Are You Suffering from Decision Fatigue?

Have you ever felt like, “If I have to make one more decision today I think I will explode! And it might be all over you!” If you have, you may be experiencing decision fatigue. And it may be the culprit for many of your bad decisions and why we often find it hard to stay on mission.

Imagine what life was like 100 years ago. It may have been harder in many ways, but I’ll guarantee you that the average person faced and needed to make way fewer decisions on any given day. Though this is a relatively new term and concept for me, researchers have been studying and trying to understand decision fatigue for quite some time. (more…)

What is the Difference Between Common Grace and Common Good?

Once upon a time in a city far, far away I was part of a missional community that decided that we wanted to bless our neighborhood; to do something for the common good of the ‘hood.

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We knew of a seriously neglected community garden near us that needed some love, so brothers and sisters spent weeks organizing an “extreme makeover” of the space. The goal was to give back to the neighbors something that would be good for everyone and build a sense of community among the residents.

That would be awesome, right?

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5 Things You Must Do: The Secret To Making Friends Quickly

I have noticed that a lot of folks seem to have lost the art of making friends. Maybe its just a modern culturural phenomenon for everyone, but it sure seems to be the case amongst our tribe.

I get asked all the time how my wife, Tina, and I can have so many friends and deep connections with people. “Oh, you guys must be super extroverted…I guess I’m just not like that.” Nope, that’s not it. We may be more extroverted than some folks, but that’s not why we have a lot of friends.

Let me share our secret to making friends quickly. I’ll break it down into 5 main categories. (more…)

What Would You Do If Time and Money Were No Object?

I seem to always be looking forward…looking ahead to what’s next. Much of life, work, family or ministry seems to be filled up with the stuff we have to do. But this causes me to give considerable time to thinking about what I really want to do.

What would you do if time and money were no object? Seriously. Give yourself permission to dream a little here. In fact, while you’re at it, dream bigger!

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The Common Good Should Be Good News

So we’ve seen in our discussion on the Common Good from last week that we are not looking to be “benevolent stoopers” who throw a bone to those we perceive as needy. And we’ve looked at who really are our brothers and sisters, and how our Father God would have us view them. Now, in this 3rd and final part of the series, let’s look at how the Gospel informs our response.

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Hearers and Doers

So do we just hope and wish for a common good, or do we actually have to do good? Remember, Jesus said that we are to be both hearers and doers of the truth…and yet he offered no grand, sweeping social programs or schemes. (more…)

Are We Called to the Common Good or the Common Best?

I’ve heard it said that sometimes “good” can be the enemy of “best”. And it can be hard to tell the difference. I wonder if ministry and mission get mixed up in this way too? At times I think I have been happy just to get some good stuff done without knowing if it really accomplished all that much in the long run.

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