Christian Living, Evangelism
John Beeson
Open Dumpster Living

Along the route from my house to the church is an undeveloped intersection on three of its four corners. Two medium-trafficked two-lane roads converge at a stop sign. A while ago, inexplicably, two massive forty-yard dumpsters showed up on one of the undeveloped corners. They sat empty for a few days, and then some observant neighbors, likely determining that the dumpster didn’t have another purpose, dumped a ragged armchair in the dumpster.

The proverbial floodgates opened. Old TV sets, broken dressers, bikes, and couches filled the two dumpsters to overflowing. Over the next two months, the dumpsters were emptied multiple times and then quickly filled.

Open Dumpster Living
Recommendations, Church, Counseling, Culture
John Beeson
This Week's Recommendations

  1. Understanding therapy culture from different generations: This article from Sheryl Jacob resonates with my experience in the counseling room with different generations. “Millennials (born 1981-1996) grew up with therapy as mainstream - encouraged to talk about trauma, set boundaries, process their inner child, and name anxiety. While this openness is good, this generation also normalised many struggles the Church should have addressed long ago.”

  2. Be drunk with love: J.A. Medders encourages, “We get filled with the Spirit—when bottles (barrels) of the vintage gospel hit our bloodstream, our Blood Gospel Content rises above the legalistic limit.”

This Week's Recommendations
Suffering
John Beeson
Ducking Suffering

"Forgive me for all the times I needed to suffer and I ran from it, I numbed it.” The prayer caught me off guard. I looked up. Aspens bent in the wind outside the window. A small group of pastors gathered in the small community center in the tiny town of Summerhaven, located near the summit of Mount Lemmon, 5,000 feet above Tucson.

Who hasn’t avoided suffering? I’ve avoided suffering in countless ways: I’ve dodged difficult conversations, evaded serving, neglected the spiritual disciplines of fasting and silence, overspent our budget, and skipped leg day. But how often have I prayed for forgiveness for shirking suffering?

Ducking Suffering
Christian Living, Culture, Spiritual Growth
John Beeson
Grieving God's Heart

Six chapters into the Bible and only three chapters after Adam and Eve committed the first sin against God, the hearts of humanity have turned in on themselves. They desire to please themselves alone. God’s heart is broken. Listen to the narrative in Genesis 6. It’s a remarkable glimpse into God’s emotional life,

The Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intention of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. And the Lord regretted that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him to his heart….

Grieving God's Heart
Recommendations, History, Nature, Religion, Wisdom
John Beeson
This Week's Recommendations

  1. When God says now: Christopher Cook says, “I understand the hesitation, but you and I need discernment for this hour. We are being called to submit. Our job is not to assess our readiness (according to our perspective). It is to step forward with clean hands, a yielded spirit, and a heart tethered to the will of the Father.”

  2. The secret things: Andrea Sanborn concludes, “Someday we’ll know the secret things that our mortality can’t fathom. “Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known”, as the Apostle Paul explained it. But for now, it’s okay to rest in wonder. Because wonder, in the end, is worship.”

This Week's Recommendations

Church

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Intercessions for Life

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Intercessions for Life

My heart has been conflicted since the Supreme Court decision overturning Roe v. Wade was leaked last week. I praise God that states will have the opportunity to protect the lives of unborn children. I am hopeful that many will step forward to care for children who are put forward for adoption. I prayed for three couples at our church who are currently hoping that God would allow them to adopt and considered how they might hear this news. I was disheartened by the attack on our democratic system by the leak of the decision. I was frustrated by many politicians’ lack of honesty in the explanation of what the ruling means for women. I was aghast by the blatant disregard for the welfare of the conservative justices by the pro-choice group who spread their home addresses.

Have mercy on us, sinners, Wounded Savior.

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This Week's Recommendations

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This Week's Recommendations

  1. Let the Global Church Give You Perspective: This is really helpful advice from Trevin Wax. He begins, “Stay connected to the global church if you want to hold on to orthodoxy…and if you want to hold on to your sanity.”

