Category Archives: Discipleship

Discipleship, Wrestling With Scripture

Humility

I like being right.

Scratch that, I love being right. When I’m right about something my head swells a little, I stand taller, and I smirk. Yes, I smirk. When I’m right a tiny little band inside my head plays a triumphant tune and I literally have to keep myself from dancing.

I wish that I was exaggerating but alas, I am not.

I love being right but unfortunately I hate who I become when I’m right. I hate it because I act and think in ways that are contrary to the Gospel. I am imitating the world instead of my Jesus.

The psalmist says that “The LORD supports the humble, but he brings the wicked down into the dust.” (Psalms 147:6)

Paul invites us to remember that Jesus “made himself nothing by taking the very nature of a servant.” (Philippians 2:7)

Both Matthew and Mark proclaim that Jesus “did not come to be served, but to serve.”

For me these verses act as a warning and as a comforting reminder. They warn me that nothing good can come from my selfishness and assine behavior. They also comfort me to know that by being humble and seeking to serve others I’m in great company.

I think that humility is the way to go.

I’m right about that much.

2008, Discipleship, Ethos, Leadership, RTM

2008: The Year of Trying

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In his book, If Only, psychologist Dr. Neil Roese makes a distinction between two different types of regret: regrets of action and regrets of inaction. A regret of action is doing something you wish you hadn’t done. A regret of inaction is NOT doing something that you wish you had done. In theological terms, action regrets are the result of sins of commission while inaction regrets are the result of sins of omission.

I think the church has fixated on sins of commission long enough. They may be easier to quantify, but the greatest regrets at the end of our lives won’t be the things we did wrong. Our greatest regrets will be not having done the right things- things we could have, should have, and would have done.

Action regrets taste bad, but inaction regrets leave a bitter after taste that lasts a lifetime. they haunt us because they leave us asking ‘what if?’. — Mark Batterson, Chase the Lion

I am so excited about the new year.

I understand that today is really no different than yesterday. There is nothing magical about January 1st. No pixie dust fell from the sky last night and I only saw one unicorn in the wee small hours of the new year so it isn’t really that special.

However, we all live by the calendar and the first day of the new year just lends itself to the feeling of a fresh start. I have been ruminating over the passage from Batterson for quite sometime. Back in October a few friends of mine and I caught a glimpse of a coming movement. A movement that desires to see God’s people throwing off all that hinders them and becoming a force that once again changes the world.

I feel like 2008 is the begining of something spectacular. The movement begins in the heart of individuals as the seek to glorify God in all that they do. Day by day I am trying to connect to this desire a little more than the day before. I invite you to join me.

The road ahead might be frought with dangers: apathy, criticism, and rejection. The key there is “might be”. I’m no longer interested in being afraid of what dangers there “might be.” Are you?

2008: The Year of Trying

________________________________________

You Might Die Trying
Dave Matthews Band

To change the world
Start with one step
However small
The first step is hardest of all

Once you get your gait
You will walk in tall
You said you never did
‘Cause you might die trying

If you close your eyes
‘Cause the house is on fire.
And think you couldn’t move,
Until the fire dies
The things you never did
Oh, cause you might die trying
‘Cause you might die trying
You’d be as good as dead
Cause you might die trying
Cause you might die trying

If you give, you, you begin to live
If you give, you begin to live
You begin, you get the world
If you give, you begin to give
You get the world, you get the world
If you give, you begin to live

Discipleship, Ethos, Faith in Action, Ministry, Questions, Wrestling With Scripture

K.I.S.S.

A simple church understands that people are at different places in their spiritual journey, that spiritual growth is a process. The church is designed to partner with God to move people through stages of spiritual growth.

Sadly, most churches miss this truth.

They are not simple. They have not designed a simple process for discipleship. They have not structured their church around the process of spiritual transformation.

And they are making little impact. (62)

I have been really enjoying Simple Church by Rainer & Geiger. I passed it by so many times this year in the bookstore. It’s plain white cover would stand straight and all but wave hello at me as I browsed the ministry section. I ultimately succumbed to its siren call and I have not been disappointed.

The above quote is right on the money. Most churches do not focus on discipleship. Most, because it is easier to quantify, focus on church involvement as their “spiritual maturity barometer.” To be honest, mere church involvement can’t tell you everything about a persons spiritual well-being.

