Tag: Legalism

  • 3 Deadly mistakes in missions (and life)

    3 Deadly mistakes in missions (and life)

    “Poor people are lazy.” “You must eat snakes and play with lions(if you live in Africa).” “Americans are fat.” People are famous for making assumptions and stereotypes. Often they are extremely painful. We recently had a time on our missions campus of sharing different perspectives from various cultures. We laughed, we cried, and we felt…

  • Is it Style, Culture, or Law? : Galatians 2:1-14

    What cultural things to we impose on other believers as law? As a missionary working in Africa, I am constantly faced with things people believe the Bible says. They tell me things are this way and it is the truth. Only, they are not in the Bible. Missionaries, TV preachers, and the internet have promoted…

  • Thanksgiving and Gratitude

    Thanksgiving and Gratitude

    As Americans celebrate Thanksgiving this week, it brings to mind things that we are grateful for. As an American, still celebrating the holiday while in South Africa, I want to remind my countrymen to be grateful. When someone hands you a gift, the appropriate response in almost any culture is to say; ‘thank you.’ You…

  • Being Intentional About Growth

    Being Intentional About Growth

    What do you pursue in order to stimulate growth in your life? Malcolm Gladwell, in his book Outliers, estimates that it takes 10,000 hours to become an expert in something. If we are willing to put in that kind of time we can master our craft. Over the past 18 years, I have spent a lot…

  • How Lukewarm is too Lukewarm? Part 2

    How Lukewarm is too Lukewarm? Part 2

    This is the second of a two-part post looking at Crazy Love by Francis Chan. Click here for the first post. Francis Chan is challenging the church to not be lukewarm, which is great. He just goes a bit too far. In the interview portion of the book, he says “salvation has nothing to do…