Friday – Reflect – Pioneer Progress
We pray and reflect about our topic. Meeting with a Group? Your discussion questions are in this week’s Group Study Guide [permalink append=”#comments”]Discuss the Challenge[/permalink]
Thursday – Act On It – Pioneer Progress
This week we’ve been studying a story that illustrated nicely the growth and rapid progress of the Christian movement 2000 years ago. What started as a local upstart religious group in Judaism grew slowly, but then suddenly exploded. The story we explored this week, of Philip sharing the good news of Jesus with an African […]
Wednesday – Change It – Pioneer Progress
This week we’re studying Pioneer Progress – how the early Christian movement suddenly reached a tipping point and started to grow beyond religious, ethnic and national boundaries. We’re particularly looking at the story of Philip and the Ethiopian Eunuch this week. Yesterday we read the beginning of the story, where Philip ran after the chariot […]
Tuesday – Study It – Pioneer Progress
This week we’re talking about Pioneer Progress – how the Christian movement reached a tipping point that allowed it to reach beyond its Jewish roots and go viral and go global. [25] Now when they had testified and spoken the word of the Lord, they returned to Jerusalem, preaching the gospel to many villages of the […]
Monday – A New Idea – Pioneer Progress
A few years ago now, Malcolm Gladwell wrote a book that transformed the way people think. He wrong Tipping Point, all about how movements can starts slowly, grow slowly, and build to a critical mass, the tipping point, and suddenly see explosive and viral growth. I remember when I knew a handful of people with […]
Friday – Reflect – Pioneer Players
We pray and reflect about this week’s topic. Meeting with a Group? Your discussion questions are in this week’s Group Study Guide [permalink append=”#comments”]Discuss the Challenge[/permalink]
Thursday – Act On It – Pioneer Players
We’ve been studying the story of Simon, a magician who becomes a Christian, then tries to pay for the power of the Holy Spirit, perhaps to bolster his magic act. Here’s what Peter, one of the apostles (early Christian leaders) said to him: …your heart is not right before God. [22] Repent, therefore, of this wickedness […]
Wednesday – Change It – Pioneer Players
Yesterday we learned about a man named Simon, who became a Christian and was baptized. He’d been a magician before that, and people called him the Great One. He amazed people all the time, but today he was amazed himself by Philip, who was preaching the good news about Jesus, and decided to join Philip’s […]
Tuesday – Study It – Pioneer Players
In today’s reading from the Bible, we find the Christian message continuing to change lives in every city it touches. Philip, one of the new leaders appointed to help share the apostles’ workload, has been preaching, healing people and there is great joy in the city. But there’s also one shady character: [9] But there was […]
Monday – A New Idea – Pioneer Players
Some big news just two weeks ago was that the new Roman Catholic Pope had excommunicated the Mafia. This is serious business in the Roman Catholic Church, meaning someone can’t receive communion, a central part of their way of life and worship. To many this seems like a no-brainer, of course a member of an […]
Friday – Reflect – Pioneer Pain
We pray and reflect about this week’s topic. Meeting with a Group? Your discussion questions are in this week’s Group Study Guide [permalink append=”#comments”]Discuss the Challenge[/permalink]
Thursday – Act On It – Pioneer Pain
This week we’ve studied the story of Stephen, an early Christian leader attacked and killed for his cause. This kind of thing still happens today. Just read a fascinating story about a former Muslim suing a Presbyterian church in Oklahoma. He was baptized at that church, and claims he asked for a private baptism for […]
Wednesday – Change It – Pioneer Pain
Yesterday we heard a story from the Book of Acts about how Stephen, a brand new leader in the Christian church, preached about Jesus in a way that enraged the crowd around him. We spent some time exploring the reasons why. Today we’ll see where their strong reaction went, and why we’re calling this week’s topic Pioneer Pain. […]
Tuesday – Study It – Pioneer Pain
Two weeks ago we were introduced to Stephen, who became a leader in the Christian community (the church) in a time when the apostles realized their limitations and need to share their workload with others. He’s a bit like one of those characters you will sometimes see in a TV drama. You know if they suddenly introduce a new character […]
Monday – A New Idea – Pioneer Pain
A few weeks ago, I was at a conference in St. Catharines where there was free time built into the schedule, and two colleagues and I decided to go mountain biking for the afternoon. We had a beautiful ride along the 12 Mile Creek, but found ourselves in a hurry to get back, yet on the wrong side of […]