Word of Hope Blog
Read the latest thoughts from Ralph Moore, a veteran practitioner in disciple making and church multiplication.
Exiting Peer Pressure from Dead People
One of my friends recently said that adhering to tradition is like giving in to peer pressure from dead people. So, fight or flight? Which option should you choose? “I’m no quitter!” How many times have those three words helped you persevere where others might have given up? Yet, there is a time to back…
When Apparently Powerless
Let’s press into the issue of God’s power versus ours, especially in light of recent events in Asbury. The believers Paul addressed in Romans 16 were mainly slaves or people so poor that you might compare them to sharecroppers in the American South. However, there were people of means among them. Wealthier people…
When Social Limitations Become Useful
We can learn a lot by examining the social limitations of the people Paul addressed in Romans 16. This handful of politically powerless and theologically divided Christ followers would grow into a launch point for forces formulating what we describe as Western culture. Understanding society and points of influence is crucial in spreading…
Missionary Lessons from a Pastoral Letter
Teaching Romans as pure theology has hampered me in several ways. First, it comes across a little cold. And it misses the intended audience, teaching this way confuses Torah observant Christ-followers with first-century Jewish people. Finally, the doctrinal emphasis misses Paul’s obvious pastoral lessons. This is a pastoral letter. One false assumption…
Evangelism: Grey Skies Will Turn…
Yesterday I spent a little time in my garden between storms. It’s winter in San Diego—our kind of winter, gloomy but not too cold. Most of our trees are scraggly and leafless, especially those that grow better in Hawaii than here. We need the rain, but a series of storms can get old.…
A Workable Approach to Evangelism
Do you struggle to motivate your members toward evangelism? Is your “invite them to church” approach broken? You’re not alone. The program-based model is failing and never touched more than 30 percent of people still interested in Christianity. We need to equip and activate every Christ-follower as an everyday missionary. But…
A Workable Approach to Evangelism
Do you struggle to motivate your members toward evangelism? Is your “invite them to church” approach broken? You’re not alone. The program-based model is failing and never touched more than 30 percent of people still interested in Christianity. We need to equip and activate every Christ-follower as an everyday missionary. But…
Doing What You Though You Couldn’t
It’s cold in the California desert. A warm winter shirt served me well on my morning walk. Along the way, I bumped into an old friend—actually, it was a tree. It’s a plumeria tree typically found in the tropics. I’d seen it before, but it was a welcome surprise today. There are just…
Airport Adaptations
The new airport clubrooms are amazing. It seems that the COVID break helped them analyze how to better serve their customers. Having spent too many hours inhabiting these spaces, I’m glad for the renewal. Last week en route home from New York, I found myself in a super-confined space—and I enjoyed it. The…
What I Wish They Had Told Me Before I Got Here
Did you know that our education often fails to match our profession? Only about 46 percent of college graduates work in the field they learned in school. One study found that of those enrolling in a course of study, only about five percent will be in it two years after graduation. The false promise of…