As I’ve been thinking about spiritual growth I keep going back to John 15.

“Live in me. Make your home in me just as I do in you. In the same way that a branch can’t bear grapes by itself but only by being joined to the vine, you can’t bear fruit unless you are joined with me.

“I am the Vine, you are the branches. When you’re joined with me and I with you, the relation intimate and organic, the harvest is sure to be abundant. Separated, you can’t produce a thing. Anyone who separates from me is deadwood, gathered up and thrown on the bonfire. But if you make yourselves at home with me and my words are at home in you, you can be sure that whatever you ask will be listened to and acted upon. This is how my Father shows who he is—when you produce grapes, when you mature as my disciples.” (John 15:4-8 MESSAGE)

I feel like there a lot to say about spiritual growth in this chapter but these are the verses that jump out at me. The simple- remain in Jesus, mature, bear fruit.

What does this mean for us?

Remain in Jesus: Love God.

Mature: Love God and love others (Matthew 22:37-40)

Bear Fruit: Serve the world

That’s a pretty simple equation right there.

I should finish the book before Christmas and I’ll post a little more of my thoughts then.

So my question to you is…

In what ways have you seen churches focus on spiritual maturity?

What have you seen that is successful in growing disciples?

Discipleship, Film & Theology

A Christian Responds to The Golden Compass 3

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Dust to Dust

As the officials of Jordan College gather around the table in the conference room, Lord Asriel explains to them that they are about see something extraordinary. He shows them a picture of a man and his daemon (soul/conscience). Mysterious elements are flowing like golden flakes from out of the daemon into the man and into the sky. As these elements flow into the northern lights of the sky, a city in a parallel universe can be seen in the distance. The scholars seem confused and awed.

“That,” Lord Asriel tells them, “is Dust.”

From everything that I have studied about the novels, Dust is seen by the Magisterium as the elements of Original Sin. Dust is believed to be dangerous and is to never be spoken of. The Magisterium is seen as wanting to destroy it or suppress it from the people. Dust is what links humans with their daemons and what links us all to the universe and beyond.

However, in the film I was lead to believe that Dust was something good. It was seen as the life force in all living creatures. I never understood exactly why the Magisterium feared it. Lord Ariel seem to be exploring matters of faith and mystery and yet the Magisterium was asking people to give up their faith, to quit acting like children and grow up.

In this way, the Magisterium reminded me of the scholars behind the new atheist movement. Men like Richard Dawkins, Christopher Hitchens, and Sam Harris who discourage and deride any and every exploration of faith. They accuse people of faith of chasing after flights of fancy with little regard to reason.

Dust was portrayed in the film as the unknown, as a mystery beyond human understanding. It seemed that if life flowed from this ethereal spirit and that the Magisterium was seeking to cut this life away from the people. The Magisterium offered a life of security and control free from the mysterious Dust. Lord Asriel was seen as a fool who traded security for the unknown.

The Bible speaks of a spirit that brings us life and that connects us with a world beyond our own.

1Corinthians 2:10-15
“The Spirit searches all things, even the deep things of God. For who knows a person’s thoughts except that person’s own spirit within? In the same way no one knows the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God. We have not received the spirit of the world but the Spirit who is from God, that we may understand what God has freely given us. This is what we speak, not in words taught us by human wisdom but in words taught by the Spirit, explaining spiritual realities with Spirit–taught words. The person without the Spirit does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God but considers them foolishness, and cannot understand them because they are discerned only through the Spirit. The person with the Spirit makes judgments about all things, but such a person is not subject to merely human judgments,”

2Corinthians 3:6
“He has made us competent as ministers of a new covenant—not of the letter but of the Spirit; for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life.”

Galatians 4:4-7
“But when the set time had fully come, God sent his Son, born of a woman, born under the law, to redeem those under the law, that we might receive adoption to sonship.Because you are his sons, God sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, the Spirit who calls out, “Abba, Father.” So you are no longer slaves, but God’s children; and since you are his children, he has made you also heirs.”

1John 4:13
“This is how we know that we live in him and he in us: He has given us of his Spirit.”

The Spirit is something that is promised to every person who seeks to follow Jesus. It speaks to the mysteries of the created world and guides us into the way of life. There are people that want to cut us away from these mysteries. They seek to make us grow up and to forget about the foolish things of our childhood. They seek to snuff out the “irrational, the unknown, and the religious.” These people however have nothing to do with true Christianity or with Jesus. Jesus offers us a life full of the Spirit, of wonder, of mystery.

