We have a lot of potted plants around our home.   All kinds of plants.   Large ones, small ones, flowering ones, and lots of potted green plants.   From time to time the potted plants don't look healthy anymore.   We have given them lots of water and fertiliser, but the plants simply stop growing.   In fact, they begin to wilt and die.   Then we realise the problem: they need a new pot!   We remove the old plants from the security of their old pot, trim back some of the roots, get some new soil, and...

  Church work can at times be a real struggle.   We go two steps forward and three steps back.   There are roadblocks to advancing the gospel.   And Christians can feel frustrated, worn out, and desiring to quit. I've had those times pastoring churches.  I would wonder if ministry was all worth the struggle. There were times when my struggles were drenched in tears. There were forces and people both inside and outside the church that sparked spiritual opposition.  Ministry was not easy.   I know that Jesus warned us that "in this world you will be trouble." (John...

Growing up I wanted to become an architect.  I loved to design and build things.   As a child I loved to build forts in our backyard.   Or boxes made from toothpicks or popsicle sticks.   In my teenage years  I used larger pieces of wood to build furniture I had designed.  I think my dad wanted me to take over his landscaping business, but I did not like doing lawn and garden maintenance.   I got easily frustrated and bored doing the same thing week after week.   Cutting the same lawns, trimming the same hedges, working up the...

I am all about efficiency!   I like to get more things done in less time.   I want to get the greatest amount of fuel efficiency in the cars I drive.   I always look for the biggest bang for the buck.   If I can get more stuff for less money -- well that seems to be a bargain!   Often the focus on efficiency drives politicians when they make election promises.   "We will give you more of what you want, and it will cost you less in taxes," so they claim.  And often this is what spurs...

How can we as churches strengthen our witness in the world?   For years in the CRCA we have been encouraging churches to GROW:  "To grow healthy churches which nurture and equip their members...."   But this begs the question:  what aspect of increased church health will nurture and equip their members, by God's grace grow the church numerically, plant new churches, and increase their gospel impact throughout Australia and beyond? Almost 50 years ago Pastor Ray C. Stedman alerted the church to a major roadblock to effective witness in the world.   What he says might surprise you?   He...

Sometimes I feel like giving up.   Especially when it comes to prayer.  Why pray?   Does it really make a difference?   I pray for things to change ... in that of my family, for my friends, for the lost, for the world.   But things don't change.   Answers don't come.   Or at least, not in the way I hoped.   Prayer is not easy.  So I feel like giving up.   That's how I feel! But then I read what Luke tells us about Jesus -- that he told his followers a story, a parable, "to show...

The very first time I tried my hand at woodworking I went to my Italian neighbour who lived across the street from our childhood home.   As a builder he knew a thing or two about putting together a wood project.   Many years later I met a true wood craftsman -- a Dutch immigrant who had a way of turning a piece of lumber into a work of art!   He passed on to me a love for building furniture and for many years my woodworking hobby resulted in furniture I built for our home, our family and friends, or...

How do you measure success? How do you know whether or not your achievements measure up? What does “well done” mean? These are questions I keep asking myself no matter what I do. Personally and professionally. Whether I exercise physically or engage in ministry. In my doctoral studies I wrestled with these issues as it applies to the preaching of God’s Word. How do I know whether or not the outcomes of one's pulpit ministry are good outcomes? These are questions I coach many others to think about as they do church work. It might be a ministry a congregation has...

The waitress had just filled the glass cup in front of me. The water in the glass looked inviting. I was thirsty. But as I raised the glass to my lips I noticed a bug floating at the bottom of the cup. No matter how thirsty I was, I was not going to take even a sip. The cup was dirty. I wonder sometimes if God feels the same way when people pray to him. Fervent prayers are made for real needs. A busted relationship. Mounting debt. Troubled economy. Unemployment. Lost people. Real needs. Real prayers.  As Christians we understand the...

I enjoy woodworking.   For years this was my hobby.   Every week I would spend some down time cutting, glueing, and joining pieces of wood to create much of the furniture in our home.  One of the axioms I held on to all those years was this:   "Measure twice, cut once."   Working with expensive pieces of oak, walnut, or even pine I made sure my measurements were accurate.   I didn't want to have too much waste. Today I still get out my measuring tapes.  But rather than measuring pieces of wood, I now measure church health and...

