What does it mean to be radical?
What does it mean to live in a "radical" way? In his book "The Radical Disciple," (as summarized by David May), John Stott has some thoughts: ...
Orphans
'Who will care for my orphans?'
God wants to expand our hearts so that his orphans will fit. Several years ago, he confronted me with the proposition that his orphans were going to ...
A broken world
Brokenness needs grieving
When kingdom journeys do their job, they take you to a place where you see your brokenness and from there, to depend on God. But to get out of brokenn...
Reaching Your Destiny
Distractions and heroes
Two thoughts for you today: You were made to be somebody's hero. Yet along the way to fulfilling that call on your life, you face distractions...
Leadership
Conflict resolution skills
We were a group of five elders in a church of about 600 people. Our pastor lacked people skills and we had to figure out what to do with him. We sat a...
Justice issues
We need to set women free!
I've long thought that we need another shot at the women's liberation movement. The first one had a lot of good points to make. But it was too s...
Community and Covenant
Loving broken people
Christmas, for all of its glory, can be hard on you sometimes. People who love each other but who have lived apart from one another for a year get tog...
My Life
Barnes Christmas 2011
We had a house-full here in Gainesville. Our neighbors from Florida, the Shiraz family. Karen's parents. And then for dinner, Trevor, Ryan & the B...
Better Living
Christmas & your dysfunctional family
Growing up, Christmas was sometimes a mixed blessing. No one wanted conflict, so we all would be on our best behavior. But along the way, if nothing e...
Better Living
Living an exhilarating life
It's a week of endings and beginnings. It started by ending the World Race for 100 racers. And we ended the week today with 130 racers being launched ...