I’m chasing the mystery.

Psalms 139:1-18
“You have searched me, LORD, and you know me. You know when I sit and when I rise; you perceive my thoughts from afar. You discern my going out and my lying down; you are familiar with all my ways. Before a word is on my tongue you, LORD, know it completely. You hem me in behind and before, and you lay your hand upon me. Such knowledge is too wonderful for me, too lofty for me to attain. Where can I go from your Spirit? Where can I flee from your presence? If I go up to the heavens, you are there; if I make my bed in the depths, you are there. If I rise on the wings of the dawn, if I settle on the far side of the sea, even there your hand will guide me, your right hand will hold me fast. If I say, “Surely the darkness will hide me and the light become night around me,” even the darkness will not be dark to you; the night will shine like the day, for darkness is as light to you.

For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb. I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well. My frame was not hidden from you when I was made in the secret place. When I was woven together in the depths of the earth, your eyes saw my unformed body. All the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be. How precious to me are your thoughts, God! How vast is the sum of them! Were I to count them, they would outnumber the grains of sand— when I awake, I am still with you.”

Discipleship, Film & Theology

A Christian Responds to The Golden Compass 2

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The number one movie of this past weekend was The Golden Compass which made an estimated 26 million dollars. For weeks a controversy over this film and the book series that it is based on has been brewing over the supposed anti-Christian messages being sold to small children with Narnia -like animals, Harry Potter-like magic, and Lord of the Rings-style epic storytelling.

I saw the film on Friday and walked away unimpressed. The story seemed rushed, the characters seemed flat, and the ending was paced very oddly. There was a great polar bear fight with a surprising and satisfying payoff but is was not enough to save this film for me. I could not imaging taking a group of 10 year olds to this film and expecting them to sit still during the almost 2 hour screening.

However, one positive outcome from seeing the film. I found 3 elements of this story that, I believe, Christians can use to discuss their faith with those who have seen the film. This week I’ll be posting these three points for you. Let’s get to it.

1) The Magisterium
According to Entertainment Weekly, the Magisterium is a “fractured church-like body with power over every aspect of life. No Pope, and about as Christian as the Inquisition.” In the film the members of the Magisterium dress like bishops and cardinals and are seen as opposing free will and free thought. The books refer to the Magisterium as “the Church” and they serve a higher being known as “The Authority.” The film briefly mentions “the Authority” but it wasn’t clear to me that the name addressed a being.

The members of the Magisterium meet is secret meetings and slink around with duplicitous looks. In one scene, a top official tries to poison one of the main characters. In another a group of elders are seen conspiring to consolidate power through fear and coercion. All of this leads up to what the Magisterium is really up to.

They seek to separate children from their daemons (souls) in an effort to keep them “safe” from Dust (more on that later) and to help them “grow up.” By growing up and maturing these children can put away childish questions and flippant behavior and get down to the real business of serving the Magisterium’s agenda. Soulless beings are more manageable than beings full of life. We meet one little boy who has lost his daemon. He is a shell. He is nearly physically dead and we see that he has been spiritually ravaged.

In my eyes, the men and women of the Magisterium seem more like Pharisees than a true church body. It was Jesus who said that in order to follow him into the Kingdom of God we must have faith like children.

“He called a little child, whom he placed among them. And he said: “Truly I tell you, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. Therefore, whoever takes a humble place—becoming like this child—is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. And whoever welcomes one such child in my name welcomes me. “If anyone causes one of these little ones—those who believe in me—to stumble, it would be better for them if a large millstone were hung around their neck and they were drowned in the depths of the sea” (Matthew 18:2-6 )

This one was easy. Anyone or group who claims to serve the Lord will speak and act like the Lord. Their agenda is God’s agenda: bringing life to the dead. The Magistirium brought the characters in TGC nothing but pain, sorrow, and loss. That doesn’t sound like any church that I want to be a part of and it doesn’t sound like a church that seeks to follow Jesus.

Part 3: Dust to Dust

Discipleship, Film & Theology, Popular Culture, Questions, Theology

A Christian Responds to The Golden Compass 1

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The only thing Christians need to fear about The Golden Compass is that by ignoring it they might miss a great opportunity to share their faith.

