The Shepherding Movement and UBF (Part 1)
There is a book making rounds among many churches by John Bevere called “Under Cover: The Promise of Protection Under His Authority.” It’s been some time since I left UBF, but I certainly do have heart for the many individuals that remain in this ministry, not to mention the many new believers whose first Bible study takes place in UBF. In this series I am simply going to present several short articles going through Allan Clare’s review of the “Shepherding Movement” from the 1970’s and its connection with John Bevere’s 2001 book “Under Cover.”
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God is Love
Our newest book is coming out in a month, entitled “The Year the World Ended.” It is a love story and a story of my life in UBF for 29 years as a Bible student, Shepherd, and Director of UBF near the Northern Kentucky University Campus. It a story of how God led me out of a cage into the glorious freedom of love and grace in Christ. This book is not to bash UBF but to share the true story of how I came to find love and Christ in a deeper way near the Ohio river. If anyone would like a copy, please contact me at kentuckybigbear49 @ yahoo.com. The book is being put together now by our publisher.
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How I Had Fun in 2013
Is having fun a sin? For years I felt that having fun as a Christian was a sin. I felt bad watching movies and sports. So I took my Bible students with me to watch them for the sake of “mission.” For a time I enjoyed playing Tetris for hours on end. I thought no one knew. But my kids remember and told me so! I felt that Christian life should be one of self-denial (Mt 16:24; Mk 8:34; Lk 9:23)–my key verse for the first two decades of my Christian life in the 1980s-90s. Now I positively encourage everyone to have fun. When West Loop UBF started in 2008, my catchphrase was “Have fun serving God.”
After writing my 2014 key verse testimony, I realize that I hardly wrote any stories of what I personally did or experienced. So here are some ways I had fun in 2013. Continue reading →
Why Churches Stop Growing
I am reviewing a new book Innovation’s Dirty Little Secret by Larry Osborne for Cross Focused Reviews. Osborne is a senior pastor at North Coast Church, a megachurch of 9,000, in San Diego County. He speaks extensively on leadership and spiritual formation. He is the author of many books and a consultant to non-profit and business leaders.
The book, which I recommend reading, addresses reasons why churches and organizations stop growing and what can be done about it.
Stuck in the past. Continue reading →
Emotionally Healthy Spirituality, Part Two
I want to share with you the book report part two, Peter Scazzero’s book. Here I concentrated two parts; first the symptoms of emotionally unhealthy spirituality and second the antidote/ solution. Many of the symptoms the author mentioned here are related to our ministry. Italics are quotations from the book.
Puppets On A String
A friend of mine brought the following list to my attention this week. I feel compelled to share this as an informative article in hopes that people might recognize how manipulation and control can be instituted in a systematic manner. Such control does not require violence or guns or force to instill. How is Christianity different from a system of control? How are the sins of such a control system different from the sins of individual people? How should Christ-followers react to such a system?
The Only Necessary Thing
Forgiveness is such an important subject and one of the main teachings of Jesus. Jesus taught his disciples to forgive those who wronged to them seventy times seven which means endless forgiveness. Henri Nouwen is a Catholic priest. He taught at the University of Nortre Dame, Harvard, and Yale. I first met him through reading one of his books, “The Prodigal Son” several years ago. This book gave great impact on me.
Book: Emotionally Healthy Spirituality
[Here are some thoughts by the President of UBF on Peter Scazzero’s book, “Emotionally Healthy Spirituality“. I suggest listening to Peter’s introduction to his book.] I would like to share with you about Peter Scazzero’s book, “Emotionally Healthy Spirituality”. Often times seemingly good Christians can have deficiency in emotional maturity. Scazzero deals with this problem very well in this book. Before I thought “emotional” means immaturity and something to be avoided if possible. But the author said the emotions of anger, sadness and fear are just one component of many parts of our whole human being.
The Freedom of Self-Forgetfulness, Part two
This is part two of Keller’s book “The Freedom of Self-Forgetfulness” report. Freedom is so precious like diamond. It cannot be easily obtained. It requires leap of faith. It defies human logic, common sense and fixed ideas.According to Keller, there are several signs when we do not have true freedom of Self-Forgetfulness.
The Freedom of Self-Forgetfulness
I would like to share with you about a book written by Timothy Keller. He talks about three parts; The natural condition of the human ego, the transformed view of self and how to get the transformed view of self. [Here is a link to the book “The Freedom of Self-Forgetfulness“.]
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