The worst kind of teacher/preacher/spiritual leader is the one who thinks he cannot learn anything else.  Those who feel like they are too old to take notes typically live a boring, stale, and somewhat prideful life.  God has called us to be perpetual, persistent pupils until we see Him in all His power.  The most influential people, the most effective voices in our generation are those who have not “arrived.”  Arrival, in its purest form, simply means to be done, to be finished with the course.  Those who “have arrived” really have nowhere else to go.  Or as John Gardiner …

What an honor it was for me to have Cary Schmidt write the foreword to our latest book, The Joy of Devotion.  Pastor Schmidt is a gifted writer, a dynamic speaker, and a great church builder.  God’s hand is on his life in evident fashion.  I was thrilled when he agreed to invest into our book.  I wanted to share the foreword to give a basic understanding of the book’s intention.  Thanks Cary for your influence, passion, and gracious spirit!

Foreword by Cary Schmidt

When the Christian life is, in any way, drained or sanitized of devotion and love, …

How many friends do you have?  Before you check your list on some social media page, let me rephrase the question: How many real friends do you have?  The list probably just got smaller.  Before you finalize those numbers, let’s try one more question: How many real friends do you have that consider you a friend?

That list of thousands probably shrunk to a handful of names.  The number of authentic friends that you have is in direct relation to the number of people you are a friend to.  Or, as the writer of Proverbs put it, “A man that …

Spiritual maturity does not happen overnight, and it will not happen without an intentional effort to seek God in the daily minutiae of life.  God did not redeem us, fill us with His Spirit, and write our names in His book so that we could live joyless, hapless lives.  On the contrary, He has imparted everlasting, victorious, abundant life within our hearts, the kind of life that gives joy unspeakable and full of glory.  But such joy will never exist without His daily presence.

One of the burdens of my heart is to help others grow in their daily walk …

Insomnia is the infomercial’s greatest friend. I don’t know what it is, but after midnight, the Ginsu knife collection becomes the most ingenious piece of merchandise in the history of mankind. I mean, c’mon, who doesn’t need a knife that can dice tomatoes and cut up your shoes all at the same time? The marketing concepts behind the infomercial brands are designed to manipulate you into thinking you can’t live without their products. The lighting, the quick-talking front man, the easy-to-assemble gadgetry, and the unbelievable price of 19.99 all work together for a pretty good sales pitch. Many times I …