Monthly Archives: April 2012

If we are really serious about encouraging other people to embrace our faith commitments we are going to have to take an honest look at the approaches we habitually take to this task. Fifty years ago, and for many now … Continue reading →

Joe Friday was wrong. He was the lead detective on the TV detective drama Dragnet.  The common cliché is that his concern was with “Just the facts, Ma’am, just the facts.”  He was a stone-cold matter of fact Los Angeles … Continue reading →

I have been reading the gospels with story in mind, and have found that Yeshua was not a 21st century Western change agent/persuader.  We in our culture like to get to the bottom line, reducing conversations to bullet points.  Yeshua … Continue reading →

Annette Simmons reminds us that the first two questions every audience asks about anyone seeking to persuade them of anything are these: Who are you, and Why are you here? Aristotle labeled this “Who are you” question a matter of … Continue reading →

It is so common, practically invariable, that we don’t notice it any more.  I saw it again recently, and I have to fight it in myself.  It is something that robs our faith-sharing of its power, something we’ve become so … Continue reading →

One of the most important stories to get a handle on is the story you tell yourself about the people whom you want to influence.  Discovering what that story is, and being honest with yourself about it, may take a … Continue reading →

Of late I have been on a fascinating journey reading about and considering the impact of stories. It ties in with an epiphany I had years ago, which I am just now unpacking. It is this: when God wants to … Continue reading →

One of the matters to which I have been attracted for nearly fifty years is outreach, known as “inreach” to some. The latter term emphasizes that when Messianic Jews, living in solidarity with wider Israel, express and communicate their Yeshua … Continue reading →