In my neighborhood, there's a white kidnapper van that attracts all kinds of attention. Parked on the street, the van is covered with homemade stickers with just about every controversial word known to the year 2019 in bold, block letters: "NRA," "THE BEAST," "666," "TRUMP 2020," "GOP," "DEMOCRATS LIE" ... Every time I run or bike by it I look for new stickers I hadn't noticed before. It's quite the sight to behold. I could sell tickets.

The last time I jogged by it, however, I almost missed it. To my great surprise, all of the stickers had been taken down from the van, except for one: "JESUS SAVES".

How did this van go from political evangelism to Jesus evangelism? Since this transformation, I've concocted several hypothetical explanations for what happened. Maybe this person realized that associating any political affiliation with Jesus harmed the message of the gospel. Maybe this person realized that neither Trump nor the NRA can save us. Or maybe I'm being way too idealistic and this person just got tired of printing off new stickers to keep up with all of our nation's crazy political developments. I have no clue what the motivation was, but one thing is certain: something changed.

This now-blank van reminds me of one important truth in our Christian faith:

Change is possible.

You see, we expect many things from people who profess to follow Christ. We expect them to attend church regularly and to tithe at least 10% of their income. We expect them to read their Bibles and pray on a daily basis. We expect them to serve and to join small groups.

But do we expect that showing up at church and living life with flawed and broken people is going to change us into people who love God's people more? Do we expect that tithing is going to change our minds from a scarcity mentality to an abundance mentality? Do we expect that reading God's Word and praying is going to change us so that we intimately know God and are able to discern his voice?

Do we anticipate that these practices will lead to change? Do we expect the Holy Spirit to work through them in order to change us?

Do we just believe that "Jesus saves"... or do we believe that Jesus saves and changes?

It's taken me an embarrasingly long time to realize that I can't will myself into change. Truth is certainly necessary for change, but I can't will myself into believing it and living differently because of it. Information alone does not produce transformation. If that were the case, we'd be the most changed people in history thanks to all the information we can instantly access! For all of us who are achievers, this is bad news. It means that trying harder or applying more effort won't make us changed people.

Spiritual maturity happens at God's initiative rather than by our own pushing and pulling.

In John 15:1-8, Jesus instructs his followers that he is the vine and they are the branches. "If you remain in me and I in you," he says, "you will bear much fruit" (v. 5). Remaining in Jesus, dwelling in God's presence - this is the key to change.

God's truth changes us, but only when we invite the Spirit to make us receptive to the work that God wants to do in us. God invites all of us to open ourselves to his presence, to quit striving and to just be still and know.

Honestly, based upon the stickers, I never would have expected that the owner of that van could change. I had my mind made up about who they were and what they could or could not do. But this visible transformation gives me hope. If a van can be wiped clean of its unyielding, political messaging, then there's hope for me, too.

God is not finished with me yet. God continues to wipe me clean of the ways that I refuse to yield to his Spirit. He's removing all of my messaging and agendas that are not aligned with his kingdom. In his loving grace, he is inviting me to continue to change.

Because the God who comes to me can change me in ways I cannot manage by myself.

A few weeks ago, I was flying out of the Chicago airport and found myself sitting next to an elderly woman named Joann. Have you ever met someone and somehow knew right away that they were a treasure-trove of depth and experience? This 81-year-old woman was one of those instant connections for me. I initiated conversation, and before you knew it we were laughing over her story of getting run over by a nun at the Vatican and my story of throwing up in the Church of the Nativity (and then fleeing). We were at one point laughing so hard that I feared a flight attendant would come and tell us to quiet down.

Before we disembarked, Joann offered to give me a ride to my next destination and even kindly offered her home for me to stay the night. She wrote down both her home and cell phone numbers on a napkin so I could call her if I ever came back to Kansas City (she wants to take me out to dinner and give me a tour of all of her favorite parts of KC).

I left that plane that day in awe over this stranger's kindness and hospitality. She didn't really even know me. I wasn't "her people" - I was from a strange place called Columbus, Ohio. And yet she genuinely cared enough about me to invite me into her world. I don't know if I'll ever find myself back in KC, but there's great comfort in knowing that I already have a friend there.

Ever since this interaction, I haven't been able to stop thinking about how much hospitality has to do with Advent. 

I think about how Mary had to travel from her hometown of Nazareth all the way to Bethlehem, where she stayed with Joseph's extended family in their courtyard (not a barn at an inn as we tend to imagine). Even though they were technically family, they were strangers to the newly-wed Mary (and maybe even to Joseph).

