Thoughts on Church

Bigger Churches or Bigger People?

Just read a great article by Jack Hayford warning about the lack of serious discipleship in today’s church. Pointing to the current ecclesiastical emphasis on marketing and consumer appeal, he says: “We're within frightening reach of being able to grow bigger churches while failing to grow bigger people. We are increasingly tooled and trained in technology and management techniques, better resourced with music and media effects, and better housed and staged for added consumer appeal. While not attacking these outsourced resources, I'm asking about our outcomes. Amid our heavyweight enterprises [...]

Of Seahorses and Shell Fish

I’ve been in Oklahoma City for the past few days, attending a writer’s conference. Not a Christian writer’s conference, mind you, but the secular type. It wasn’t too secular, of course, because of the location. As everybody knows, you can’t swing a dead armadillo in Oklahoma without hitting a dozen Baptists, a handful of Charismatics, and a Nazarene or two. But, still, the conference had a refreshingly unreligious feel to it. What I liked best about it was the marvelous variety of “characters” I encountered there. A motley crew, [...]