I grew up attending church A LOT. I was in a church classroom A LOT. When I was a kid, my family attended Sunday morning, Sunday night, and Wednesday night preaching and prayer services, plus Sunday School, plus missions education programs and Vacation Bible Schools. But… I didn’t grow spiritually, didn’t really experience spiritual depth, and didn’t really learn what following Jesus looked like outside the walls of the church.
When I hit adulthood, I started to grow spiritually, but I would say it was still rather slow going. I started attending church with my wife and soaking up biblical knowledge like a sponge. I entered ministry and attended Bible college and developed the spiritual disciplines. But something was still missing.
Finally, several things happened that prompted a complete perspective change in me and kickstarted my journey toward being more like Jesus. In particular…
- I walked through pain – depression, specifically.
- I began to repent of pride, self-centeredness, and other sins.
- My wife and I began to have tough conversations.
- I went on staff at a church with a strong culture of discipleship.
- We joined a small group of people who cared a lot about doing life together.
After a year in that atmosphere, God led us to Northwest Arkansas to plant a church and gave us a passion for creating a place were people could truly grow. We started planting Grace Hills with some particular convictions about the role of the local church in discipleship, such as…
Read More »6 Ways the Local Church Can Set the Table for Discipleship