This week I am going to be discussing Nelson Searcy’s excellent new assimilation book entitled, Fusion: Turning First-Time Guests into Fully-Engaged Members of Your Church. Searcy is the founding pastor of Journey Church in New York City and formerly served as the founding director of the Purpose Driven Community with…
Last night, we were hosted by the Mt. Washington First Baptist Church where the new International Mission Board chairman, Dr. Paul Chitwood, serves as pastor. Darryl Wilson of The Sunday School Revolutionary, Alan Witham, and I, led an assimilation conference as a part of our tour around Kentucky. During one of…
I’m in Florida for a few days for a series of meetings. Let me begin by saying, yum–yum! Today, I ate fresh Gulf shrimp for lunch then turned around and ate them again for dinner. I love fresh seafood. The little town of Graceville has a family-owned place called Grady’s…
Recently, I sat down in the studio with Joe Ball, Kentucky Baptist Convention Youth Strategist, to discuss discipleship and assimilation. We focused on those topics especially as they relate to students. You can listen to our conversation on his blog, Despising None. During our conversation about mentoring students, I pointed…
On May 22, we will host Dr. Gary McIntosh at the Kentucky Baptist Convention building. He will talk about assimilation principles taken from his book, Beyond the First Visit, along with other books he has written. Check out the well-written Western Recorder article on this upcoming event. Dr. McIntosh is…
Have you ever found yourself in a spiritual rut? Since being a disciple is a lifelong journey, there’s obviously going to be ups and downs. I’ve found that consistently practicing spiritual disciplines helps to reduce the impact of spiritual ruts, but ruts are still going to come. Here’s a great article…
This morning I’m sitting in the lobby of the new Hampton Inn in Pikeville, Kentucky after leading an assimilation event last night in the area. As I type, I’m looking up the hill at the Pikeville College campus where I began my formal studies. I spent two semesters at the college…
“Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves have received from God.” 2 Corinthians 1:3-4…
“I thank God, whom I serve, as my forefathers did, with a clear conscience, as night and day I constantly remember you in my prayers. Recalling your tears, I long to see you, so that I may be filled with joy. I have been reminded of your sincere faith, which…
Today, let’s continue our examination of the key findings from the study of the spiritual maturity of Kentucky Southern Baptists conducted by the Kentucky Baptist Convention and LifeWay Research. (See Spirtual Maturity Study: Key Findings, Part 1, and Part 2 for other key findings). In future posts, we will look closely…
Two encounters are critical. First, the leader encounters God in His Word and is changed. Second, the leader guides the group to have a life-changing encounter.
In John 13:34-35, three times Jesus said, “Love one another.” Your group is the ideal place to practice and launch the kind of love for one another that shows the world that we are His disciples.