This week, I am cross-sharing a podcast featuring our own Gerod Bass from February 28, 2023.

Mike Von Behren (Northwest District President) and Gerod discuss the arts and having and "open door policy" for a church building serve as a bridge into the community. We get to hear how Gerod's gifts and talents led to launching Mustard Seed Theatre after the 2016 fire and digs into what the calling to discipleship looks like when you cross boundaries to share the love of Christ.
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After listening, if you were inspired to take the next step and discover your God-given calling, go to oslc.com/design. You can find a group or contact someone to start your conversation.

I hope you enjoy this week’s podcast with my guest Mike Heinz. We talk about his time with the International Union of Painters and Allied Trades, what living out his calling is like in retirement, and how God was with him through one of the darkest moments of his life. I can’t wait for you to listen.

After listening, if you were inspired to take the next step and discover your God-given calling, go to oslc.com/design. You can find a group or contact someone to start your conversation. 

​I’m sharing a series of podcasts titled Designed for More. Each episode is 15 minutes or less - perfect for a quick walk around the neighborhood, picking up the kids or grandkids, or an evening wind-down (hopefully, it won’t put you asleep!).

I hope that you enjoy this week’s discussion with long-time OSLCers Carol and Ted Miles. I had a lot of fun talking with them about their time serving in Papua, New Guinea, and how they experienced living out their spiritual gifts in the context of their calling.

After listening, if you were inspired to take the next step and discover your God-given calling, go to oslc.com/design. You can find a group or contact someone to start your conversation.

I’m sharing a series of podcasts titled, Designed for More. Each episode is 15 minutes or less - perfect for a quick walk around the neighborhood, picking up the kids or grandkids, or an evening wind-down (hopefully it won’t put you asleep!).

I hope that you enjoy this week’s discussion I have with Young Life Area Director, Rob Mayer. I had a lot of fun talking with Rob about life experiences and how even a challenging one has brought him confidence and clarity in his calling.

After listening, if you were inspired to take the next step and discover your God-given calling, go to oslc.com/design. You can find a group or contact someone to start your conversation.

Over the next eight weeks, I want to share a series of podcasts titled, Designed for More through a brand-new podcast, Inspiring Faith Forward. 

I had a lot of fun with my first incredibly creative guest, Halle Gass, who was shaped through her unique lived experience as a MK (Missionary Kid) growing up in Southeast Asia. I was blown away by her conviction in her God-given calling. You’ve got to check it out.

Each episode is 15 minutes or less - perfect for a quick walk around the neighborhood, picking up the kids or grandkids, or an evening wind-down (hopefully it won’t put you asleep!).

After listening, if you were inspired to take the next step and discover your God-given calling, go to oslc.com/design. You can find a group or contact someone to start your conversation.

In the heart of the pandemic, through author and church leader Will Mancini’s book Future Church, I was given words to articulate what I and many other pastors have been thinking about for a good part of a decade.

A little context…

Throughout the 1980s, 90s, and 2000s, many churches that experienced growth became places where people could attend worship, connect in groups, and serve. Throughout those four decades, many of the larger churches today (including ours) experienced exponential growth—at least when church “success” was measured by dollars and worshippers. The key question for many people was, “Where are we going to church this Sunday?”

After the economic downturn of 2009, life began changing. Dollars decreased. Jobs were eliminated. Skepticism around organized everything multiplied. High-level leadership became “sus” as many leaders and companies went belly up or flamed out.

I specifically remember working with young adults at the time who were jaded by the promise of careers only to graduate college with a mortgage payment for their student loans and few job opportunities in their field of study.

The winds of change were blowing, and the Church’s work of attending worship, connecting in groups, and serving shifted. Many churches began declining. Volunteer teams gave way to paid staff. And the cultural questions, “Is there more?” and “Why am I here?” were amplified.

Today…

Many more people are asking, “Is there more?” and “What’s my purpose/calling?” than “Where are we going to church this Sunday?”. If you look at the Amazon book lists or peruse the shelves at Barnes and Noble, you see (and hear) authors who echo our world asking these core questions about who we are.

