said is true, and I will be appalled at the possibilities of the evil and the wrong within me. But as long as I remain under the false security of my own “innocence,” I am living in a fool’s paradise. If I have never been an openly rude and abusive person, the only reason is my own cowardice coupled with the sense of protection I receive from living a civilized life. But when I am open and completely exposed before God, I find that Jesus Christ is right in His diagnosis of me.

The only thing that truly provides protection is the redemption of Jesus Christ. If I will simply hand myself over to Him, I will never have to experience the terrible possibilities that lie within my heart. Purity is something far too deep for me to arrive at naturally. But when the Holy Spirit comes into me, He brings into the center of my personal life the very Spirit that was exhibited in the life of Jesus Christ, namely, the Holy Spirit, which is absolute unblemished purity.

why are young ministers leaving the #ourCOG ? We are a group of "ill prospects" ( #LikeAMightyArmy , 13)

Here is an incomplete list of “little foxes that can spoil the (leadership) vine”. I can do my own thing. A leader’s “thing” is not her own. Her thing is her followers’ thing. Followers are why leaders exist. Apart from them, a leader has nothing. Any leader that forgets this is history, and a forgotten […]

I remember the first time I made a living wage from vocational ministry.  It was actually an internship in Knoxville, TN.  Ironically, most internships do not normally pay for all the blood, sweat and tears required for the role but this one did.  Regardless, it was all I had time for and I wasn’t earning […]