THINKING ABOUT THE CHURCH I SEE
I recently returned from the Hillsong Conference in NYC, where I heard one throwaway comment by Lead Pastor of Hillsong Global, Brian Houston—a man I have long admired. He referred…
5 WAYS TO PASTOR VOLUNTEERS
Over the years I’ve become expert at deciding what to do, but not necessarily how it should be done. It’s been a challenge for me, since the “how” is often…
The opposite of play isn’t work.
It’s depression. “Virtually every activity we would describe as ‘relaxing’ kind of fun—watching television, eating chocolate, window shopping, or just chilling out—doesn’t make us feel better. In fact, we consistently…
Kung Fu Hedonist Agnostic
I’m getting ready to record several short video presentations for Leadership Network’s The Nines. I always cringe when preparing, since I’m convinced that my low-tech twinkle-in-the-eye videos get glossed over…
RE-CREATING THE STORY
For the last 50 years we’ve been reading the Bible as the Story of God’s plan to heal the world. In this meta-narrative, Christ is the protagonist and the rest…
FOUR KINDS OF GAMES
In Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi’s remarkable book Flow: The Psychology of Optimal Experience, he identifies four kinds of games: agon, alea, mimicry, and ilinx. Having spent considerable time over the last few…
Nativity and Kingdom
We are so excited about our latest book, Nativity and Kingdom. It’s a new look at some very old tales, bringing a fresh perspective to the Christmas experience. Nativity and…
Strange, Bold, and Rich: why imagination is the legacy of Christmas
The good person out of the good treasure of his heart produces good, and the evil person out of his evil treasure produces evil, for out of the abundance of…
Trying out a new social media strategy…
My friend Stephanie is a social media theorist and content strategist. I think. She does something fancy with I.T. (you know, “internet things”) and suggested Westwinds tweak our existing social…
Fun Like Frogger
Jane McGonigal is a game designer, TED speaker, and author of Reality is Broken, a book about the many ways in which video games teach us about business, relationships, and…
CUSTODIANS OF CONFUSION
My high school custodian had a legendary ring of keys. He had keys for lockers, storage rooms, secret doors, hidden caches, and every outbuilding on the 60-acre campus. The ring…
JESUS SURFED FOR 40 DAYS
Where do you go for information? For insight? If you’re like most of us, your first response is “my phone” or “Google.” I suppose you might be tempted to say…