  2. God Does Not Despise the Small Things: Ed Welch begins, “Zechariah 4:10 says, ‘Who despises the day of small things?’ Indeed, everything we do is a very small thing.”

  3. Does God Give Us Only What We Can Handle? My friend Caroline Albanese reflects on a tumultuous three years in her family’s life. She says, “All these events took place in rapid succession. The emotional toll on our family is incredible. Suffice to say, the weight on our souls has felt absolutely unbearable, and we’ve been clinging to Christ for dear life.”

  4. Does ‘Love the Sinner Hate the Sin’ Still Work? Carl Trueman explains how the cultural shift to expressive individualism creates an argument where this posture is intolerable. He clarifies, “The old chestnut of “love the sinner, hate the sin” simply does not work in a world where the sin is the identity of the sinner and the two cannot be separated even at a conceptual level. In a time when the normative notion of selfhood is psychological, then to hate the sin is to hate the sinner.”

  5. Escape from Kabul: Sarah Eekhoff Zylstra tells the story of Christians fleeing Kabul, Afghanistan in this gripping podcast. Despite facing persecution and as the country implodes, they still shared Jesus with so many. But, how?

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Does Systemic Sin Exist?

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Does Systemic Sin Exist?

Our world is talking theology. They probably aren’t aware of it, but theological conversations permeate the air. One such conversation that has persisted over the past several years has been about whether or not America is a racist nation. How would you answer that question: is America a racist nation?

I’m aware that the question itself likely creates a strong emotional reaction in you. But, if we can lean in together to listen to scripture, there is much we can learn from the question. Before we can answer the question, “Is America a racist nation,” we have to ask an underlying question: does systemic sin exist?

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This Week's Recommendations

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This Week's Recommendations

As LGBTQ Identification Rise, Conversations More Important: Aaron Earls reports, “Today, 10.5% of millennial adults identify as LGBTQ, whereas 5.8% did so 2017.”

  1. Young Adults Have Complicated Relationship with Money: Marissa Postell reports that, “The typical Christian young adult donates more than three times as much as non-Christians over the course of a year ($1,820 v. $556).”

  2. How to Work With a Domineering Boss: Joseph Grenny at Crucial Conversations responds to this question in a surprising way, “I have a domineering boss who micromanages everything I do. He has no filter when speaking to me and often is just outright rude. Whenever I send out a piece of work, he finds fault with it and tries to undermine my confidence. Having read online about his characteristics, I truly believe he suffers from narcissism. The sad fact is that he gets results and senior management love him, so he is untouchable. How can I deal with this aside from leaving the company?”

  3. No, Christianity is Not as Bad as You Think: Josh Howerton responds to five cultural narratives. He begins with this one, “Cultural narrative #1: Christians aren’t really pro-life; they’re just pro-birth. Christians are sometimes accused of being pro-birth more than pro-life. They pretend to be passionate about the lives of the unborn as a political weapon, the argument goes, but they don’t really care about children once they’re born. But the data tells a different story.

  4. The Liturgy of Powers: Carl Trueman begins, “The trans revolution reached new heights of absurdity last week when the BBC asked Anneliese Dodds, the Labour party’s shadow secretary for women and equalities, to define “woman.” Dodds proved singularly incapable of doing so; after saying that “it does depend what the context is,” she equivocated for several minutes and refused to give a direct answer

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This Week's Recommendations

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This Week's Recommendations

  1. The Universe Demands a Cross: This post by Samuel James is brilliant and moving. Please read it. Here is a taste, “The sterilized metaphysics of Western spirituality, the liturgies of eat-pray-love, are sieves when it comes to the bloodiness of reality. I could, if I chose, close my eyes and insist on believing in the inherent goodness of man, the brotherhood of all, and the common destiny of all but the worst people. But I could not close my eyes hard enough to un-see the blood of vaginal delivery. The blood does not merely sit there. It calls out, just as the blood of Abel cried “out from the ground.” It calls out for reckoning.”

