The film “Up” has one of my favorite quotes: “Adventure is out there!”

My wife and I recently moved to New Zealand on a quest for adventure. I had lived my entire life in Atlanta, Georgia. While it was a lovely place to live, we wanted to do something different and out of the ordinary. Heading to a new country on the complete opposite side of the world may have been a bit drastic, but New Zealand is full of beaches, mountains, glaciers, fiordes, rivers, sounds, volcanoes, and more.

Our epic adventure was practically guaranteed.

Then, Disappointment

After being here for a few weeks, however, I felt disappointed. We had made some great friends and the job hunt was going well, but adventure seemed to elude us. I expected every day in this country to feel like something out of The Hobbit, and yet our biggest thrill had been a simple bike ride through the park.

And then something life changing dawned on me:

No matter how exotic the location of your home, you still need to walk out the front door if you hope to find adventure. Continue Reading…

Isn’t there something hopeful about the start of a new year?  After the dust of the holidays settles, there’s a level of anticipation, with all sorts of goals, dreams, and resolutions that follow.  January seems to carry fresh opportunity, and many people step into proactive choices where before they felt stuck.

Although unsure why we view the transition from December to January with such optimism, I like it.  There is tremendous opportunity to make decisions toward living the most full life in Jesus.

My Goal Setting Experience

I want to share a process of goal-setting that I myself went through last year.  It was life-changing (seriously), which is why I share it with you.  Before giving you the specifics, it’s important to see the definition for “living fully” that it’s rooted in.

“Following Jesus in a way that transforms every area of personal life and impacts every channel of cultural life.”

This goal-setting process is focused on the seven areas of personal life, as visualized in this dresser. (If this is a new to you, I’d recommend reading Fragmented Life vs. Full Life, which explains in greater detail).

This process is two fold. The first step is imaginative, and the second step is practical. Continue Reading…

You’ve found yourself in a mini-series on Rebranding the church. If you missed it, then I recommend reading the introduction. Essentially, we believe that followers of Jesus should be most recognized for what they contribute to the world instead of what they are against in the world. Each week we tackle something the church must demonstrate they support.

Although we have lost a drive to gain knowledge, many Christians today seem to think they’re smarter and better than everyone else. Spend a few minutes reading comments in controversial blogs or religious discussions, and you will undoubtedly see someone claiming to be a Christian and then telling everyone they’re idiots because they believe in evolution or something.

I have to admit, in my younger years I was often guilty of this. I thought my logic was irrefutable, and I said many unloving things to people when they didn’t agree. Not surprisingly, those unloving things only pushed them further from the faith.

It really does not matter how smart you are, God is crystal clear in the Bible that we must be humble. Continue Reading…

You’ve found yourself in a mini-series on Rebranding the church. If you missed it, then I recommend reading the introduction. Essentially, we believe that followers of Jesus should be most recognized for what they contribute to the world instead of what they are against in the world. Each week we tackle something the church must demonstrate they support.

Today I have the honor of guest posting on The Daily Retort about the church’s need to develop a thirst for knowledge. Tor is a great writer and has years of experience in journalism, blogging, and book publishing. If you’re visiting from Tor’s site, thanks for stopping by! We’d love it if you said hello in the comments.

And now, why the church needs to demonstrate a greater thirst for knowledge:

A History of Thought Leadership:

For centuries, Christians led the way in discovery of new truths and the applications of those discoveries. In John 8:32, Jesus said, “you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” Christians took this to heart and so they became great scientists, built new schools, and did anything they could to advance learning.

In The Book that Made your World, Vishal Mangalwadi discusses this at great lengths. One example is that of Christian monks, who used water wheel “technology” to grind their wheat into flour. This process saved people millions of hours of work over the years and allowed them to focus on science, family, prayer, education, and so on.

Unfortunately, many people today think of Christians as ignorant and anti-science and reason. Read the full post and learn what we can do about it on Tor’s blog.

Fifteen years ago, if you didn’t know something, you either asked someone who had more knowledge and expertise, or you cracked open an encyclopedia.  Now, when people don’t know something, there is one simple solution – “Google it.”  In an instant, Google provides the answers we are looking for.

There are many benefits of instant information at our finger tips, so many that I don’t think I need to convince you. However, the negative criticism for people growing up in this “Google generation” is that we don’t know how to be patient for anything.

Many young people look at older, successful people and want their achievement now. They fail to recognize the years of blood, sweat and tears that it took for these older people to accomplish their success.  Many young adults have unrealistic expectations about what it takes to be successful in the world. Continue Reading…