Wade Poe

I'm not a Paul Washer fan, generally speaking, but his words here reflect one of or some of the reasons I left paid, full-time ministry.  I 100% don't buy into the "pastor" model he's talking about, or the “male only leadership" thinking, or a whole bunch of other stuff that he's about...  ...but I do agree that many in leadership positions inside of churches have eyes for "growing a church" or "planting churches" to the degree they will 100% sacrifice their own sheep so as to attract more sheep that are like themselves and/or attract the specific kind of sheep they'd like to have. That line where he says something to the effect of "you love the church as much as you love your most difficult member" is pretty true.   Our model(s) of church allow us to prioritize the reaching of/creation of certain kinds of "disciples" and the freedom to cast off, ask to leave, and/or, most likely, completely ignore those who ...

Some have  asked what happens when you have spiritual conversation and communion at your house. Pretty much, we do some of the stuff you see in 1 Corinthians 11-14. For example, today we had bread and grape juice out on a table, in addition to coffee and donuts, some fruit, etc.  When people came in and it was time to start, everyone got some of that and we sat in the living room and "had communion". What did that look like? We just talked briefly about what God has done for us in/through Jesus and that we need to remember what he's done and how he's made us his family.  And we prayed and had the bread and juice.  That's it.  No attempt to make someone feel something.  Just acknowledging the reality of where are with God together. And then we had some scripture that I'd picked out as a starting place for us to talk.  People took turn reading some from Ephesians 1 and 2 and a little from Colossians 3 - all about what God has done for us and encouragemen...

In the months since I quit working at an organized, formal church with staff, leadership, a budget, etc, our household has been studying, thinking about, talking with God about, and working through what it means to "do church" or "be church". We've visited some churches on a few Sunday AM's.  I've spoken at a few places as the guest preacher.  We've had people in our home for spiritual conversations, both as a group and just hosting an individual or maybe a couple of people, here and there. There's not been "a sermon" at our gatherings. We've had communion. We've talked openly about our experiences with churches, shared our understanding of scripture, God, and other topics. We've watched kids play, talked about books we've read and we've just been people together with God and life. __________ In one of the recent gatherings, we talked about how rarely, if ever there was space made in "regular" church for pe...

Following up on part one of "A little bit of wisdom for crazy times"  and how we can have and live in peace when the world and culture around you seems like a crazy mixed-bag of trouble and opportunity. First, let me say it ain't easy.  As the first post talked about, you have to chose to think differently and you can't live in the past about things or in the "what if's", always ruminating over negative possibilities. It is work.  Daily, moment by moment work at times. So if you haven't read the first one, read that first and this follow up will make a lot more sense to you. __________ In Ephesians 5 and 6, Paul went on to talk a little more about taking advantage of the moments around you and he talked about serving other people.  The people inside of families should serve one another.  The people "at work" should serve one another.  And so, if we want to live at peace in the middle of trouble...      3. Humbly serve other people What doe...

It can be hard to focus.  Some days, especially if you are someone like me who has to choose intentionally what you think about and focus on, you can spend several minutes chasing a spaghetti noodle around the sink with the sprayer hose.  Or on social media.  Or whatever. Nothing wrong with mind numbing or spacing out occasionally.  We all need to take our foot off the gas and coast every now and then. But in times like these with what's going on now with an election coming soon, floods in the South East of the US, war in Russia/Ukraine, whatever is happening with Diddy, and just about a zillion other things - I know some people get really distracted.  Really distracted. __________ What do you do as a believer?  What good things does God offer or promise that can be what we can chose to focus on rather than allowing the fear of all that stuff get to you and make you feel hopelessness, fear, or other awful things? Well, he offers a lot of things!  NONE ...

I woke up this morning with “Cake By The Ocean” playing in my head. Ever had one of those days? Where a song just pops in your head and keeps coming back up? Like Rhinestone Cowboy or something similar?  Ear worms we used to call them. A catchy, contagious sound that becomes our soundtrack for an hour or a day. Harmless and occasionally annoying, but a part of life for many. ________ A contagious idea is an idea that seems to spread around like a cold or the flu. Not everyone catches it, but it's definitely "out there" and influencing behavior. Just like a virus, it will affect everyone a little differently, with some apparently "not catching it". It's one of the reasons people are careful in working with young people after a classmate or anyone their age is reported as having committed suicide. There's a fear - a real one, that it will give other young people the idea to follow suite. Call it societal peer pressure or whatever, there is an impact. Other...

There was a time when people used to "bleed" those who were sick because that's what you did to help them get better - you drained them of their excess blood and/or "bad humors". There was a time when people used to look at early automobiles and say, "That will never replace a good horse or horse-drawn wagon", it's just too impractical. There was a time when people would capture, enslave, and sell their fellow countrymen to foreigners from distant lands for money because that's what you do for money. People used to do a lot of things that we accepted as perfectly normal that we look back on as being way off base, short-sighted, or just completely wrong. For me, the way we "do church" is not too different. It's something we've learned to do over time that is disconnected from what God was and is doing with humanity through Jesus. I don't believe God replaced the temple sacrifice/worship system with the local church sacrific...