Tag: Faith
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The Tower of Babel Syndrome: Our Fame Vs. God’s Fame
Some of us will do whatever it takes to get famous. Let’s be real, we all want to be known for something, even I do. 50 Cent’s “Get Rich Or Die Tryin” is not just a thug rapper mantra, it’s an attractive philosophy in a sexy bright red dress pulling on the deepest recesses of…
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Chapter 12: Suicidal
My mom was clinically depressed and was taking pills to deal with it. I didn’t know it at the time but she was suicidal. Life was a deep black hole and she expressed it to my aunt living in Los Angeles in one desperate phone call in 1996. “I don’t know what else to do…
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Denying Jesus With Pen & Phone
DENYING JESUS WITH A PEN Last week my friends were sitting inside a village office in a third world communist country. Local leaders and police with stoic faces sat around the room, one held an AK-47. On a table in front of my friends was a piece of paper and a pen. All they had…
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Modern Day Slavery, From Fear to Freedom
Slavery comes in many forms. It exists in every culture…even among tribes in Southeast Asia. I had never seen a tribe so remote. After 2 hours of motorbiking and 3 hours of boating we finally arrived in a small village along the river. The houses sat on stilts, the roofs were made of thatch and…
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Love My Sheep: Discipleship in the Midst of Persecution
We rode our motorbikes down the valley with apprehension and occasional fear, though our hearts were full of faith. The last couple weeks have been difficult for the more than 60 ethnic minority believers in the village churches down the remote valley. Even the strongest leaders felt the pressure bearing down on the young flock.…
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The Way of the Ninja: 6 Ways to Define Our Missional Role
Every Asian kid growing up has one time played ninja. You take a black t-shirt, wrap it around your head, make some paper throwing stars and hide in the closet to get the drop on your unsuspecting brother or sister. Movies and pop-culture show the ninja to be a bad-ass warrior. But real life ninjas…
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Bonfires VS Forest Fires: Sparking Church Movements
I once started a forest fire. As a teenager I always had a lighter in my pocket to smoke a cigarette or a joint. One day, when I was a bored novice monk in Fresno, CA, I wanted to see if sparks could light some dry grass behind the Buddhist temple. Yea, I know, really…
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The Greatest Pioneer
The very definition of a pioneer is someone who goes where no else will. Someone who does something that no other person is willing to do. Someone who envisions far beyond what others can see. Jesus was the greatest pioneer. The Son of God laid aside his heavenly glory and went to the deepest reaches…
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Catfish & Rice: Finishing the Task by Reproducing Disciples
In the west we equate time with money. In the Kingdom of God we equate time with souls. Every second someone somewhere in the world dies without ever hearing about the hope offered in Jesus. Every second God is being robbed the glory and fame that is due his name. As the population of the…
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What Dreams May Come: Pornography and its Effect on the Mission Field
(Special thanks to Inheritance Magazine for originally publishing this story. Much gratitude for telling stories worth telling.) I HAD A CRAZY, vivid dream during my first year on the mission field in Southeast Asia. In it, I was surrounded by attractive women lavishing me with attention. It was a feast of carnal entertainment, and I…
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4 Christian Responses to the LGBT Community
The Supreme Court ruled in favor of legalizing same-sex marriage in all 50 states this week leading to a mixture of responses and heated discussions – my wife and I included. As missionaries on the other side of the planet we can’t help but think of the missiological implications, “How will this affect the faith…
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Starting with the End in Mind: 4 Ways to Clarify Your Vision
In 2017 we’ll be celebrating 10 years of serving overseas as cross cultural Kingdom workers…that’s insane! When people hear that they often ask how much longer do we plan to stay overseas. The short answer is, “When the work is done.” There is this misconception that missionaries leave for the jungles and return decades later…
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Re-prioritizing Easter: 3 Ways to Share the Gospel and Collect Eggs
About 30 eggs filled with my wife’s “healthiest candies” lay hidden in the small patch of grass in our front yard. After a short reading of the Easter story in Luke 24 my three kids ransacked the green grass filling their baskets with the treasured eggs. I snapped a few really cute photos of the…
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A Story of Hope: From Afghanistan to San Diego
Ghaffar was furiously digging a hole through a prison wall in Pakistan. His life depended on it. Over three years ago the Taliban captured him, an Afghani refugee, on his way to the United Nations refugee camps (UNHCR) in Turkey. He was separated from his wife, Shabana, and their four kids. He remembers how much…
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Die to Swag and Live for Suffering
We want it all and we want it now. As a culture, we in the West are enslaved by a near-worship of comfort and convenience. I seriously just saw this app that digitally enhances your photos to make your face and body look slimmer. You can post your weight loss photos on Facebook and get…
The Asian Rough Rider 