“The Other Half of Church”

I had the opportunity to join my friend Nick Lenzi on the Group Talk Podcast again for another episode of Reading Lenz! We talked through the EXCELLENT book, “The Other Half of Church: Christian Community, Brain Science, and Overcoming Spiritual Stagnation.”

This book is a HUGE win for the Church. It does an excellent job bringing the most important concepts of brain design down to the lowest branches of the tree for everyone to grab hold of. It hones in on the same unconscious parts of the brain that the Done with Stuck Roadmap focuses on - the parts that do the vast majority of the driving in our lives.

The authors do great work summarizing the 4 essential ingredients of “good relational soil” in which character growth actually happens: joy, attachment, group identity, and healthy correction.

“Tribe: On Homecoming & Belonging”

I had the opportunity to join my friend, Nick Lenzi, on the Group Talk Podcast from the Small Group Network for an episode of Reading Lenz! We read a fantastic book by Sebastian Junger called “Tribe: On Homecoming and Belonging”.

Tribe was an important book for me for two reasons.

(1)

It paved the way for a new understanding how deep the wiring for group identity is in our brains and bodies. We were built for it, and we have spent too long trying to unlearn something that God created for good.

(2)

It helped me see even more clearly that SO much of the abundant life that Jesus promised us actually evident, if only we would look carefully enough. Junger isn’t a Christian - but he can still recognize the way that God designed us. That paves an incredible pathway of evangelism - connecting with the mostly deeply human parts of people outside the church so we can reconnect them to the one perfect human.

Bonus third thing…

We hear a lot of trash talk about “tribal thinking” - political hate, schisms and factions, warfare… But our brains are designed for it. Group identity is such a complex and powerful uniqueness in human beings, and it’s something we deeply long for.

Jesus reconciled this dissonance for us. In response to the dangerous tribal tendencies of fallible humans, he didn’t abolish the idea: He created a better tribe, forever anchored to Himself.

A tribe that was obsessed with caring for one another AND would let anyone become one of the one anothers.

A tribe that would forgive quickly and deeply, because mercy changes heart forever.

A tribe that would lay down its comfort, pride, or victory for even its fiercest enemies just to prove that their love was real.

Jesus created the Church, and promised the gates of hell wouldn’t stand a chance as we stormed its darkness with the Light.

“Identifying & Recruiting New Leaders”

I had the opportunity to join a few friends, on the Group Talk Podcast from Small Group network! We talked about what’s working and what we’re striving for when it comes to the ongoing task of identifying and recruiting new small group leaders.

“Insights about Reaching Millenials from Two Millenial Pastors”

I had the opportunity to join a few friends on the Group Talk Podcast from Small Group network back in March 2016!