ARE YOU LIVING OUT YOUR FAITH THE WRONG WAY?

Ever since I was a kid I have had the idea that if I want to be the best kind of Christian, I have to be a pastor, missionary, or evangelist. And if I am not one of those, I at least need to do the kinds of things they do as often as I can in order to practice my faith the way God wants.

I talk to a lot of Christians who feel this way. For whatever reason, we think doing "spiritual" works makes us good Christians. We realize that we can't earn our salvation through works; it is by God's grace alone and the sacrifice of Jesus Christ that we have the hope of salvation and eternal life. Yet, we still feel we need to be spiritual in order to please God. We envision carrying our Bibles around all the time and talking to everyone we meet about Jesus. We probably will not actually do those things but still think that if we did we would be better Christians.

WHY BEING A "GOOD" CHRISTIAN MIGHT BE DANGEROUS

I couldn't believe they wouldn't let me go. My High School church youth group was going on a missions trip to Mexico and my parents said it was too dangerous. There were reports in the news of child abductions, gang violence, and other general bad stuff that parents guard against. But I still found it difficult to understand why they wouldn't allow me to go on a "Church Missions Trip." While that was a long time ago, I have never forgotten it. Before I go on, please know that I recognize that my parents had a responsibility to keep me safe and were authorities that God had placed in my life. That being said, I think they unintentionally taught me the wrong lesson. They valued my safety above all else.

COULD YOUR DIET BE A WAY TO MINISTER AT WORK? MINE WAS

Recently I have felt like God has been challenging me to be a better servant leader but am not always sure how to actually be one. I have one person who works under me as my assistant. This week I had one opportunity to serve her in a unique way. I found out that she was trying to get into "clean eating," something I have been doing for years. I sent her a couple recipes and encouraged her in her efforts. While this didn't really relate to our job, it was one small way to improve our relationship and gave me a chance to serve her in a way that was meaningful to her.

WHY WHAT YOU SAY MATTERS MORE THAN YOU THINK

Many of my regrets in life have not been what I didn't say, but what I did say (this is especially true within my marriage). I work on a ship offshore in the Gulf of Mexico. The expression "cuss like a sailor" is pretty accurate; sailors tend to say a lot of bad things. I have often been guilty of not being encouraging, uplifting, or edifying in my speech towards and around others.

HOW YOUR STORY CAN MOTIVATE AND ENCOURAGE OTHERS

Last week one of my Christian co-workerstold me about how God had been working in his life at work. He had a discussion about what Christmas means to him with one of the people in his class (a muslim international exchange student). The man went on to ask him to share one story from the Bible. My friend shared a short story from the New Testiment. After that, the muslim man asked my friend to share one Bible story with him every day. Since then, my friend has faithfully shared a story with him daily. The muslim man went on to get a Bible in Arabic so he could read for himself. He has not become a Christian yet but it is clear that God is working in his life. I was excited and encouraged to hear his story and thanked him for sharing it.

ENCOURAGEMENT TO KEEP BUGGING GOD IN PRAYER

I sit at work / school with the same ten people everyday for grad school at the Air Force Command and Staff College. We are about half way through the year and have gotten to know each other pretty well. I have been thinking a lot about how to be a good ambassador of Christ to the group. Recently, I decided to start praying for each of them individually. I put each person's name on a separate notecard and try to pray over one of them daily.  

FOUR VERSES USEFUL FOR EVERYDAY MINISTRY

When I started kindergarten at a small Christian school (a long time ago), I was forced to start memorizing scripture verses. It wasn't too bad at first but by the time I was in 7th grade I was forced to memorize whole chapters. I hated it. 

Most of us don't like taking the time or effort to memorize verses. 

But as I got older, and wasn't being forced to do it anymore, I began memorizing verses that were meaningful to me on my own.   

HOW TO HAVE RELIGIOUS CONVERSATIONS WITHOUT BEING AWKWARD

I used to be extremely uncomfortable with how to share my faith with co-workers (or anyone, for that matter) or even how to bring up the topic of religion. I was afraid of talking about religion because I thought people might have a closed-of or even hostile response. But I also knew that as a Christian, I am supposed to be a bold ambassador for Christ. Still, it took a lot of courage for me to do it...and when I did do it, it felt clumsy and awkward.

