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The final instruction of Jesus in Matthew 28:18-20 tells us to make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them into the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things instructed. It saddens me that at times, this rich, powerful commission is reduced to nothing more than convincing someone to sign a prayer card, dunking them in water and handing them a stack of self-help books.

Being a follower of Jesus is so much more. One of my favorite commentators says that a better translation of the phrase “baptizing” is actually “immersing”.

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I’ve been thinking a lot about social justice and environmentalism and how at times, those two cross rather than run parallel (as I’d like them to).

Social justice, at its core, puts people first.
Environment, at its core, put creation care first.

At times, those two will clash. I’ve had them conflict in my own life with the rude words of an overly zealous environmentally-driven friend. Or when I heard of a major corporation dimming the lights in their manufacturing plant to save energy–but at what cost to worker’s eyesight? Or when companies paint their bottom line green by cutting costs which in(…)

I just got this great question from Doug Jolly, pastor of Memorial United Methodist Church in Cantonment, Florida:

I have been to many seminars on the sociological differences between baby boomers, Gen-X’ers and millenials, and how they process truth and ther different things they are looking for in a church. My parents were baby boomers who came of age in the 60’s, as are most other 20 and 30- somethings.

In hearing about how we “like Jesus, but not the church” today, however, I began to get a real sense of “where have I heard this before?”. It seems, from looking at(…)

Most days I feel like a complete disaster child—a redeemed disaster child, but a disaster child nonetheless. It seems I have a natural gifting when it comes to making mistakes, unintentionally hurting people and sticking my foot in my mouth. My tone, my attitude, my countenance all reveal just how far I have to go.

The idea that Christ wants me to represent him is pretty scary. He is perfect. I am not. I honestly thought that becoming a follower of Jesus would take away my disasterness (yes, I know that’s not a word), (…)