Israel – Looking Back And Moving Ahead

  You read the bible in Black and white print, you got to Israel it becomes in 3D. Even with all the technology and high-speed internet seeing via social media, what we see is not quite the same as being in the Holy Land in it of itself. For example, we can see the grander of the Grand Canyon on

Courageous Leadership – Leading From The Lion’s Den

  “In today’s church, leadership has become something of an obsession” said by Dr. Albert Mohler the ninth president of the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, Kentucky. There is a sense of lostness of the definition of leadership. The term, “leadership” has been thrown left to right and has been put up on the pedestal of worship. The obsession of the

Desperate Times: Call For Discipleship Measure

  Discipleship is not motivated by strategy, but adoration for Jesus Christ! So it must be our heart beat as we adore and worship Christ, we are not only intentional of making disciples who make disciples, but disciples who are able to engage the culture! John Dickerson “The Great Evangelical Recession” wrote six factors that will crash the American church.

Preaching; for Guilty, Needy Perishing Sinners.

When a man stands in the pulpit to preach, it ought to be the passionate pursuit of that man. Jeremiah wrote, “But His word was in mine heart as a burning fire shut up in my bones, and I was weary with forbearing, and I could not stay” (Jeremiah 20:9). I believe this is what we have lost in the

Leadership Succession: “Whatever You Celebrate, You Will Replicate”

“Succession”: it’s a hot topic that people speak all over the place. When the senior leader leaves, it often puts the organiozation and everyone in a peculiar position. However, as a ministry team leaders ought to think through not only senior leader level in our leadership development, but in every level of leadership pipeline.  All those levels/layers are important, therfore we must be

Bad Habits: Problematic Habits Of Discipleship

Just yesterday, noticed in our backyard how flowers started blooming, which means Spring is right around the corner! As the season change, outside is starting to look more green as the grass looks more healthy, animals are coming out from hibernation, yet I noticed there were dead spots in our yard. Happened to google what I had to do to get rid

Turning Everyday Conversation Into Gospel Conversations

We don’t have to talk about Jesus, we get to! “But I’m not sure how to go about it Jonathan!” As one of my favorite quotes is from G. K. Chesterton said it once, “Anything Worth Doing is Worth Doing Badly.” Here are some tips that perhaps will help us with us in order to have a Gospel Conversation. Storing: Three stories  1.

Theology Of Work: Faith & Service

  It was a Sunday afternoon after our regular Sunday morning service, we gathered around in the back fellowshipping with one another and a member jumped into the conversation mentioning of the retirement. Excited this person was as she mentioned of her own decision something like this: “Working a normal job, I had to spend 40 or 50 hours a

Words Are Cheap, But Lives Are Costly.

  The great evangelist D.L. Moody was once confronted by a woman who said she didn’t like his method of evangelism.  D. L. Moody said, “I don’t particularly like my method either.  What’s yours?” The woman said, “I don’t have one.” To which D.L. Moody replied, “Then I like mine better!” There are many methods for sharing the faith! As

Bridging The Gap Between Churches & Post Modernity Culture

This idea of Discipleship so often has been misunderstood. In fact, I was speaking to one of the lady at our church last week as we began this new ministry of discipleship, she along with many other people misunderstood by thinking it’s a one-on-one deal that only super christians do. But in essence, by definition a “Disciple” is a Christian. So if

Church Growth Movement: Outreach or Shepherding?

“We have the most wonderful pastor! He really preaches the Word. He preaches against sin and even calls sin by its name,” the member said. The my friend asked about the doctrinal content of the sermons (“Does he preach on doctrines like regeneration, justification, redemption, sanctification and so forth?”), the emphasis response was, “No! He doesn’t preach on those kinds

The False Dichotomy: Why Millennials Leave the Church?

As we all know this year marks the 500th anniversary of the of the Protestant Reformation with Martin Luther; anyone interested in Christianity should become familiar with Martin Luther and his work. We remember as we look back to 1517 the pivotal moment in history has done for us today, this simple a monk named Martin Luther posted a paper

Making Jesus’s Last Words Our First Work

Why are so many people not growing deeper in their relationship with God? There was a recent study done by Eric Geiger and Ed Stetzer for writing the book Transformational Groups, a study that oversee 2,300 churches sponsored by 15 denominations. Less than half of those churches said they had any plan in place for discipling people, and only 60

Radical Discipleship: Costly Commitment, A Call For All

Jesus is absolutely worth everything within our lives. The fundamental question we must as is, “What is Jesus worth to me?” Radical by David Platt challenges us to consider with honest open heart question, of how we think and take the gospel in our life. So many questions and stipulations that beckons us that leads us a stray with the

What Is Your Favorite Bible Verse?

Someone approached me and asked me recently, “What is your favorite Bible verse?” I often find myself troubled as I find it extremely difficult at times to focus in on one single verse, as there are specific times in my life where certain passage of scripture that ministers to my soul, so I would like to answer this question carefully

Four Disciplines That Allows Leaders To Flourish

New Years Resolution comes in many forms. People wanting to get rid of bad habits, or develop a good habit. Why not begin by what matters most with our faith in the Lord? Let’s start there! One of the benefits of thinking about “developing good habits” is to remember the practices of the ancient church. What the Reformation took away from

Why Bother With Discipleship?

How can we grow as a church? How do you start a new group in a church? I believe this is one of the fundamental question raised by all churches, as within the question in itself, there is a sense urgency that they recognize something is not working. They know and sense that fulfilling the Great Commission is a task that

The Cost of Non-Discipleship

Discipleship is not easy. Jesus didn’t say it would be. “Shouldn’t we do something Jonathan?!” What is so often the response of a church? Two things usually happens; 1. Don’t do anything. There’s a reason why most people chose this option – it’s easy. It is too much work to change the structure of Sunday school system, “Do it as

Easy Beliveism & Lordship Salvation 

We have been caught in a hurricane of lie of what some theologians will call, “Easy Believeism”. Detrich Bonhoffer said, “The evangelists today are very often prepared to be anything to anybody as long as they can get somebody to the altar for something. They glibly call out: ‘‘Who wants help? Who wants more power? Who wants a closer walk

What is a “disciple” in the first place? 

Everyone agrees; Discipleship is important. Discipleship is fundamental to the church and every facet of our churches and who we are. Not just one facet like Children’s ministry, Music ministry, Youth ministry, Senior adults ministry…. but every facet goes under the umbrella of Discipleship (Matthew 28:19-20). I mean first of all, what does it mean to be a “Disciple of

The Resurrection Cross

What is the relationship between the gospel and discipleship?

Dietrich Bonhoeffer, a German pastor, theologian during under the reign of Nazi Germany with Hitlar in the year of 1940s said it well, “Christianity without discipleship is always Christianity without Christ.” Many pastor quote him for the book written, “The Cost of Discipleship.” Bonhoeffer was a professor, a pastor, a spy, and finally, a martyr. He believed that unless one