  2. 200 People Left Our Small Church: my friend Benjamin Vrbicek asks, “How does a pastor keep his heart from growing cynical when, over 350 weeks of pastoring the same church, I have lost an average of one person each week? And why are these congregants leaving our church anyway? What role might I play, even unintentionally, in sending sheep to what they perceive to be greener pastures?”

  3. An Open Letter to Death: Cindy Matson begins, “Dear Death, I’m writing to you today with a simple message: Stop boasting. I realize that you have some reason for pride. You have had your way with nearly every human to ever live. (Do Enoch and Elijah keep you up at night?)”

  4. True Humanism: Jesus, Marx, or Jenner? Bruce Ashford considers the options to Christianity in contemporary culture, “[T]hese thought leaders often pose as anthropologists who find Christianity dehumanizing and as tea-leaf readers who discern in the anfractuosities of history a movement toward a more “humanized,” Christ-less future.”

  5. Tom Brady in Retirement: Football fans out there will enjoy this.

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This Week's Recommendations

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This Week's Recommendations

  1. The Universe Demands a Cross: This post by Samuel James is brilliant and moving. Please read it. Here is a taste, “The sterilized metaphysics of Western spirituality, the liturgies of eat-pray-love, are sieves when it comes to the bloodiness of reality. I could, if I chose, close my eyes and insist on believing in the inherent goodness of man, the brotherhood of all, and the common destiny of all but the worst people. But I could not close my eyes hard enough to un-see the blood of vaginal delivery. The blood does not merely sit there. It calls out, just as the blood of Abel cried “out from the ground.” It calls out for reckoning.”

  2. 200 People Left Our Small Church: my friend Benjamin Vrbicek asks, “How does a pastor keep his heart from growing cynical when, over 350 weeks of pastoring the same church, I have lost an average of one person each week? And why are these congregants leaving our church anyway? What role might I play, even unintentionally, in sending sheep to what they perceive to be greener pastures?”

  3. An Open Letter to Death: Cindy Matson begins, “Dear Death, I’m writing to you today with a simple message: Stop boasting. I realize that you have some reason for pride. You have had your way with nearly every human to ever live. (Do Enoch and Elijah keep you up at night?)”

  4. True Humanism: Jesus, Marx, or Jenner? Bruce Ashford considers the options to Christianity in contemporary culture, “[T]hese thought leaders often pose as anthropologists who find Christianity dehumanizing and as tea-leaf readers who discern in the anfractuosities of history a movement toward a more “humanized,” Christ-less future.”

  5. Tom Brady in Retirement: Football fans out there will enjoy this.

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Church, Thank you for your Generosity

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Church, Thank you for your Generosity

It was a Friday a few months back. Angel and I wound down a long day of ministry and climbed into our respective cars. We got on our phones to debrief the day and make plans. Our kids were out for the night and our connection group started in an hour and a half. “Want to meet up at Harvest for a meal, so we don’t have to throw something together for dinner?” I asked. “Yes!” she said. We embraced in the parking lot, strolled to the restaurant, and sat down to spend some time together before our connection group.

We caught the eye of a dear couple from our church at the restaurant and waved. They were with another couple, but came over and gave us hugs after we had ordered. “We don’t want to intrude, but we wanted to come over to ask if you would let us pay for your meal. Would you let us have the blessing of blessing you?” I’ve never been asked that question! We were amazed. What a kindness. What a mercy. “Yes, and thank you so much,” we replied.

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Teaching for Change: the Power of Questions

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Teaching for Change: the Power of Questions

I took three preaching courses at seminary. They were all excellent. I didn’t take any courses on teaching, and wasn’t aware of any offered. It wasn’t until after a campus minister sat me down for a conversation I would have even considered the need for a separate class on teaching. Aren’t they both just presenting biblical truth accurately and memorably?

That conversation ended with the most impactful advice I’ve ever received about teaching: prepare your lesson around several open questions that engage the group. Such preparation maximizes what small group teaching environments can do so well: connect biblical truths with individual hearts to bring about change.

