I am the Lead Pastor of Essential Church in Hudson, FL, Assistant Professor of the Ministry Department at Trinity College of Florida, and just trying to be the Husband and Father that God wants me to be.
Did you know this? That more missionaries come to the United States than any other country in the world??? On average, 32,000 missionaries come to the United States from other countries per year. Did you have any idea? Second place, has 20,000 missionaries going to them. We’re close to doubling-up the second place country. What’s … More Turf War: Missionaries Are Moving in on Our Territory
Entertainment weekly used to put out this list of In, 5-min Ago, and Out. For instance: Hillsong… Chris Tomlin… Carmen or ESV… NIV… KJV. That’s where I got this idea. To me, there is a growing gap between Christianity and what I guess I’ll label as American Christianity. Then there’s this 3rd category of “#Merica” … More Christianity vs American Christianity vs #Merica
I spent most of my life thinking of Sunday as the end of the weekend. Monday started my week. I went so far as shifting “Sunday” to the far right side on my iCal calendar on my iPhone. It just helped me to better visualize my week. What about you? In your life, is Sunday … More Does Sunday End Your Week or Start It? or (How to Get the Most Out of Church)
For some reason we have developed levels or ranks in Christianity. I’m not sure when this started, but it certainly wasn’t in the first century. I think I’ve accurately identified the different level Christians that exist: New Believer Church Goer Church Member Ministry Helper Ministry Leader Deacon Elder Senior Pastor Missionary New Tribes Missionary Again, … More The Great Commission IS Christianity
Oscar Wilde observed what he saw in the world, “Everything in the world is about sex, except sex. Sex is about Power.” I actually agree with that, as long as we are defining the word “World” in the biblical context. I tend to be a person that says there’s nothing new under the sun. There’s … More Sex and the Lies We Fall For
The Sabbath is Saturday. It always has been and it always will be. The rub comes in the beloved 10 Commandments. They all sound so relevant except for #4 – Remember the Sabbath Day & Keep It Holy. So Christians face a couple of options: Option A) They can pretend that Sunday is the new … More Stop Pretending the Sabbath Is Sunday
I tend to think every philosophy can be categorized into one of the five following Worldviews: Naturalism, Eastern Pantheism, New Ageism, Deism, or Theism. These are hard divisions, you can’t logically hold to more than one of these at a time; but I do see these Worldviews as a progression. Not that someone has to … More Worldviews Simplified – and why it matters
So many Christians these days claim their faith is “personal” or “private.” Their faith and belief is orthodox and founded in truth, it’s just the expression of their faith and belief is nowhere near the biblical example. Thus I know there are Undercover Christians, but I contend there is no such thing as “Undercover Christianity.” … More Undercover Christianity
Yes. (Well, I don’t think anyone wants to say “No.”) My general rule of thumb is that Jesus is the Greatest Ever no matter what we are talking about. Here’s what I know: If Jesus Christ’s purpose was to be a Swimmer, than he’d be better than Michael Phelps. If Jesus Christ’s purpose was to … More Would Jesus Win Every Event at The Olympics?
This is a little more targeted of a blog than I usually do, so after you read it, forward it to either a High School student, Youth Pastor, or the like that might be able to use its insights a bit more. I want to talk about being called into vocational Christian Ministry. This is … More 5 Things Students Can Do to Get Ready for Christian Ministry
Joe Allotta 