All you need is a good hook.  It needs to be sharp.  And clean.  And shiny.   The same is true if you are using a lure with their fancy three-pronged hooks.   If you want to catch a fish, you need a good hook.  You might have some tasty bait or a bright new lure, but if the hook is no good, you won't be catching many fish. Sharing the gospel and making disciples is much like fishing.  In fact, Jesus called his first disciples to be "fishers of men" (Mark 1:17).   Now I know these first followers were...

Most discipling in churches today is done with Christians who are already committed or desire to be more committed.   This is where we begin when we think about making disciples.   But when I read the gospels I find Jesus beginning with those who desperately need saving.   The lost.   The outcast.  The misfits. Jesus was not the only one.   I am intrigued by the story of David in the Old Testament.   There was a time in his life when he found himself on the outside and alone.   Yet he knew God's call on his life...

Have you ever been desperate?   Really desperate?   So desperate that it drove you to your knees in prayer?    I have been there.   Often.   Really desperate for God to hear and answer my prayers. One time of desperation I remember so vividly.   My wife Jeannie and I moved to a new city to plant a church.   We knew we had to rely on the Lord!   We had no people, no building, and no regular Sunday worship gatherings.   From our research we felt God was calling us to open a ministry center out of...

I might get into trouble for saying this, but I am not a fan of the usual 'meet and greet' times in so many of our churches.   Oh, it might work well for people who are regulars at church.   They do this every Sunday as they sit in the same pews or seats, and they usually shake the hands of the same people.   Week in, week out.  But this could be the worst experience for guests who come to church, the very people we are trying to reach and welcome into the Christian community we call church. Just...

I always found catching fish easier than cleaning fish.   Not that I am that good at catching fish, but cleaning fish is not easy.   It smells.   Your hands become filthy.   The fish is so slippery that it moves all over the place.   And what do you do with all the guts?   Years ago I would bury the guts in the ground, but we had this dog that loved to dig them up and roll in the mess.   And then we would have that stink all over again.   Cleaning fish is not easy.   Perhaps...

The Australian cultural landscape is changing, and changing rapidly.   More than 20% of Australians speak a language other than English at home.   1 out of 4 Australians were born overseas.   50% of Australians have an overseas parent.    Australians identify with over 270 ancestral backgrounds.   And all of this in a country is home to the world's oldest continuous cultures.   Visit the downtown of any major city or travel to specific suburbs all across Australia and you have this sense that the typical Australian is by far in the minority.   And I say all of...

God found a young man who refused to miss a prayer meeting as he cried to the Lord:  "Bend me!"    This young man, Evan Roberts, was used by God as an instrument to see the gospel spread like wild fire during the Welsh revival in the early 1900's.    Roberts began asking God for a 100,000 lost to be found and brought to faith.   Not only did God answer Robert's prayer for 100,000 souls but he multiplied the influence of this revival around the world.   The Spirit of God descended upon the coal-mining country of Wales.   J....

I did a dirt experiment.  I wanted to grow some spinach seedlings to transplant into our veggie patch.   I picked up the cheapest bag of dirt at the local garden supply store - $2.99.   The dirt looked clumpy, full of bits and pieces of who knows what.   I dropped the seeds into the individual pods of 'cheap' dirt.   It took a long time for the seeds to germinate, and I kept losing one young sapling after another.   I reseeded with near similar results.   I then bought a more expensive bag of dirt -- dirt made...

A challenge in full-time gospel work is to free up time.  There is just so much that can and needs to be done.   As we seek to grow healthy churches and plant new churches, as a denomination our GROW strategy includes encouraging full time ordained ministers to re-evaluate their timetable and responsibilities to free up time (for example, at least one day a fortnight) to review existing initiatives and develop new initiatives in the local congregations.   The goal is that pastors will give serious thought to how their church can increase their gospel effectiveness in equipping and nurturing their...

A battle rages for the souls of people. The person of prayer will recognize that the forces of hell will do everything to keep men in bondage to their sins. The person of prayer understands that “our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the powers, against the world forces of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places” (Ephesians 6:12). The man or woman of prayer must learn to wrestle in prayer against the spiritual forces of wickedness. God is assembling an army of prayer warriors in this generation. The Spirit...