Archives for July 2011

The Necessity (and Danger) of Measuring Spiritual Fitness

Many Christians busy themselves with church-related activities that don’t necessarily help them get in better spiritual shape. Week after week, they show up at gatherings, attend small groups, and serve in ministries. Some do it out of habit, and others duty. Many do it for a long time and burn out. One of the reasons […]

The Numbers Don’t Lie

One of the reasons CrossFit works is because it makes it easy to define success and chart progress. When you start CrossFit you step on a scale, get your body fat measured, and do a baseline workout to give you a starting point for improvement. The results of these tests are sobering and humbling. Many […]

Have You Seen My Stretchy Pants?

My wife and I recently enjoyed a week in Spain. We turned our dietary consciences off and ate everything we wanted to, taking full advantage of the exchange rate between American and European calories. We ate more bread, rice, and chocolate in one week than we had in the previous year combined. On our return, […]

I Love Ballads

When I finally got on Spotify this week, the first song I looked up was El Paso by Marty Robbins. When I was a kid I had a cassette of his Cowboy ballads. I wore it out. I had just about every song memorized. I can still sing most of El Paso, but not without […]

Three Motives for Planting a Church

I haven’t written about church planting in a while, but I continue to have conversations with planters in the middle of it, as well as with pastors considering leaving their established churches to start new ones. One such conversation got me to thinking about the different reasons for planting a church. Anytime we start discussing […]

A Clear Definition of (Spiritual) Fitness: Ready for Anything

In these posts I’ve been applying what I’ve learned about physical fitness from CrossFit to the pursuit of spiritual fitness. Specifically, the need to have a clear and functional definition of (spiritual) fitness. Read Part One Read Part Two Beyond the specific spiritual domains and accompanying exercises, there could be an even simpler, and more […]

A Clear Definition of (Spiritual) Fitness Part 2

The Goal of Spiritual Fitness Most churches have done an excellent job of describing the kind of the church they want to be: open, inviting, relaxed, contemporary, grace-filled, seeker-sensitive, diverse, and kid-friendly. But how many churches have taken the time to describe the kind of disciples they hope to form? CrossFit is not so much […]

A Clear Definition of (Spiritual) Fitness Part 1

The Goal of Physical Fitness One Sunday morning, my nine year old son and I were sitting in the large auditorium of a church building where I was about to speak. As he looked up at the impressive architecture he asked, “What would you do if all of this stuff starting falling down on us?” […]

Commercial Break: My Speaking Ministry

I really enjoy being a guest speaker for churches on the weekends. Sometimes I do a block of Sundays for churches without a preacher. (I’m speaking at the University Church in Conway, Arkansas three times this month.) Sometimes I do a one-time spot for my preaching friends who need someone to fill in for them […]

Time Trial #2