Ever wonder if you spend too much time at church? Before I have pastors and priests clamoring to silence me let me explain the question a bit. Many people myself included feel that going to church means the obligatory Sunday mass and maybe a Wednesday night all depending. There is nothing wrong with this model and many parishes spend a great deal of money to make you comfortable when you attend.  Instead of  church being held where people may gather. We build great buildings, shrines which invite people to come inside however, is that where we are called to be? Comfortable pews, great worship music,  a dynamic preacher and likely air conditioning of some sort sounds like church right? Is this is a place that will get you to be uncomfortable while providing coffee and donuts?  Probably not. Are you excited to go serve your community when you leave church or to get home and watch the game? Click To Tweet Imagine attending church outside on a mountain top. Maybe in a field with hundreds of your best friends. Perhaps church is on the beach at daybreak as you baptize one another in the vast ocean. Does not really sound like the church you know does it? Where two or more are gathered as long as they are comfortable, not sure that’s how I read it. I don’t believe Jesus asked John to meet him six weeks from now after we meet with the high priest so you can then pour a little water on […]

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Church leaders everywhere are scrambling to understand why the men are leaving Church and not coming back. Historically men have led the church, fed the church and filled the church. As Church attendance across the nation declines and some churches are having to shutter their doors. One trend has become true, the men that once attended are not returning, new men are not coming back. Men are leaving the Church and the Church seems surprised. The real question every church needs to ask is why? Men by nature seek a different level of fulfillment at church. Gone are the days of going to church because you grew up in the church. We need more than the readings on Sunday and maybe Wednesday nights. Our spiritual cup is empty and the Church no longer runneth over to refill it. What is it that men need from the Church? 1.) Brotherhood – Men are better when they have other men to keep them honest. Iron sharpens iron was not just words in Proverbs. It is the truth and the light that men need other men to rely on. Dating back centuries as cave men, as bothers in monasteries, as soldiers, as teammates, men need other men. 2.) Spiritual – As men we are attacked by satan everyday of our lives. We are tempted as in the garden of Eden with fresh fruits. We rely on the spiritual guidance and armor to protect our hearts. Alone we are weak, but with the armor of the Word to protect and […]

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  When A Church Sends You Running for Cover Many people who are raised in the Church, end up wandering astray. We are filled with the stories we don’t understand. Threatened with hell and damnation for our unavoidable sin, why would anyone want to stay for that. We go to church to please our parents, fighting to keep our eyes open, and our minds shut. With all the pretentious and better-than-though mockery, we turn up noses on our appearances. No longer does it only matter that you are there, it also matters what you wear. Your mind wanders on this man, they call Christ, if he loved the least of these, why not these that follow him. Starting to question the need for the Church, where is this faith when the world is full of pain and hurt. Just as many do, I began to make excuses. Whether I stayed out late, or just didn’t feel like going. I would rather sleep in than go to Church. Beginning to think that all these scriptures were meant for the real sinners, not me. I quit, quit going to church, quit praying, quit believing. The world was my oyster, I had my Sunday mornings free. I woke up to headaches and hangovers and not preachers or Bible thumper. My life was mine to live, no one was going to tell me what I could or could not do. The new-found freedom was the beginning of my fall. I wrecked myself into my apocalypse of spirit where no Church could reach. Faith is the art of holding on to things your reason has once accepted […]

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