I was reading a book about the life of Francis of Assisi this morning when a particular phrase struck me. Talking about life in the Middle Ages, the author (Paul Sabatier) commented that “men everywhere had but one desire – to devote themselves to some great and holy cause.” Apart from the fact that it [...]
displaying all posts about "Transformation"
Measuring the Fruit of Wholeness
Today I read an article by a colleague who has long served as a wise and trusted advisor to pastors around the country. He wrote about how to measure the health of a church. In addition to attendance, giving, program involvement, number of salvation commitments, and baptisms, he recommended evaluating whether people are becoming more [...]
Garfing Salvation
The more you understand people’s views regarding salvation, the more perturbed you may become. In conducting research for the book Maximum Faith, concerning the process by which God transforms people’s lives, it became evident that most American Christians believe that their claim to and assurance of eternal salvation through their confession of sin and the [...]
Listen and Obey
I was recently in Tampa, Florida, taking a couple of days to relax at the New York Yankees spring training camp. In other words, I had some free time on my hands and a limited number of deadlines during the two days. Not too much time pressure and little cause to feel rushed. As I [...]
The Power of Shared Experiences
The recent Barna Update that I wrote about the lack of accountability facilitated through the local church was a reminder of the importance of personal relationships. Only a fool will voluntarily place themselves under authority without a healthy relationship built on trust of those who exercise such authority. To permit that authority to be utilized [...]
Misunderstanding Immorality
Some of my recent reading has included arguments by atheists regarding their take on the relationship between faith and morality. One particular atheist writer, Dennis Ray, contends that religious behavior has little or no impact on morality, an argument based largely on research I conducted showing that the divorce rates of born again Christians and [...]
Pastoral Turnover
John Feinstein recently wrote an article for The Sporting News regarding the turnover among coaches. He quoted heralded college coach Steve Spurrier as saying, “Coaching is a lot like preaching. After about nine or ten years you need to move on to another church. People have heard your message enough times that you need to [...]
Henri Nouwen and Spiritual Transformation
About 15 years ago I spoke at a conference outside the U.S. with Henri Nouwen. At the time I was only vaguely aware of who he was. I attended his plenary session, and frankly, was rather unimpressed. He spoke along with one of his housemates from L’Arche, the community near Toronto where he lived. I [...]
