Faith & Theology
Evangelism: Moving Beyond the Sex Talk
Now that we have a ten-year old boy in our house – and three more of his brothers coming after him – we’ve begun thinking about how to talk with our kids about sex, girls, puberty, etc. You know, the fun stuff of parenthood. One of our friends who has raised fairly-well adjusted adult boys…
Read MoreMy Prayer for the Church
My prayer for the church is that we would be a communities of people who understand the grace and peace of the only one who can truly give grace and bring peace. And that as we receive that grace, peace and the hope and salvation that comes with it, we would proclaim it boldly to…
Read MoreConfession of Sin: cynicism boiled over with slander, criticism, prayerlessness, and pessimism.
From our gathering this morning at The Well: Father, you tell us in your Word that whatever does not proceed from faith is sin. We confess that we have frequently relaxed our faith. We have allowed ourselves to become cynical, and our cynicism has boiled over with slander, criticism, prayerlessness, and pessimism. How easily…
Read MoreThe Future of the Gospel is not White, Middle Class and Male
I spent this past weekend at the Inaugural Missio Alliance gathering. Simply put, I loved it. I loved the people, the conversations, the location, the sessions and the town of Alexandria. But mostly I loved the diversity of the speakers. The topic of the weekend was the “Future Gospel”. If the main stage was any…
Read MorePreaching in Community
I think the following is a fair statement: One of the most individual things done in churches these days is preaching. To be kind, this seems unfortunate. While I do not generally think that sermons should be a free-for-all, I also do not think that sermons should be the result of one person sitting quietly…
Read MoreGrace is dangerous
In my recent post on church discipline I said “We’ve got to stop living in fear and allow ourselves to take the risk of being a people of grace.” In related news, our Preaching Team at The Well is reading Paul Zaul’s book, Grace in Practice: A Theology for Everyday Life, “Or maybe the grace…
Read MoreJohn Howard Yoder on the Church Discipline Process
Over the years at we have had our fair share of conflict at The Well. I cannot say that we have always handled this conflict perfectly. At the same time I would like to think that we are getting better at it. It is probably safe to say that when churches do conflict and confrontation…
Read MoreJohn Howard Yoder on Women in “Ministry”
Yesterday we ordained two great men at The Well. It was a pretty awesome day. More on that later maybe. Now, it just so happens that each of our pastors is now a man. Hopefully it doesn’t stay that way for too long. I strongly affirm and believe that men and women are equally gifted…
Read MoreA Christmas Reflection
Can you imagine… Waiting for thousands of years For the one who would deliver you and your people from oppression, from sin, from injustice, from the brokenness of this world. And when he finally comes, He is a baby. Born in a stinky stable. But here He is: King of Kings. Lord of Lords. God…
Read MoreA sermon on Genesis 21:22-34 in the context of the school shooting in Newtown, CT
I preached this sermon yesterday, December 16, 2012 at The Well. We have been studying through the book of Genesis and this was our passage for the week. I don’t usually manuscript my sermons, but I did this week due to the complex story that surrounds our culture. I post this in the hopes that…
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