I think about how the shepherds came to welcome this new baby, even though they were complete strangers to this visiting family. How chaotic it must have been to have a band of strangers packed together with Joseph's family in the tiny courtyard! Yet, Mary "treasured up all these things and pondered them in her heart" (Luke 2:19).

And then Jesus grew up, and I think about all the times that Jesus was denied hospitality. Baby Jesus was welcomed with open arms, but adult Jesus was chased out of towns, scorned by the rich and the powerful, and ultimately killed in a way that was reserved for the most shameful of crimes.

Advent reminds us that Jesus became flesh and made his dwelling place among us. But it also reminds us that we did not receive him. Jesus was born in the world that he made, yet "the world did not recognize him" (John 1:10-14).

We as a culture tend to love the "holy infant so tender and mild," but adult Jesus is more difficult to contend with. Adult Jesus challenges our priorities, our motives, our hearts, our wants. Adult Jesus scatters those who are proud and brings down rulers from their thrones. Adult Jesus fills the hungry but sends the rich away empty (Luke 2:51-53).

We can relate to baby Jesus, tender and mild, but adult Jesus is a stranger to us from a very, very strange place.

But, oh, how I long to be like Joann! How I long to have a heart that overflows with generosity toward that which is strange. How I long to invite Jesus and all his wild kingdom ways into my world. How I long for Jesus to know that he has place here on earth with me.

How I long to extend radical hospitality so that Jesus, in all his strangeness, becomes that which is most familiar. 

Before he left this earth, Jesus talked about how he was going away to prepare a place for his followers (John 14:1-4). Jesus understands very well what hospitality means. But maybe Advent is an opportunity for our hearts to "prepare him room," too.

And when we prepare room for both baby Jesus and adult Jesus, all of heaven and nature sing.

Once upon a time, I stumbled upon an immersive, science-fictiony, interactive, art installation in an abandoned strip mall called "Otherworld." What appeared to be an unassuming storefront was actually a little-known secret of labyrinth-like rooms filled with neon colors, flashing lights, an array of textures, and subjects that ranged from cute and amusing to strange and disturbing.

I spent hours wandering around the rooms, mesmerized by all the things to see, touch, and hear. The rules in this place were completely different from the rules in the "outside world." Reality was reconstructed and things that would usually be impossible became possible (How did the lighting in one room make everything in it black-and-white, including my husband's neon green shoes?). Unlike other art museums, this one was designed for its visitors to interact with it. We could touch and manipulate and explore.

The craziest part was that Otherworld was right in my own neighborhood, biking distance from my house, and I had no idea such a place even existed.



After working my way through the entire exhibit, I sat down in the front foyer, exhausted. My brain was overloaded. All of my senses were overstimulated. I promptly went home and took a two-hour nap. I think I'm still recovering.

For the American Church, postmodernity tends to feel a lot like this art installation in Columbus, Ohio. Postmodernity is a strange way of viewing the world. It challenges the boundaries of our perceptions of reality and comes with its own set of rules that are contrary to those of modernity. Because of its rejection of much of modern thought, understanding postmodernity can be jarring, confusing, and perhaps even frustrating. We wander around the exhibit, trying to figure out what we're experiencing and what these "rules" are. We can end up lost.

But we as the Church need to start learning how to navigate postmodernity's strange terrain, because it's already making an appearance in our neighborhoods.

We just might not realize it yet.

Unfortunately, postmodernity has often been perceived by the American Church as the bogeyman. We're often resistant to this new way of thinking because we see it as a threat to Christianity. Like all ways of perceiving the world, modernity included, there are certainly some hazards and pitfalls about postmodernity that we need to navigate with care. We need to be diligent in critiquing all philosophies that are contrary to the mind of Christ (Colossians 2:8).

Yet, I think that the real reason why postmodernity seems so threatening to some churches is because they are so thoroughly modern.

I would like to propose that although postmodernity may be the enemy of modernity, it can potentially be an ally of the Christian faith.

But only if we are willing to listen, learn, and understand.

The American businessman and writer Max De Pree said that “the first responsibility of a leader is to define reality.” Over the next few posts, I'll be defining the new "reality" of postmodernity. Drawing from the philosophical thought of people who are WAY smarter than me, I'll be sharing some basic tools to help us navigate postmodernity's rules. This series on postmodernity will consist of the following five posts:

1. Postmodernity in Our Neighborhoods
2. Postmodernity 101 - Modernism vs. Postmodernism
3. Postmodernity 102 - Deconstructionism
4. Postmodernity 103 - Prove Your Trustworthiness
5. Postmodernity 104 - The Power of Story

Women have been preaching about Jesus ever since his first female followers found his tomb empty. They've been prophesying since the days of Miriam, if not before.