It’s not bad or wrong… just different. And, who better to respond than the One who created all people (collectively) for a purpose and has given each person (individually) a unique calling to live out that purpose throughout their lives.

In Future Church, Will Mancini introduces the concept that “attend, connect, serve” is not wrong or bad… it’s good (and still works for some!), just not as many as it used to. As a result, it’s not complete.

Will articulates that the Church has everything it needs to complement worship, life groups, and serving, including everything it needs to help people discover their calling, be equipped to live that calling and be sent to live that calling outside the Church.

In Matthew 22, Jesus gives us a collective purpose when He says to love God with our entire lives and love and serve our neighbor as ourselves. Now, we get to observe, reflect, and discuss what that looks like (our individual callings) where we live, work, learn, and play.

DESIGN is not about replacing gathering for worship, connecting in your life group, or serving on a team… rather, it will help each of us discover how best we love God, love people, and live like Jesus the other 167 hours a week.

For some of us, this is an epiphany (the light bulb just came on). For others, it’s not “new” because you’ve been thinking and living this way for a while.

Regardless, I pray that these next weeks together will be transformational for your faith and life.

Starting next week, I will upload a 15-minute podcast to this blog that shares inspiring stories of how people are discovering God’s Design and living out their callings—and by doing so, seeing generations of people transformed by the gospel not only at church but also where they live, work, learn, and play.

If you would like to share how you discovered God’s Design and are living out your calling, send me an email, and I’d love to talk about you being a guest on a future podcast.

Next week, we hear from Halle Gass, a creative young adult and MK (missionary kid). I can’t wait.​

Congratulations! You've made it to another Christmas season!

If you have had moments this year wondering if you'd make it to this point, know you're in good company.

For so many of us, it's been a doozy of a year. There have been ups and downs, curves and bumps, and perhaps an accident or two (or ten) on the 2024 speedway. Perhaps you feel like the roller coaster of life will never end. And to end the year in true human fashion, we may even feel stressed and overwhelmed at some point this holiday season.

If that's you, here are three ways to hold onto hope this Christmas.

Step back to see God's faithfulness.

The good news is that in the middle of managing our whack-a-mole lives and a life that is happening faster than we can control, God is faithful to always be in control.

Take some time this Christmas season to step back and out of your busyness and reflect on where God has been faithful to you this year. Could you write it down? Name it. God's faithfulness is yours. It has been His grace-filled Christmas gift to you all year long.

The steadfast love of the LORD never ceases;
his mercies never come to an end;
they are new every morning;
great is your faithfulness. (Lamentations 3:22-23)

Lean forward into God's promises.

You might feel a little beat down these days. That's not a surprise. The world is a mean place, and life is brutally out of our control. All of this can leave us feeling empty, ineffective, and worthless.

As we celebrate God's coming to earth as a baby, we lean forward into the cradle to see God's promises in a real and perhaps different way. The Apostle Paul says that no matter how many promises God has made, they are "Yes" in Christ (2 Corinthians 1:20).

As we sing the carols, hear the Christmas story, and light the candles this year, lean forward into the face of Jesus, who promises everything God has for you. You are totally forgiven. You are completely valued. You are unconditionally loved. You are incredibly gifted. You are deeply called. You are purposefully sent. You are fearfully and wonderfully made. You are always with God because His Spirit is always with you.

For unto you is born this day, in the city of David, a Savior from the meanness of the world and the brutality of life out of our control. . . He is Christ the Lord.

Through Jesus' life, death, and resurrection, we have so many more promises. Lean into Jesus' cradle this Christmas, and you'll see all the promises God has for you.

Look beyond toward the world to come.

Are you feeling worn out? You are not alone. The world is a mess. Life can really stink. And there is pain and suffering everywhere.

The great news is that Jesus says that He is coming soon (Revelation 22:12)... and not as a baby born wrapped in swaddling cloths.

