Posted at: 25 October 2012 | By: DBA Staff | 1 Comment

  As we near Election Day, the volume has gotten louder, hasn’t it?  Voters, even Christian voters, have divergent views.  A lively conversation about issues is critical to our political system.  But at times, our zealousness can get ahead of our manners and ethical standards.  And if we claim to be followers of a loving [...]

Posted at: 30 August 2012 | By: DBA Staff | 1 Comment

“What did y’all talk about tonight?,” someone asks me after a study I’m co-leading about The Tangible Kingdom. “You know, the usual.  Missional and incarnational stuff.” Blank stare.   “The squiggly red line appearing under the word ‘missional’ in Microsoft Word is proof that it's not yet a real word,” one blogger reminds me.   And [...]

Posted at: 16 August 2012 | By: DBA Staff | 1 Comment

Not too long ago, over a long spring evening dinner on our patio, Kristi and I got to hear from a couple who have been missionaries in Cameroon for years.  They are back in the States now, at least for a while.     And they are having to rediscover what "evangelism" means in this, [...]

Posted at: 25 May 2012 | By: DBA Staff | 0 Comments

Tuesday morning I attended a breakfast that highlighted the work of "The Well."   The Well Community is a Dallas Baptist Association church that ministers primarily to adults with severe mental illness.  As far as we know, it is the only church of its kind anywhere.  (They've been highlighted in People Magazine!)   The Well [...]

Posted at: 10 May 2012 | By: DBA Staff | 1 Comment

  A couple of weeks ago our directors went on a retreat together to DBA’s beautiful Mt. Lebanon Encampment.  Often these are times when we have much important work to knock out.  But this time we had much more time to talk about big pictures and directions that we sense God leading. Bob and Bobby [...]

Posted at: 14 March 2012 | By: DBA Staff | 1 Comment

  A couple of weeks ago I had the opportunity to lead a group of Christian educators and college students on a tour of some of what God is doing among new immigrants in Dallas.  We called it a "Taste of our Multiethnic Mission Field" because we sampled Mexican pastries, Bhutanese tea and Arabic baklava [...]

Posted at: 16 February 2012 | By: DBA Staff | 0 Comments

  In Luke 10 Jesus says, “The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few.”  If we are seeing a “harvest” of new Jesus-followers that is smaller than we might hope, the problem is certainly not with the people who don’t know Jesus.  No, the problem is with a lack of workers—they are “few.”  A [...]

Posted at: 03 February 2012 | By: DBA Staff | 0 Comments

  Recently I heard a great short story from a “simpler church” planter friend here in Dallas. Each week he is working with seventeen (!) groups in a variety of locations, and in various stages of development.  These meet in places as diverse as mobile homes, apartments, houses, washaterias and even on street corners and empty lots. [...]

Posted at: 20 January 2012 | By: DBA Staff | 5 Comments

  You’ve likely not heard of Dennis Pethers.  I hadn’t until November.  Dennis is from “post-Christian” London.  He grew up as an atheist.  His story about how he came to faith might strengthen your faith in how the Spirit moves–even in spite of Christians sometimes! God’s call on his life now is to help Christians and [...]

Posted at: 11 December 2011 | By: DBA Staff | 1 Comment

I’m usually not comfortable with marketing—especially when applied to churches or Jesus.  Could much of our culture’s pushback on Jesus be because of misguided “sales presentation”-like evangelistic approaches? Isn’t it your experience, after all, that most people are interested in a relationship with Jesus or knowing more about your church because of a friendship with someone, instead of [...]