The books of Acts and Romans tell us that women preached, prophesied, and led churches in the first century Church. Evidence from the first few centuries reveal that women continued to preach and hold offices within their local churches.

But today? Women are preaching on Instagram, on Twitter, on blogs.

They're preaching at conferences, Bible studies, retreats.

They're preaching everywhere but in church on Sunday mornings.

Where are all the Miriams? The Lydias? The Junias? Why aren't their voices being heard within our local churches today?

Why is it so easy to find women praying, prophesying, and preaching on Instagram but so difficult to find women doing the same things within our local churches? Why can we can find them on podcasts, on blogs, on email subscriptions, but not on our church websites?

Because our churches are not making room for women to preach from the pulpit, women are flocking to spaces outside the local church where their voices are being heard.

It's no secret that white, male pastors are the primary voices who are discipling our American congregations today. If 50% of our population is female (which is a low percentage, as there are typically more women than men in our churches today), why aren't they being represented in the church's leadership? When our churches don't have female voices making decisions and representing the women in the pews, our worship services, programs, and even sermons are in some ways "men's ministry." After all, if it's "women's ministry" when a woman preaches or leads a Bible study, shouldn't we at least be consistent with our messaging?

I have a theory that the reason why there are so many women's ministry resources is because women don't have a voice from the platform. Have you seen how many women's resources there are? It's overwhelming! Now, don't get me wrong: some women are specifically called to minister to other women, and we should celebrate this. However, I fear that many women create and lead women's material because there doesn't seem to be very many other opportunities available to them. Think about it: when was the last time you ever heard a man say that he's called to "men's ministry"? I can't say I've ever heard anyone ever say that. They're called to just "ministry."

This isn't just about churches who refuse to ordain women -

Even churches who do recognize female preachers are not hiring, mentoring, or inviting women to share the pulpit.

If we look at our elder boards and preaching calendars and notice that women are not being represented well, we need to start making room for them. We need to start filling our platforms with women, and not just during times when we're out of town, not just because we're desperate for a pulpit to fill. We need to grant women these positions because their voice matters and they represent a segment of the image of God that men cannot represent alone. This is where it gets hard: to make room, you sometimes need to step aside or relinquish control. Handing the decision-making and the microphone over to others is one of the most mature marks of a leader.

Church, there are Priscillas and Deborahs and Huldahs and Junias and Chloes and Phoebes and Johannas in our pews.

Their mouths are already overflowing with sermons - they're just not being heard in our churches.

Wow, how did my name get on THIS?

I'm as shocked as all of you are that my name somehow stayed on this project - I kept waiting for the editors to pull it all the way up until it was published. Alas, I somehow fooled them into believing that I actually know things about the Old Testament and... stuff!

The fact that I was a contributor says a whole lot about my co-writer (and editor of the series), Alex, and far less about me. Alex has been one of my biggest champions and cheerleaders. I wouldn't be where I am without his professional mentorship, and I'm grateful to him for believing in me.

Here are five more things you need to know about this commentary:

1. Alex Varughese may be a giant of an Old Testament scholar, but he needed my celebrity status to really sell this book.

2. Jesus endorsed this commentary, but we had to cut his foreword because we were limited in space.

3. I finished my section a whole year in advance of the due date because I looked at the date wrong (as far as "fails" go, I'm sure glad it was early instead of late). This mistake's the making of a horror movie: the manuscript has been haunting me and tormenting me ever since. Now that this book is published, I can finally lay that ghost to rest... I think.

4. Fundamentalists break three commandments just thinking about this commentary (four if it's read in conjunction with Joseph Coleson's work on Genesis 1-11).

5. The green spine looks really great on your shelf, so even if you never open it, you'll have great home decor!

My section is the Joseph stories (chs. 37-50), so if you find any typos in this section... it's all on me.

And if you do happen to learn something from reading it... it's all on God.

Snag a copy here!

By and large, here's what I've been noticing: Christian leadership is trying to replace Christian discipleship.

Now, don't get me wrong; leadership is an important skill to develop. God only knows how much mine needs strengthening! However, in the American church today, leadership has become unconsciously competitive with discipleship. In some circles, I would even argue that it's being presented as discipleship, or at least as a better, more efficient form of discipleship.

The end result is that we in the American church are constantly looking for ministry professionals and those with "leadership promise." We're identifying, training, and empowering leaders instead of making and growing disciples. Instead of being captivated by Jesus' call to faithful sacrifice, we're being captivated by America's metrics for success.

