For the last few months, I’ve been wrestling with this question: How does a church like Otter Creek measure our effectiveness of living the Jesus Story for our time and place. The tempting thing to do is to measure the tangibles: attendance and giving. We’ve been packing people in (we had almost 1300 people @ [...]

I have mentioned before a new initiative Otter Creek Church is a part of that would be the largest transitional housing facility for homeless mothers and children in Nashville. Plans are in place right now with OC members, top music executives, Shalom Foundation, Christ Presbyterian, St. Bart’s, and others. This past Sunday, we held a special gathering [...]

Here’s the intro from a film I recently presented at the Lipscomb Preaching Conference. The joke per China and the growth of Christianity is from Randy Harris (that got left out in the edits, fyi).
Collision

I’ve been teaching Luke-Acts for four years now at Rochester College. The first three years I co-taught with my good friend (twice my boss–he’s an elder at Rochester Church and V.P. of Academics at RC) John Barton. His missionary/global experience was a great match for my pastoral/local interests. To say it plain: we made a [...]

My friend Wade Hodges made a big announcement today. You can read about his courage to hear God’s call on his life by clicking here. Wade–you have lots of people who believe in the ways God’s gifted you. Count the yes votes, and don’t worry about the naysayers.
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Our small group is reading Sex God right [...]

The debate is all over the air-waves, literature, university campuses and coffee shops in America: Is Christianity (and religion in general) good for society?
Some thinkers say religion is dangerous. This group would include Christopher Hitchens (author of God is Not Great) and others who point out the tragedies and violence done in the name of [...]