I serve as a professor of missions in the Philippines, and administrate a Christian counseling center. Some would say that this makes me a "missionary." Others might say that this makes me a "cross-cultural minister." I don't really care what term one wants to use--- I hardly care about the term that I myself use. …
Continue reading Is It Okay for a Missionary or Minister to Retire?
I would like to wish fellow Christians around the world a Happy Easter. Here in the Philippines, Holy Week is a big thing, the keystone to the Christian Liturgical calendar. Of course, in some parts of the world, it is more subdued of necessity. In other parts, Secular Easter (bunnies, eggs, and the like) may …
I remember being told over and again that our salvation is free--- Free grace. As a kid, this seemed fine and good. Who doesn't like free? And in a sense the word "free" is correct... but I believe there are problems with the term that should not be ignored. Simply in terms of common definition, …
Continue reading Salvation: Unearned? Yes! Free? Not So Sure
I attended the EMS (Southeast) Conference on April 5, 2025 at North Greenville University. I have never attended a missiology conference before--- in fact, I don't go to mission conferences all that often. I hoped this would be a good and new experience for me. Truthfully, it was a good experience. I am not sure …
Continue reading Evangelical Missiological Society (Southeast) Conference
My previous post is HERE. In the Bible, there is no EXACT equivalent of "Race" as we presently use the term. In fact, one would be hard-pressed to come up with any sociological term that has an exact equivalent two millennia ago. People group? Culture? Religion? Ethnicity? The closest to something that is constant is …
Continue reading Race Matters… Sort of. But Should It? (Part 2)
"I am not racist, but ..." Do you love talks that start out like that? Almost always it goes into uncomfortable places pretty quick. Often to say one is not a racist is either a ploy to try to get people to listen. Perhaps more often it is something like, "I like to envision myself …
Continue reading Race Matters— Sort of. But Should It? (Part 1)
Paul and Barnabas Ministering in Cyprus Roland Allen wrote his influential book "Missionary Methods: St. Paul's or Ours," published in 1912. The book challenged colonial mission strategies. He suggests that we would gain greatly from following Paul's mission strategies. And generally I agree that there were many problems with the traditional way missions was being …
Continue reading Maybe St. Paul Was NOT a Good Mission Strategist?
This is a reflection on a previous post I wrote about David and Goliath. If you want to see the first one, you can CLICK HERE> 38 Then Saul dressed David in his own tunic. He put a coat of armor on him and a bronze helmet on his head. 39 David fastened on his sword over …
A modest change to a story I wrote a few years ago: Photo by Ammar Ahmed on Pexels.com The kite hung on the back wall of the family garage. Most days it just sat there. Perhaps you might find it sad to be there so day after day in the dark. But for the kite, …
At church a few weeks ago our pastor was speaking about God's command to love one another. He then brought it around to politics. He spoke of the two major parties in the US (I am in the US right now, but will be soon going back to the Philippines). He said something like: "And …