If you’re over the age of 40, perhaps the first thing that pops into your head when you see this is “Cowboys”. Where have all the cowboys gone? You wouldn’t be alone. The song by the same name was released in 1997 by Paula Cole and went to number eight on the Billboard Hot 100…
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I love living in a part of the world that has four true seasons. When I have visited other places that don’t, I always find it a bit disorienting, and it makes me even more appreciative of the change in weather and scenery. I wonder if part of the reason for this is due to…
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Given my role to work with churches in regard to church planting, I spend a lot of time talking to church planters and people who work with and coach church planters. I also spend a fair amount of time reading material devoted to this topic. Over the years I have found a few prominent themes…
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A few years ago at Ignite, Lt. Col. Brian Daum, an RMD chaplain with the National Guard, introduced himself as a cross-cultural worker. As I recall he said something like, “Members of the military are a different culture. They wear different clothes, speak a different language, and eat different food (MREs).” While there’s a bit…
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In the July RMD Newsletter it was announced that Rev. Jens (Monika) Sundem had resigned as Senior Pastor of Real Life (Alliance) Church in Bigfork, MT to lead a microchurch plant project in Kalispell, MT. This month, I sat down with Jens and asked him a few questions. Why did you leave a healthy full…
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Perhaps, like me, many of you were taught early in ministry that the way to multiply something is to divide it in half. If you want to multiply a small group, develop another leader and divide the group into two groups. If you want to multiply your youth group, find another leader and divide the…
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We celebrate to remember. Have you ever thought about that? One of the big reasons we celebrate certain days is to remember something. Whether it’s the 4th of the July in the United States or Passover in ancient Israel, “red letter” days, as they used to be known, are a pause for remembering. And so…
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If you have raised kids you remember the questions they had about the “__” word. You know, the “d” word, the “h” word, the “s” word, and on and on they go. In the church world we have one of those seemingly taboo words too, the “e” word… Evangelism. I think there are three things…
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We all know that we are called to be a “going” people. The church is to “go” and make disciples who in turn “go” and make disciples. The question for us, then, is how do we create this culture in our local church? Below are some ideas to consider along these lines. Start with you. God…
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I spent most of my school-age years living in a small dryland farming community. Consequently, I worked for a farmer who was part of our church. He was a good farmer and a great man who worked hard and smart to steward his farm well. He put in long hours to prepare the soil, cared…
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