Since those days, I have learned that I'm not the only one; many Christians struggle with how to evangelize. It shouldn't be so hard to talk about something we believe is true and life giving.  Nevertheless, it is very difficult for most of us.

TOO SCARED (BUT KNOW I SHOULDN'T BE) TO SHARE JESUS

Last Christmas I spoke with a girl I met about evangelism and being a Christian in the workplace. She told me that she travels a lot and doesn't feel like she has had opportunities to share her faith in Jesus with anyone at work. However, she does make it a point to share her faith when she travels. I was fascinated and challenged by what she had said. By contrast, when I fly/travel I usually make it a point to fall asleep as soon as possible and am sometimes annoyed if the person next to me wants to talk.

WHY TO MAKE YOUR TIME COUNT (EVEN IF YOU DON'T WANT TO)

I'm a navy man, living in an Air Force town for one year where I don't have any close friendships while I am doing grad school (Air Command and Staff College-ACSC). While I will likely only be here another seven months or so, its hard not to see my time here as very temporary and therefore not worth the investment of my time and effort to build new relationships.  

I'M TIRED OF BEING AN HGTV CHRISTIAN

Several years ago I read a book about how to find, fix, and sell (FLIP) houses; shortly thereafter, I bought my first FLIP property. Though I am still very novice, I am on my third house and so far they have all been successful. Since I started doing this, it feels like everyone seems to know about FLIPing houses and everyone has advice for what to do and how to do it. When I ask if they have ever done a rehab, they often say something like "no, but I love watching it on HGTV." 

Have You Ever Wanted To Be A Double Agent (for Jesus)?

One day I was thinking about the idea that Christians are said to be Christ's ambassadors (II Corinthians 5:20) on earth. I started wondering what it would mean for me to live or act as an ambassador and while there are likely many ways to do this, one example stood out to me.
I realized that missionaries are some of the best at realizing and tactically applying this idea to their daily lives. One way that a missionary might act as an ambassador for Christ is to go into another country with a work visa and get a "cover" job so that they can have a means of connecting with the people in that culture for the sake of Jesus.

They would use that "cover" job and the neighborhood they live in as platforms to build relationships with their co-workers,

One Simple Technique That Will Improve Your Effectiveness

In my job and life in general, I think a lot about how to influence people and how to communicate with them so they not only hear what I communicate, but actually do something about it. Recently I

Important Reasons Why Christians Don't Thrive Alone

In my last assignment, I was stationed on a Navy ship where I sometimes was so busy that all I did was work, work out (sometimes), eat, and sleep. I tried to set aside time to pray and read my Bible, but would become so busy that I had difficulty focusing on God at all, let alone have any time to

Don't Be Nice, Be Courageous

A while back, one of the more senior people I worked with (I technically outranked him but in reality it didn't always work out that way due to his organizational influence) had a very negative response to an idea I wanted to implement. Like many people, he didn't like change and seemed to resent my

Gay is ok?

Once homesexuals were allowed to be open about their sexual preference in the navy I found out that one of the females who worked under me was engaged to marry another female. As someone who believes that the Bible teaches that homosexuality is a sin, I thought about the topic a lot.

Jesus. Yes or No?

Recently I spent some time in a car ride with a friend I met through work. We hang out on a weekly basis and have gotten to know each other fairly well. Eventually, the conversation landed on religion. I really like it when I get to talk about this topic and am always trying to figure out the best way to

Why pastors shouldn't work...

Yesterday I read a passage in the Bible that made me realize that I have been thinking a little bit backwards.

Can you see what God is doing?

I want to do my own thing my own way; I have been fighting selfishness my whole life but often succumb to it anyway. I even do this with spiritual things. I may be willing to lead a Bible study or prayer group, but I want to do it my way and don't feel like taking the time to ask God what he wants

Is it ok to talk about religion at work?

When I started my first grown up job about a decade ago, I knew I wasn't supposed to "leave God behind" when I went to work, but I felt an unspoken social pressure to not do or say anything that would give anyone any hints that I might be a Christian. I'm not sure why, but I was terrified to talk