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Chapter Summaries/Reflections: “Ten Most Common Mistakes Made by New Church Starts” by Jim Griffith and Bill Easum
Chapter One: “Mistake Number One: In pursuit of the Great Commission, church planters neglect the Great(est) Commandment.” (Griffith and Easum, 8) “Yet I hold this against you: You have forsaken your first love.” (Revelation 2:4) The church of Ephesus had remarkable works, labor, and patience. They hated evil and loved good. They were able to…
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Return to Apostolic Christianity
I believe the toughest question author Reggie McNeal poses in his book, The Present Future: Six Tough Questions for the Church1, concerns “The Shift from Church Growth to Kingdom Growth” as summarized by Tony Bowick in Sums2, or, as McNeal writes, “how do we deconvert from churchianity to Christianity?” This is the toughest question due to the…
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The Illusion of Self Righteousness
“Our view of the nature of God influences our understanding of sin. If God is a very high, pure, and exacting being who expects all humans to be as he is, then the slightest deviation from his lofty standard is sin and the human condition is very serious. If, on the other hand, God is…
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Sword of the Spirit
I saw myself in Yosemite National Park and was in awe with the beauty and majesty of the trees and valley. In my hand I was holding the reigns of a horse. I was establishing trust with this horse, and it was at peace. Suddenly, a man took the reigns from me and he was…
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Rebuilding Old Ruins
I see myself sitting at a picnic bench in an unkept park that is run down. It’s such a broken place. Poverty stricken. A group came in to clean it up. They started picking up the trash and mowing the lawn. They put up a volley ball area. Still, all around the park were projects.…
...and in his temple all cry, “Glory!” 