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If we only emphasize the attributes of God that we understand and enjoy—like His love, ironically, we end up creating a god the Bible doesn't substantiate. According to the Bible, God is love, but He's also frighteningly holy. He's both at the same time—and way more . As much as that truth is NOT cool, trendy, or politically correct, it's consistently how God portrays Himself throughout the entire Bible. Yes, God is love. But God isn't  only  love—as we mortals understand love. Unsettling... ain't it? But this is precisely my point. He's God. We're not. Therefore, we'd better learn to live in the tension of who He says He is... or end up in serious theological error... with eternal ramifications. Virtually every heresy begins with a misconception of the nature of God. "Watch your life and doctrine closely." —Paul to Timothy in 1 Timothy 4:16 More depths to plumb here if you are so inclined: Adventures in Bad Hermeneutics . Subscribe here an...

"I came through the whole system with the best education that evangelicalism had to offer—yet I really didn't receive the training that I needed. Seven years of higher education in top-rated evangelical schools didn't prepare me to 1) do ministry and 2) be a leader. I began to analyze why I could preach a great sermon and people afterwards would shake my hand and say, 'Great sermon, Pastor.' But these were the very people who were struggling with self-esteem, beating their spouses, struggling as workaholics, and succumbing to their addictions. Their lives weren't changing. I had to ask myself why this great knowledge I was presenting didn't move from their heads to their hearts and their lives. And I began to realize that the breakdown in the church was actually based on what we learned in seminary. We were taught that if you just give people information, that's enough." —Dr. Clyde McDowell,  Vantage Point: The Newsletter of Denver Seminary , June ...

 In a Barna survey, pastors identified their top need as " getting clarity about their church's vision and mission ." Without engaging in a bunch of  leader-speak  here, let's simply say that if we are not clear about the church's vision and mission, then we are not clear about the "main thing." Interesting.  Very   i nteresting . Let's think about this for a moment. Two thousand years ago, Jesus commanded  all  of his followers to " make disciples ." Thanks to Jesus, we now have clarity. Simple. Profound. But obviously not obvious . Track with us on social media!    Instagram      Facebook      Twitter       Subscribe HERE and let the fun begin!

Note: We are disciplemaking missionaries with Cadre Missionaries . As such, we give a brief ministry update here at Cup O' Joe with Bill once every three months—for those who pray and support us. Double click any image to enlarge for reading, viewing, and praying. Can you help us  continue  multiplying disciple makers ? Here's how... 1.  Invest in disciplemaking via the Allisons and Cadre Missionaries 2.  Join our email prayer team  ("prayer team" in subject line) 3.  Bring Cadre training to your ministry or church 4.  Become a trainer with Cadre     5.  Read and share The Disciplemaking Genius of Jesus All glory to God! Let me encourage you every Monday ! Track with us on social media!    Instagram      Facebook      Twitter      

  Jesus said, “go and make disciples of all nations.” Many Christians in our country hear the word "go" and "nations" and they immediately let themselves off the hook for their responsibility for making disciples. Why? Because they are not going to other nations. They are staying in this nation. Thus disciplemaking in our country gets relegated to those who are in full-time ministry (pastors, youth pastors, etc,) and those who serve as foreign missionaries. How is this working for us? Let's be honest.  It's not . But all is not lost... yet. Consider this... If you're a follower of Jesus, you've been commanded by Jesus to "go and make disciples of all nations" —and that includes the nation in which YOU live . Before you worry about whether or not God might send you to another nation,  why not first live as a Jesus-like disciplemaker in the nation in which you now live?   After all, if you don't live with Jesus' heart and passion for ...

Once upon a time, you and your ministry were so busy that you didn't take time to encourage the hearts and equip the hands of the wonderful volunteers who serve with you. Even though the "maintenance required" light came on—warning you to stop your flurry of ministry activity long enough to schedule some routine maintenance, you still just kept going. And you got away with it... for a while. Then you started to notice the engine of your ministry bogging down. You began hearing weird sounds you'd never heard before. You started smelling some funny smells coming from underneath the hood. But you were still too busy driving to care for your "car." So you just kept driving. Until... it finally stopped working.  Then you had to call a tow truck. And in that one trip to the mechanic, you spent more than you would have spent in years of little investments in routine upkeep.  And here's the kicker: The car never did really run as well as it once did. The damage ...