Let’s unpack how to teach with the aim to experience change ourselves as teachers and help those in the group experience change.

Before I begin, let me qualify this post in two important ways. First, I absolutely believe in preaching and the power of the exposition of God’s Word. Clear and impactful preaching of the authoritative Word of God is important for the gathered body of Christ. Second, there are times in which classrooms and groups can benefit from a teacher preaching. There is a time and a place for non-interactional teaching. That said, there can be the opposite drift in biblically-grounded churches. In such contexts, classrooms and living rooms become mini-sanctuaries and the preaching ministry is multiplied into small group contexts. I think misses out on some of the great benefits of smaller groups and can reinforce a brand of Christianity that emphasizes the accumulation of knowledge to the detriment of life-change.

Let’s dive in, then. Here are some methods I use when I prepare to teach interactively:

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This Week's Recommendations

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This Week's Recommendations

  1. Want a Happy Relationship? Go to Church Together: New research by the Institute of Family Studies. Aaron Earls reports, “More than 3 in 4 regular church-attending couples (78 percent) say they are “very happy” or “extremely happy” in their relationship.”

  2. 12 Ways to Help a Pastor Stay in Ministry: I appreciated this article from Scott McConnell, which highlights ways both pastors and congregants can keep pastors in ministry. For instance, speaking to the need for a pastor to be humble, McConnell notes that, “In [a] study of pastors, a one unit increase in level of agreement (from somewhat agree to strongly agree, for instance) that “the church would not have achieved the progress it has without me” corresponds to being over three times less likely to remain in pastorate.”

  3. Stop Eating Spiritual Candy: Amy Gannett warns, “Christians frequently exchange the nourishing truths of God’s Word for “sweeter” substitutes. Particularly when life wears us thin, we can lean on half-truths about our own resilience rather than on reminders of God’s sovereignty and sufficiency.”

  4. Death Comes in Slow Drips: Chrys Jones speaks of the danger of allowing sin to drip into our lives, “Then it happened. He fell “in love with this present world” and deserted Paul (2 Tim. 4:10). While there is some debate as to whether Demas was an apostate or not, the fact remains: Demas chose sin instead of supporting Paul in the work of the ministry. Falling in love doesn’t happen in an instant. Demas chose to dwell on the world day by day, drip by drip, until he made the decision to walk away.”

  5. What Animals Kill the Most Humans Each Year? I found this article from World Atlas interesting. I’ll give you a preview: #4 at 25,000 deaths is the dog, #5 at 10,000 deaths is the Tsetse fly.

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Teaching for Change: How I Learned to Stop Preaching

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Teaching for Change: How I Learned to Stop Preaching

When I signed up to serve as a pastoral intern during my seminary years in New Jersey, I was given the opportunity to teach our church’s adult Sunday school class. The popular and engaging regular teacher graciously handed me the reins for a chunk of the fall semester. I decided we would study the gospel of John together. I read through the gospel, paged through commentaries, crafted a syllabus, and prepared the manuscript for the class’s first week. I handed out the syllabus to the group (that included weekly homework) and launched in, hands gripped to the podium, with passion and verve.

I had mixed thoughts about how it went. On the one hand, my sermon lesson was well structured, thoroughly researched, and faithful to scripture. I intentionally added questions in the lessons, so it wasn’t just a monologue. I should have felt good about it. On the other hand, there seemed a disconnect between the class and myself that I couldn’t figure out how to bridge. My enthusiasm for the book didn’t seem to create engagement. The questions I asked were met with (mostly) silence or shallow answers. The faces in front of me seemed largely unaffected.

I got a friendly call from one of the campus ministers who attended our church (and that Sunday School class) that week and he invited me out to coffee. Over mugs at the local caffeine dive, Small World, I had a brief conversation that was worth a semester’s worth of seminary education. (Parenthetically, while I took four classes on preaching, I never took a class on teaching at seminary, and I am not sure if one was offered.) The conversation changed the way I have taught ever since.

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