Real Greatness

What Makes Leadership Dangerous?

Any leader who is going to lead a church or an organization into change must recognize that it takes courage. There is not a church in existence that does not have to face varying types of challenges. Matter of fact if a church is not facing any challenges then I would question whether that church is moving ahead with a focused mission. The mistakes that I have seen many churches make and I have…

Rising Up to Call My Mother, Nancy Mathis- Blessed!

                        The past few weeks has been an emotional roller-coaster! It is a little over a week ago that my mother went into the hospital being treated for a pneumonia only to discover that she has “Stage 4- Ovarian Cancer”. It is a daily walk of self-reflection in order to simply comprehend what is going on and there are moments that it just seems surreal. There is a passage of…

WE ARE REALLY WEALTHY!: I Corinthians 1:5-6

“…that in everything you were enriched in Him, in all speech and all knowledge, even as the testimony concerning Christ was confirmed in you.” I Corinthians 1:5-6, NASB   The Apostle Paul like many of his introductions that are in his epistles begins in I Corinthians describing the theological work that Jesus Christ has done for us. The word “enriched” is the Greek word plousion, which describes,…

EQ Series pt.3:EQ Series pt.3 February 14, 2016 “Un-Packing Your Emotional Suitcase!” “Going Back in Order to Go Forward”

https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/eq-part-iii/id1027134027?i=363227027&mt=2   EQ Series pt.3 February 14, 2016 “Un-Packing Your Emotional Suitcase!” “Going Back in Order to Go Forward”   Introduction:   It is great be able to be here with you today Brave Church and you are in a series that is really important because you are discovering that, it is not possible for one who is a Christian to be…

The Breadth of Prayer: Ephesians 6:18

                The Apostle Paul in this verse is expanding our perspective to prayer. The phrase that translates in the New International Version, “on all occasions” comes from the Greek word “panti” which is an all-encompassing word that embraces everything, including the smallest and most minute details.[1] The last word in this Greek phrase is the word “Kairo”, the word for time and seasons.…

Why People Circle the Wagons During Difficult Times? The Challenge of Imaginative Gridlock! Part 1 of 2

      [embedyt] http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0YBhAPL8itk%5B/embedyt%5D     The meaning of idioms generally alters as time passes, but sometimes the original meaning is also based on a false premise. The idea that settlers of the west were often threatened by marauding Native American tribes and had to “circle the wagons” for protection is something of a myth. This idea has been perpetuated by…

Lent: Liberation for the Soul!

I am the current transitional pastor of Recreate Church which is located in San Jose, CA, and I wrote this for a blog article concerning some of the reasons why I am convinced that the Season of Lent is important for us to identify how Jesus Christ becomes our perfect example of how to overcome temptation from his own earthly journey of 40 days in the wilderness. We live in a day in which we are…

Sermon at Recreate Church Joshua 3: Welcome to Your New Future!

https://vimeo.com/154728312 JOSHUA 3   SO LONG TO YOUR OLD LIFE   HOW TO CROSS THE JORDAN   “Unbelief says, ‘Let’s go back to where it’s safe.’ Faith says, ‘Let’s go forward to where God is working. Forty years before, Joshua and Caleb had assured the nation, ‘Let us go up at once, and possess it; for we are well able to overcome.’ That’s faith! But the people said, ‘We are not able!’ That’s…

What’s Your Leadership Style?

    Perhaps in the despair over defining leadership, management theorists have attempted to picture it in terms of style. In using such a broad term, they are attempting to describe how the person operates, rather than what he is. If you think about a number of leaders that you know personally, you can probably come up with your own summation of their style: “He’s a player/coach kind of guy,” or…

Spirituality and our Body!

                              (Painting:The Temple of His Body © Jan L. Richardson) I had the opportunity to go on a Spiritual Retreat at the Mercy Center which is located in Auburn, California. The facilitator gave us a poem by Jan Richardson to read and then she wanted us to reflect and write what the Lord was speaking to us. Here is the poem: Blessing the Body[1] This blessing takes one look…

Welcome the Word into Your Life!

Colossians 3:16, NASB Have you ever stayed as a guest in a home where the people made you feel very unwelcome and unwanted? I have have and it is an awkward and uncomfortable feeling. The Apostle Paul states that we must welcome the Word of God to reside in our life! Let’s take a look at Colossians 3:16. In my time of reflective study I focused on the phrase “Let the word of God dwell richly…

Speaking the Truth in Love to those Who Stumble!

              One of the most difficult questions that any person serving in leadership wrestles with is how does one respond to believers who continue to practice sin? If you are a person who is in relationship with an individual like this, what steps or action should you take in order to rescue him or her? I would not normally use the word rescue because it often times in unhealthy family…

Insight Beyond Your own Sight: Ephesians 1:17

                  Today, in my Daily office this is the verse that I focused on for my time of Lectio Devina. As a leader, husband, father, and grandfather, I am always needing the insight that can only come from insight that is far greater than my own. The word for wisdom in this verse is the Greek word sophias. It is an old Greek word that was used to describe insight or wisdom not naturally…

Vanguard University Scripted a Great Message to Students for MLK!

      I admit it … I am an Alumnus of the Graduate MA program from Vanguard University and I love this school. If we were talking undergraduate programs I would giving a shout out to “LIFE Pacific College!” It has been my experience that outside from the History Channel covering special holidays such as “Presidents Birthday’s” most people are not so much contemplating the meaning of the National…

Multisite 2016: What’s New and What’s Next? – OutreachMagazine.com OutreachMagazine.com

  By Jim Tomberlin • December 31, 2015   Emerging trends from a dynamic movement in its third decade. RECENT STORIES Multisite 2016: What’s New and What’s Next? Emerging trends from a dynamic movement in its third decade.   When I started down the multisite path as a senior pastor in Colorado in the 1990s, multisite was a radical idea. In the first decade of the 21st century multisite became a…

Five Practices Churches Need to take Seriously -So Newcomers Take You Seriously!

                        I have been able to have the opportunity to visit a few churches in the past six month’s and it has been my observation that larger churches are very serious about how they do the five practices that I am going to present and smaller churches just do not have these practices on their radar. It is my conviction that these five practices are game changers to both numerical…

“CULTURE TRUMPS VISION!”

  I teach at EPIC Bible College and Graduate School which is located in Sacramento, California and the Academic Dean, Greg Hartley PhD, referred me to read a great book concerning Church Culture because he knew I have been assisting a church as their “Transition Pastor” that has experienced a challenging previous season as a a congregation. The book is entitled, “Cracking Your Church’s Culture…