I sighed heavily on the phone as I was coaching a young church planter. I knew what was coming next. The struggle. The heartache. The bewilderment. This wasn’t my first rodeo of coaching church planters and after 10 years, I knew what came next was the unpacking of broken dreams. Unfulfilled expectations. Confused priorities. Flawed…

The last seven days were incredible. My wife and I first attended the 45th anniversary of the first Hope Chapel in Hermosa Beach, Califonia (www.hopechapel.org) . We hung out with Zac and Julie Nazarian who carried the church far forward while launching many churches. We saw friends we have loved from afar and got to…

Okay, you all know I’m no stranger to controversy. This may be the most controversial podcast I’ve ever done. I find that sad to be honest. The church is often on the wrong side of social justice issues, as it was in the 1960s. There’s hope though. I find more hope coming from church planting…

Recently I was able to spend several hours hanging out with a church planter  who is in trouble. It seems he called the wrong bunch when launching his church. This church plant was a congregation “hiving off” of a larger church that has a vision for planting churches. He had freedom to recruit anyone but…

In 2013, I wrote a little book called Church Zero. It was punchy, humorous, and 1st Century. It got 109 reviews (85% of them 4 or 5 stars). Today, I received notice that Zondervan has formally accepted my manuscript for my next book REACHING THE UNREACHED: Becoming Raiders of a Lost Art.

I sat transfixed as addicts, ex-cons, and formerly homeless people shared their testimonies of how Jesus had changed their lives. It was the five year anniversary of the church I’d planted in urban Long Beach. Most of the people in the room didn’t know who I was anymore. God was continuing to move forward as…