This is a season when we look forward to the world to come. It's a world where Jesus promises that every tear will be wiped from our eyes. There will be no more death, mourning, crying, or pain. There will be a whole new world (Revelation 21:4).

Look beyond this messy world, stinky life, and ever-present pain and suffering. There will soon be an end when Jesus comes again.

I am praying that one of these ways you can hold onto hope this Christmas has resonated with you.

One sure way to lose hope is to celebrate Christmas as another holiday. Christmases will come and go. The decorations will be taken down. The family and friends will go home. The gifts will break or be forgotten. And you can't take any of it with you when you die. That's no hope at all.

Thankfully, Christmas is not just another holiday - it's the reality that God has come into the world. Joy to the world, the Lord is indeed here with us!

I hope you've enjoyed our fall series of blog articles. I'm taking a rest from writing and will pick it up again in January with fresh content focused on how God has uniquely designed and sent us to live out our callings where we live, work, learn, and play. I can't wait!

In the meantime, have a very merry Christmas season. See you back here on January 12.

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Reading what Jesus says about the end of the world can be a rough experience - especially if you've never really considered what Matthew records him saying in Matthew 24.

After watching the movie Armageddon, "The End" became real for me. I was young and probably got too caught up in the loss of romance. Regardless, it left me with a lot of questions.

Over the years, I have sought answers about the end times. As a pastor, I have studied different theologies around what scripture says about what will happen next.

What I have discovered is that while there is a diversity of perspectives, scripturally speaking, there are at least three guarantees about the end of the world—and only one way to prepare for it.

Guarantee 1: There will be an end.

They say that two things are certain: death and taxes.

I'll leave taxes up to economists. But I can say that Jesus' return at the end of human time is unavoidable.

In 1964, Robert Lamont published in Christianity Today that the return of Christ is mentioned 318 times in the 260 chapters of the New Testament and that this teaching occupies 1 in every 25 verses from Matthew to Revelation. Others have said that for every verse about His birth, there are eight about his return. In the New Testament, one of every 30 verses talks about Jesus coming back.

However you count, you cannot deny that there will be an end of this life on earth - either through our human death or Jesus' return.

Guarantee 2: You can't control it.

Matthew records Jesus saying nobody except God the Father knows when Jesus is returning. In other words, we cannot control when it happens.

Throughout history, there have been predictions of dates, events, and locations of when, where, and how Jesus will return. Jesus is clear; nobody will know. 1 Thessalonians 5:2 describes Jesus' return coming like a thief in the night.

It will be unexpected and you cannot control when, where, or how it will happen.

Guarantee 3: You will not be able to take anything with you.

Human logic tells us that we entered the world with nothing, and the same is true when we depart from it.

When reading the story of Job in the Bible, we will discover when life falls apart, Job says, "Naked I came from my mother's womb, and naked I will depart. The LORD gave, and the LORD has taken away; may the name of the LORD be praised". (Job 1:21)

Thousands of years later, Paul tells Timothy that since we brought nothing into the world, we can take nothing out of it. (1 Timothy 6:7).

We don't bring anything with us at the beginning and cannot take anything with us at the end.

So, how do we prepare for the end?

Jesus says to "keep watch and be ready" (Matthew 25:13).

Jesus explains that keeping watch is like having oil in your lamp. Biblically, oil often represents the presence and work of the Holy Spirit.

What does it mean to be filled with the Spirit?

Jesus has already filled us with His Holy Spirit. It is already alive in us (1 Corinthians 6:19). The Holy Spirit always helps us see Jesus (Matthew 25:31-46) and give glory to God the Father (John 12:27).

And how do we know that we’re filled with the Spirit?

We faithfully love God and love people by serving our neighbors like Jesus until “the end”.

What do you think? Send me an email, or let's schedule a time to talk.

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My conversations tend to revolve around three main topics: kids, family, and work. These are the pillars of my personal experiences, and they naturally dominate my discussions.

However, when I step back and listen to others, I encounter different conversation: housing and food insecurity, human rights, politics, climate change, substance abuse, clean water, and global health. The list goes on and there isn't enough time to have a meaningful conversation about every topic that comes up.

