Category: Holy Spirit
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I have to be honest with you. I don’t have the gift of hospitality. I know that’s a strange confession for a pastor to make. But it’s true. If you knock on my door unannounced, I will welcome you. I’ll make you a cup of tea. I’ll be warm, I’ll be kind, I’ll be genuinely…
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From the series: Empowered — Discovering and Developing Your Spiritual Gifts Let me name the elephant in the room. When most Christians hear the phrase “spiritual gifts,” they’re broadly fine — until the conversation gets to the gifts that involve healing, miracles, prophecy and tongues. That’s when the room shifts. Eyes drop. People who were…
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From the series: Empowered — Discovering and Developing Your Spiritual Gifts There’s a pattern I’ve noticed in churches over the years. You walk through the door, spend a few weeks in the services, and fairly quickly you start to sense what the community values most. For some churches it’s the teaching — careful, expository, scholarly.…
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From the series: Empowered — Discovering and Developing Your Spiritual Gifts Sarah sat nervously at the edge of the prayer circle. Three months into this church, she still felt like an outsider looking in — quiet by nature, uncertain of her place, more likely to slip out unnoticed than to step into anything. When the…
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A reflection on charismatic culture, pastoral responsibility, and the cost of elevating gifting above character There is a particular kind of silence that has caused immeasurable damage to the charismatic and Pentecostal church. It is not the silence of ignorance. It is the silence of people who suspected something was wrong, who perhaps even knew…
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From the series: Empowered — Discovering and Developing Your Spiritual Gifts There is a theological assumption so deeply embedded in the way we think about Jesus that most of us have never stopped to question it. It goes something like this: Jesus healed people because he was God. Jesus taught with authority because he was…
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From the series: Empowered — Discovering and Developing Your Spiritual Gifts There’s a particular kind of frustration that settles into a church over time. It’s not the frustration of conflict or crisis. It’s quieter than that. It’s the frustration of watching the same small group of people carry everything — Sunday after Sunday, meeting after…
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There’s a quiet assumption running through much of the Western church that goes something like this: spiritual gifts are for a certain kind of Christian. The upfront ones. The confident ones. The ones who seem to have a direct line to heaven. The rest of us? We just serve on the welcome team, give our…
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A while back I came across a statistic that stopped me in my tracks. A leadership conference speaker mentioned that seven out of ten pastors in America were looking for other work. When I dug into the research myself — Barna Group, Lifeway — I couldn’t find that exact figure, but what I did find…
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The Wait is Over: “Empowered” is Here!I can hardly contain my excitement as I write these words: “Empowered – Discovering and Developing Your Spiritual Gifts” is finally here! After months of writing, editing, and anticipating this moment, I’m thrilled to share this passionate project with you. This isn’t just another book—it’s a message I believe…