Until a month ago the only thing I knew about the movie The Golden Compass was that it was based on a series of children’s book and that it starred James Bond and the guy from Lonesome Dove. Then I received a handful of emails that warned me to stay away from the movie because the author, Philip Pulman, was a devoted atheist who wrote the books in order to “kill God.” I did my research on the books, the author, and the upcoming film and came to only one conclusion: I needed to see this movie.

I have now seen the film and I walked away from it with 3 talking points that Christians can use to discuss their faith with others who have seen the film. As I spoke about yesterday, people get much of their theology from movies. Movies can only point toward a truth. If we, as Christians, are ignorant about the half-truths the culture is hearing and believing then we can never connect them with the source of real truth, Jesus. I completely understand that some refuse to buy a ticket to a movie they disagree with because the act of buying a ticket monetarily supports the filmmakers and their agendas. However, you should not ignore something that is a potential conversation starter about the faith you hold so dear. Being in the world means that we must engage the world. Ignorance is not an option.

Before we discuss these 3 talking points I want you to have at least a working knowledge of the story and of the controversy. On Sunday I will post the first talking point. Until then, you’ve got some reading to do.

Updated: Links now work
Plot summery of the book from Wikipedia
Synopsis of “Compass” controversy from Snopes
Feature Cover Story from Entertainment Weekly

Awesomenessness, Church Planting, Discipleship, Ethos, Leadership, Ministry, Resources

Filter Conference Call: Mark Batterson

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I had a great opportunity to participate in a leadership conference call with Pastor Mark Batterson this morning. Batterson is the pastor of National Community Church and the author of In the Pit with a Lion on a Snowy Day. The way NCC is “doing church” has really captured my imagination. NCC’s vision is to meet in movie theatres along the Metro lines in our nation’s capital. The only physical structure they use to meet in is a coffee house near Union Station. Ebeneezer’s serve great coffee and allows the church and culture to “intersect” on a daily basis.

Someday I hope to plant a church and I have learned a great deal from NCC and Batterson’s candidness. They are always open for questioning and are just as willing to speak about “missed opportunities” as they are about big wins. Mark’s blog is a daily stop for me on the interwebs. Mark is open and honest about leadership, family life, church direction, and vision casting. I enjoy hearing about what he is up to and I have enjoyed hearing about the victories that his church has been blessed with. Thanks Mark!!!

The conference call was put together by Catalyst Filter, a great leadership resource that I became a part of at this year’s Catalyst Conference. The call lasted about an hour and Mark talked about everything from balancing personal time with work to staff development. I even got to ask a question.

Here are my notes from the call:

Creativity and Innovation

    One idea that drives Creativity: “There are ways of doing church that no one has thought of yet.” There is no “order of worship” in scripture.

    Creativity is a byproduct of planning. NCC has a weekly “big idea” meeting where the leaders discuss what they want to happen each week in services, small groups, etc.

    Creativity and innovation are hard wired into the DNA leaders and churches

Annual Retreat

    Leadership attends two retreats a year.

    Summer- “Play & Pray Retreat”- name says it all. The team plays and then they pray.
    December- Planning Retreat– 48 hrs. spent dreaming, thinking, setting goals

Service Planning Process– What happens on Saturday and Sunday

    Batterson plans out his sermon series one year in advance. He admitted that really about 70% of that plan is carried out. Again, goes back to creativity being a byproduct of planning.

    Try and speak to what is practical in the lives of people

    One goal of ministry is to lead people into becoming self-motivated disciples

20somethings– largest demo of NCC is single 20somethings

    Proximity- if the goal is to reach 20somethings, be/go where they are

    Meet needs- Students have needs and wants. Offer students pizza, homes to meet in, relationships with members

    Speak to them- if the goal is to reach 20somethings, speak to/with them. Sermon series that address their unique phase of life (I believe most churches fail this point)

Engaging Culture

    The byproduct of ignorance is irrelevance.

