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JESUS – THE PATHOLOGICAL WANDERER

In Luke 4:18-21 Jesus proclaims the beginning of his ministry to bring good news to the poor and liberate the oppressed. "Today this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing." However, almost two thousand years after Jesus' crucifixion; hunger, poverty and social oppression still exist in every corner of our world. America (supposedly the wealthiest country on earth) has a staggering poverty rate that is driven by political, social and economic oppression that seem to run rampant in every region of our country. If this was Jesus' inauguration statement for his life's work on earth and if we as Christians are suppose to follow in his footsteps; then what should we really be doing? what should our churches and ministries really look like?

Are protestant evangelical churches confusing Success with Faithfulness?

As I have spent the last eight years working in sales for some of America’s largest fortune 500 companies, I have learned a great deal that I would not have, if I had stayed in full-time ministry. Most lessons have been good.  Not all, but most.

Of all the things that I have learned, the most primary point that has been spoken, habitually out of sheer conviction or mere survival, from all the leaders that I have worked for and all the teams that I have worked with, is, in order to be considered successful you need to “grow your business profitably!” In sales, there is no other principle objective. Here’s how it goes….in order to grow your business profitably you have to perform, and in order to know if you are performing you have to be measured on your performance, and you are measured on your performance through your profitable growth. And what is this measurement that is used?

A Cause, Sacrifice, a Comedian, Cravings and a Jack Black video

Here are a few thoughts by others that I have been reading this week. I hope you find them as encouraging and thought provoking as I have....Enjoy!

Erwin McManus: The Cause-Driven Church

Chris Tomlinson: Extolling the Virtues of Sacrifice

Torry Martin: A Comedian's Call

Jim Martin: What Do We Really Crave?

Donald Miller: Whats Now

"Love thy neighbor is not a statement, but a command"

This is a video of Bono's acceptance speech at the 2007 NAACP awards.  In the past I may have skipped this and moved on, unmoved by this. However, that is not where my heart is! Maybe, just maybe my heart be aligning more and more with God's.  I can only hope....

Nick Osborne says this on The Contemplative Charismatic in response to this speech, "May we act justly, love mercy, and walk humbly with our Lord (Micah 6:8).  However, if we are walking with our Lord, that means we are walking where he walks.  He walks with the poor, with the oppressed, with the disenfranchised.  Do we?  He doesn't walk with the proud (he knows them from afar).  Do we?"

Watch this video and tell me what it does to your heart?