By asking great questions, a coach draws out what the Holy Spirit is already telling a follower of Jesus to do so they know what their next steps need to be to obey him.

Jesus is many things today, but one thing He is not: invisible.

Advent invites us to live in between the two, with one hand holding on to the reality that Jesus has come and the other hand holding on to the promise that he will one day come again.

My friends, we need a new, more biblical vision of leadership. We need to replace the image of the visionary leader, head high, leading the charge for their followers with the image of a humble, dependent, connected servant. Someone who leads from in the midst.

I’m not anti-vision or anti-strategy. There’s a place for both. But if we rely solely upon our apostolic imagination to carry us into the mission field, we will be impotent and ineffective.

How is it possible that one of the wealthiest and most competitive nations in the world, a nation that prides itself on international sporting success and one who has invested billions in bringing its soccer proficiency up to par over the past few decades, has struggled so mightily in the world’s most popular sport? And what, if anything, does this have to do with the church?

I’ve always wrestled with the “fishers of men” invitation Jesus gave to His first disciples. It always seemed a little un-relatable to me personally. I mean, I get it. They were being called to focus on people instead of fish.

Then I realized that He was talking to FISHERMEN...DUH!

We can’t minister without rest, because the rest IS ministry.

This summer, I’ve been given a significant amount of thought to Jesus’ behavior. Asking questions like, what did he do? How did he conduct himself? And who did he associate with? I’ve noticed something peculiar about him. Quite frankly, he didn’t operate with a tremendous amount of social propriety. And he didn’t seem to have much patience with religious the folk of his day.