    1) Engage culture by creating culture- NCC built a coffeehouse rather than a building. This breaks down walls within culture, allows for relationships to be built within culture

    2) Sermon series that engage culture
    Use music and movies. Most people today get their theology from music and movies. Movies reach out for truth but miss the mark in pointing to Truth- Jesus. We should step in and connect culture with Ultimate Truth. Movies and music give us permission to speak to tough subjects (Think “Hotel Rwanda.” I was able to use this film in a powerful way to speak on racism and equality in a way that I would have been unable to do through a typical Bible study)

Moving from Traditional to Contemporary

    “Someone told me that it takes an oil tanker 14 miles to preform a U-turn in the ocean. Don’t know if that’s accurate but it is a great picture of how slow and difficult change can be.”

    1) Make moves toward change that are practical in execution

    2) Sometimes the change is too great for an establishment. When that happens, you can always plant and hardwire into the DNA of the church plant a desire for innovation and avoidance of stagnation. Sometimes it takes a step of faith.

Balancing Personal life with Church work– Mark has a wife and three kids

    Work

    YOU control your calendar

    Mark gets up at 5:30am and makes time to write, think, pray, go through spiritual disciplines before the day “officially” starts

    Meeting days- schedules 2 days specifically for meetings

    Focus days- 2 days to study, focus, read, dream

    Family
    Make family a priority. Mark is specifically doing 2 things this year to show his family they are the priority of his life

    1) Mark intentionally used every single vacation day for he and his family

    2) Father/Son Meetings– Mark and his 12 year old son agreed to a covenant that this year (as his son turns 13) that they will complete a spiritual challenge, an intellectual challenge, and a physical challenge. The point is to intentionally grow closer together and intentionally honor God during their time together (I plan on doing something like this if we have kids)

Learning

    Leaders are readers

    Stay curious

    Stay humble- 1Cor 8:2- “The man who thinks he knows something does not yet know as he ought to know.”

    When reading, cross-pollinate. Choose books and resources from a wide spectrum of disciplines

    Keep learning

So there are the highlights. I hope that you too can benefit from the conversation. The call ended up being the best hour of my work week. So good!

I’ll be out of pocket most of the weekend. This might be my last post until Monday. If so, have a great weekend everyone.

Discipleship, Ethos, Religion, Stories, Theology

the gods aren’t angry tour

On November 16, Rob Bell’s the gods aren’t angry tour passed through Dallas. The event was awesome to say the least. If the the tour is coming anywhere near where you live (and it isn’t sold out already) by a ticket now!

I was a little hesitant because I had no clue what he would be speaking on. It was the first time my wife heard him live and we had brought two teens from church with us. I have heard him a half dozen times and I was hoping that tonight’s message would connect with them. I was not disappointed.

Notes from “the gods aren’t angry”:

Bell started the evening by walking out on to the stage and diving right into the story. No announcements, no welcome, no intro.

At the dawn of time cave-woman and cave-husband recognized that the world was sustained through patterns of life and nature through some unseen force(s) and that they were some how connected and dependant upon this/these unseen force(s). They were dependant on plants and the plants were dependant on drops of water from the sky and the ball of fire. Cycles in the moon corespend with the cycles of cave-woman’s body. Stars, sun, moon, weather… men and women then began to put names to these forces and to worship them. These gods, while having the temperment of humans, where far removed from humans. They were above. We were below.

When things went right- new birth, large crop, healthy family- you made sacrifices of thanksgiving to the gods. To ensure that the gods would smile on you, you would sacrifice more to the god to receive more favor.

If things went poorly for you and your family- sickness, failed crops, death- then it was assumed that the gods were angry with you. You hadn’t sacrificed enough to the gods and were being punished.

The hitch is that you never knew where you stood with the gods- were you doing enough, should you do more?

“We are at the mercy of these forces. We need to get these forces on our side.” So a system began to take shape.

The Altar– higher, off the ground, offer up
The Priests– the experts, “Here are the steps you must follow to get the gods to smile upon you.”
The Offering– what is most sacred to you. Began with crops/animals but evolved as time went by

Over time man developed a primal anxiety towards these forces- “If this sacrifce isn’t working then I must do more to appease the gods!” Things quickly spirald out of control.

The fertity goddess Cybele required that men take on female characteristics and so men dressed as women and (as Bell said) “offered their maleness” upon the altar .

Capacocha– the sacrificing of children in order to find favor with the gods.

Molec- offer your first born to the fire

The gods demanded what was most sacred from you. They desired what was most precious to you. Year in and year out this cycle continues.

Then comes Abram. The stoy of Abram wasn’t written in a vaccum devoid of this cuture. It comes in the midst of this culture of god and goddesses that demand so much yet our standing before them is so unknown.