Despite this, the act of listening and talking is fundamental to human communication. It's how we connect, understand, and share our experiences and ideas.

As followers of Jesus, we might wonder what we have to contribute to these conversations. The answer is, quite a lot, but perhaps not in the way one might expect.

Jesus taught that He only did what He saw His Father doing. This means that even Jesus didn’t introduce new ideas but rather echoed what God had already spoken.

This is reassuring for us because it means we don't need to come up with new solutions or perspectives on our own. God has already provided guidance on these matters.

The challenge becomes whether we are familiar with what God has said. Have we taken the time to listen to His Word? It's true that without God's Word, the content of our conversations become limited to opinions and best practices.

And while opinions and best practices aren't bad, they're incomplete.

Opinions and best practices are often fleeting and subject to change. Compare that with God's Word which is eternal and unchanging. It provides a solid foundation for our conversations and actions.

Our true voice and the most meaningful contributions we can make come from aligning our words with God's eternal truths... His Word - and that's why without God's Word, we have little of lasting value to say.

What do you think? Send me an email or let's find a time to meet up.

Why are you a Christian?

I could say that a Christian because my parents are practicing Christians, meaning I grew up and was enculturated in the Christian lifestyle. I can also say that after an up-and-down journey of searching for identity, meaning, and purpose, I chose to adopt the ways of Jesus as my own. It was a twisty, wind-y path, for sure.

The truth is, there are many reasons I'm a Christian today. One of those reasons is that the way of Jesus is the only way of life I know, which allows for, is okay with, and leads me (and every human being) through joy and suffering.

I tend to welcome joy with open arms. Not so much with suffering. Author, historian, and scholar Kate Bowler says, "Suffering is a slow burn, and it never really ends". In other words, suffering is part of the human experience. You cannot escape suffering.

And still, every other spiritual and religious system cannot hold suffering for what it is: part of life.

To be clear, suffering stinks... and I'm not the best at living with it. I tend to want answers and reasons.

We are told that suffering must be avoided to experience enlightenment and become centered. Or, suffering must be eliminated to achieve existential peace. I've recently read that suffering must be denied to reach a place of self-actualization and a vision board of your ideal life.

Jesus' way is different. After all, Jesus calls himself the way, the truth, and the life. He then says humanity can only experience a whole and complete life (the joys and sufferings) through Him. A whole and complete life is one of both joy and suffering.

The scriptures testify that along with the joy and giggles, Jesus doesn't deny suffering. Instead, He considers it part of what makes Him (and us) human. Jesus doesn't eliminate suffering; He receives it. Jesus doesn't avoid suffering; He walks right into betrayal, beatings, bullying, and death.

For me, if God's best plan is to send Jesus to suffer and die on a cross, lose his entire family, take on the sin of the entire world, and believe that there is no better way than to walk through death itself… if that way is good enough for Jesus… It's good enough for me, too.

Only in and through Jesus' way can our lived experiences have the space to fully hold the stink of suffering.

So, how do I live like Jesus when it comes to suffering?

Most self-help approaches encourage engaging in activities to redirect your thoughts. I do them. But, honestly, they're quick respites or ways of coping with suffering - none of them lead me through suffering.

So, I take a cue from the someone who has lived through suffering: Jesus.

Jesus experienced happiness, anger, grief, loss, excitement, sadness, and anxiety. I remind myself to be present with what I am feeling. Those feelings are genuine and will return.

I will then invite Jesus to sit with me in those feelings. Jesus understands, and I am promised that the Holy Spirit will connect me back to God through wordless groans when I am too weak to know what to pray for (Romans 8:26).

I'm far from perfect when it comes to living with suffering.

At the same time, I can say that more often than not, God shows and reminds me that His miracle isn't that the suffering is avoided, eliminated, or denied. . . it is that Jesus is still here with me in it and walking me through it.

And that's (one of the reasons) why I'm a Christian.
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Why are you a Christian?

Email me, leave a comment, or let's grab time to catch up.