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"All the Athenians and foreigners who lived there spent their time doing nothing but talking and listening to the latest ideas." —Acts 17:21 When we read books, we get ideas. But... When we wrestle the Bible together , we get convictions. I like books and ideas. I really do. But here's something I love more:  Deeply rooted biblical convictions . Why? People with ideas are fascinating conversationalists (like the Athenians), but people with convictions change the world —regardless of their education, social media platform, or oratory skills. Think about it. Jesus' disciplemaking movement  has never been built on ideas alone . Jesus' disciplemaking movement is built on regular people who get totally captured by Jesus—and then share His disciplemaking way of life with others. It's a 1 John 2:6 conviction: "Those who claim to live in God should live their lives as Jesus did ." There's always another new book of cool ideas

If you learn to laugh at yourself, you'll never cease to be amused. More Baptist humor here . Get  Cup O' Joe with Bill  in your Email Inbox! Let me encourage you and make you think 1x a week with a virtual  Cup O' Joe with Bill  in your email inbox.  1.  Go here and submit your email . 2.  Go to your email and click the Feedburner confirmation link . 

Your Cadre missionaries had a God-favored time of disciplemaking friendships and training with students and youth leaders from around the country (and some folks from other countries) at Challenge 2016. (Note: Click any image in this post to enlarge for viewing!) Challenge Conference is the national student ministries conference for the Evangelical Free Church of America and was held in Louisville, KY. The only thing worth my short life is investing in the next generation and those who are investing in the next generation . This year, the Cadre training team (me, Dave Garda, Rennie Garda, Seth Fagerland, and Nate Stenholtz) did 13 different disciplemaking training experience around the theme: Friends That Matter.   (Note: These five disciplemaking training experiences/presentations are available here .) Everyday of the conference we trained students and youth leaders at 1 PM and 3 PM for about 90 minutes each time. Of course, we didn't lecture for 90 minutes

For all this talk about "community" and "doing life together," if we're really honest, many of us would have to admit that we don't have the intimate friendships we long for deep in our hearts.  You might be thinking, "I've got lots of friends at church." But let's keep it real: Church is often the place we go to be alone, together. Even if you do have a large number of friends, how many of them would you really bare your naked soul to?  I dare you to make a short list in your mind right now. See what I'm saying?  For the most part, we're just like this picture above: "I'm fine." But are we really fine? And more importantly: What can we do about this? Here's another thought .  Let me encourage you most Mondays !    Instagram            Facebook              Twitter      

Here's some Cadre help for living a love-God-love-people-make-dsciplemakers way of life together after church... * The One Another Living Guide * The Disciplemaker's Living Guide * The John 3:16 Factor Living Guide How to Use These Living Guides Using any of these living guides  is as simple as this... * O pen the living guide. * Open your Bibles and read the Scriptures and their contexts.  * Wrestle the Scriptures and the questions one by one with a heart to know and love God. * Pray the Disciplemaker's Prayer together (it's in the living guide). You're probably doing it right when your study together leads to more questions and deeper conversations about applying what you're learning together. 8 Ways to Use These Living Guides 1. Sunday School: Use the any of these living guides   for the first 10-15 minutes of each class for discussion and prayer together for 25 Sundays. Or take your time walking slowly through the living guide