Genesis 12 tells of a new god who doesn’t demand from man. He blesses man. This revolutionary god has conversations with man. He is intimately involved in what they do. He invites Abram to follow him into a new destiny and to leave his “father’s household”- his father’s old system of gods and goddesses.

Then comes Genesis 22– At first glance this is yet another instance of a god requiring the blood of the first born-what Abraham holds most dear. Abraham doesn’t bat an eye when asked to sacrifice Isaac because this is nothing new to him- gods demand. Business as usual. Instead this new god provides a ram. This god doesn’t take. He provides.

This god is different. he says, “I AM not like these other gods. They demand. I bless. I provide.”

To be continued…

Discipleship, Ethos, Faith in Action, General

Be a Name Dropper

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Everyone loves to dabble in the fine art of Name Dropping every once in a while. It makes us feel cool, it gives us a story to tell, and because it is a little naughty we feel like we’ve walked the social etiquette tightrope and lived to tell about it.

I too like to name drop. I am by nature a story teller and usually when I’ve run into a minor celebrity or personally talked with someone who is well known I love to “wow” people with the circumstances of my brush with greatness.

Let me tell you about a better form of name dropping.

The form of name dropping I want to talk about has nothing to do with building up your own ego but has everything to do with building up others. In this crazy holiday season this form of name dropping will impact the world around you in subtle yet rewarding ways.

I’m talking about saying hello to retail workers by name when you check out or leave a business.

Every employee at Best Buy, Starbucks, McDonald’s, the local grocery store, Wal-Mart, Target, and you name it wears a name tag with their name on it. These people work long hours for very little pay and for even less thanks. It doesn’t take anything away from you to say, “Have a great day, Bruce!” as you leave the store.

I picked up this habit back in college and I find myself doing it almost everyday. Today I said thank you Latesia at Taco Bell. She paused from her work, stood there with a wide smile, and breathed a sigh that said, “Holy crap! Someone talked to me and said MY NAME!!!” She chirped, “You’re welcome!” back at me but I was satisfied with that wordless look she had given me. I knew she was thankful/grateful that someone acknowledged her.

So, take this form of name dropping for a test drive this holiday season. Get out of your comfort zone and be willing to be different from the hundreds of other people who file through the checkout lines unaware of the people scanning their items. See how many smiles you get. Count the number of astonished looks. Make a difference by saying hello to someone.

Be a Name Dropper.

Discipleship, Ethos, Ministry, The Word, Youth Ministry

Bible in 90 Take 2

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My wife and I are once again taking the Bible in 90 Days Challenge.

The goal of the challenge is to read the entire Bible “cover to cover” in 90 days. That comes out to roughly 12 pages a day. We have completed the challenge once before and we have been keen on giving it another go for quite some time.

Specifically, I have been more than a little inspired by A.J. Jacobs latest memoir, The Year of Living Biblically. Jacobs, an agnostic, decided that he wanted to tackle the world of religion head on. He spent 4 months of prep time reading through the Bible and taking note of every command, suggestion, and guideline from the Old and New Testaments. 72 pages later he had a list of rules to lay down as his foundation for his biblical year. Jacobs deftly recounts his trials and tribulations with great detail and more than a little humor.

As I read, I was struck by Jacobs’ joy of discovery in finding how these laws mandated by the Almighty impacted his outlook, personality, appearance, and zest for life.

For the next 90 days I want to invite any of you readers to join us on a journey of discovery. I am a fast reader. Most of these daily readings will take me about 45min to complete. My wife takes her time reading but none of her readings lasted longer than an hour. I am certian that no matter how busy you are with work or school or family that you can find, somewhere in your day, 45min to an hour where you can open up your Bible and read.

By next week you will have finished Exodus. By the end of the month you will have read through 1 Chronicles. By the new year you will be well into Ezekiel and before the end of January you will have finished the entire Bible cover to cover.

Join me in rediscovering why you “have the hope that you have.”

This week’s reading plan:

Thursday: Gen 1:1- 15:4
Friday: Gen 15:5- 27:37
Saturday: Gen 27:38- 38:30
Sunday: Gen 39:1- 50:26
Monday: Exodus 1:1- 14:24
Tuesday: Exodus 14:25- 28:15
Wednesday: Exodus 28:16- 40:21