I spent a few hours at the Valencia Town Center this afternoon manning an evangelism table. I added a few more accoutrements to the table in an effort to make it a little more visually appealing. Having cast my lines into the water, it didn't take long before the fish started biting. The first two tracts I distributed went to a couple of boys. They looked like they were 10-12 … [Read more...]
Mall Evangelism: “I Want to Talk about God”
Yesterday was my first time back to the Valencia Town Center, for the purpose of evangelism, in more than a year. Lots of travel, changes in focus and direction, and simply not being able to be in multiple places at once, led to me stepping away from mall evangelism for a while. But now that I'm trying to focus more of my evangelism efforts in my own community, the time was … [Read more...]
Pastor: When You’re Ready to Get Serious about Reaching the Law Enforcement Community
My 20 years in law enforcement included eight years of serving in the dual role of a reserve deputy sheriff and a department chaplain. During those eight years, I also served for two years as a church planter. These varied experiences allowed me to serve the community and to serve my department in a number of different ways. One way was educating pastors around the country … [Read more...]
Suicide Behind the Badge: Wait! There’s Hope!
No one remembers them with a black band across the badge--the symbol of respect and remembrance for an officer killed in the line-of-duty. Many officers won't attend their funerals, even their close friends, because it's just too hard. Brethren officers are too angry, too hurt, too afraid that it might one-day be them. The brother or sister officer in the casket didn't die … [Read more...]
Eisegetical Grinches
Since 1966, the year I started growing my first mustache at the ripe-old age of two, The Grinch has entertained children of all ages every year around Christmas. Yes, my family owns the DVD. The fictional, animated character, created by Dr. Seuss, is the anti-Santa--the Scrooge of Seuss's poetic, satirical world. So iconic has the green creature of unknown, biological origin … [Read more...]
The Open-Air Preacher: Command Presence
Command Presence Defined Something stressed to me as I went through the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department Training Academy, and something I would later stress as a training officer to newly assigned patrol deputies, was the necessity of command presence. A man with command presence is a man who carries himself with a certain demeanor or bearing that renders attributes … [Read more...]
He Has Yet to Grieve: A Starbucks Story
I spend a lot of my writing and study time at Starbucks. I'm one of those rather strange fellows who writes and thinks better in the midst of white noise--music, conversation, and the sounds of coffee grinders and scooped ice. One-day, while sitting at one of the water spot-stained wood tables, I thought, "What can I do to make my time in Starbucks more evangelistic?" I looked … [Read more...]