You see, a "disciple" by definition is not a leader - it's a "follower." A disciple is someone who is so deeply in love with his Master that he's willing to follow Jesus everywhere and pattern his life after his.

There are people in our churches who are not gifted at leading teams or serving on committees, yet they faithfully follow Jesus privately and publicly every single day. There are people who serve quietly in their churches and communities and are never in the spotlight, yet they become more and more like Jesus. These are disciples: not people who lead teams or people who have thousands of Instagram followers, but people whose love for Jesus flows into their daily practices and relationships.

Not every Christian is called to become a leader, but every Christian is called to be a follower.

You can be a really great leader without being a disciple. Unfortunately, I fear that this is what many of our pastors and lay leaders have become. 

Jesus' invitation to us is to "come and follow me." If we who are leaders in the local church are not actively following Jesus, then we can't invite others to follow our example. If we can't say as Paul said, "Follow my example, as I follow the example of Christ," then we really have nothing to offer (1 Corinthians 11:1).

Church, the world needs better disciples, not more leaders. Thanks to our 21st-Century technology, we can find Christian leaders just about everywhere from the convenience of our phones. Disciples, though - the die-hard followers who resiliently lay down their lives and model Christ's love when the camera isn't rolling and the "likes" aren't accumulating - are much harder to find.

Once upon a time, I wrote a master's thesis about the influence of the Old Testament on the book of Revelation. It was as geeky as it sounds - alas, I am a theonerd. For years, I forgot about it (as one often does with school papers) until last year when my small group expressed an interest in this often misunderstood and misinterpreted book.

What began as a weekly study morphed into illustrations and articles on my blog. I felt like I was onto something. My Revelation study has been a year in the making, and I'm finally ready to share it with you! This study combines responsible scholarship, imaginative illustrations, and reflective prompts to help you understand Revelation's first-century context. It is my hope that by the end of the study you will notice the following three major themes in Revelation:

1. Revelation is not about the end of the world, but about how to live in light of the world to come. It is not about a rapture out of this world, but about radical discipleship while living in this world.

2. Revelation is theo-political, meaning that it critiques all political powers that claim god-like status or favor. Revelation challenges all forms of "Babylon" past, present, and future.

3. Revelation is not about the "antichrist." It is about the Living Christ. Jesus, the Lamb who was slain, is the key to reading the book in its entirety.



This study is for anyone who is afraid of, confused by, or even preoccupied with Revelation. If we really believe that this last book in the Bible is God-inspired, then it's incredibly important that we understand it responsibly within its various historical, literary, and theological contexts. I hope to be able to give you some of the tools so that you can study God's Word alone or with a group of friends like I did.

Revelation is one of my favorite books, because I believe that it has so much to say to the American church in our cultural moment. This study is available as either a PDF for $5 or a softcover book ($20 including shipping). You can purchase a copy here.

Did you know that spiritual transformation doesn't happen by accident?

Crazy, right? So why do I often live my life as though it does?

This question has been especially present on my mind these last few weeks because I've failed miserably at cultivating rhythms that were spiritually, emotionally, and physically healthy. I worked too much, scheduled too many evening meetings, forgot to pack healthy lunches, dropped exercise, and didn't do much that brought me life. God and I were barely hanging on in my prayer life.

After this whole fiasco, it became clear to me that I needed to re-look at my rhythms. With school starting in a few weeks, I wanted to make sure that I was already doing habits that made me the best version of myself.

How are the rhythms of your life pleasing God? How are your daily habits drawing you into the presence of God? 

This discipline of creating life-giving rhythms is called the “rule of life.” This practice guides us and trains us in our walk with God.

Unlike the goals we often set for ourselves, the “rule of life” helps us not to do—but to become.

There are lots of great resources out there about what a rule is and how to create one, but what I've realized is that many of the "how-tos" are overwhelming for me. Ironically, there are too many rules and guidelines. To me, this is something that should be life-giving and simple in form. So I've created my own simple chart which you are welcome to use.


Spend some time this fall examining your current habits—both on a daily and weekly basis. How are you currently making space to connect with God? What are some habits (good or bad) you need to let go of in order to make room for God’s presence? This may include avoiding certain activities, such as hurrying, stretching yourself beyond your limits, overeating, or watching violent shows.

What are some rhythms you can put in your life to help you connect with God more fully and more regularly? Don’t limit yourself to simply reading the Bible or praying, although these practices are a great starting point. Your rule of life can also include such things as: spending time in nature, exercising, silence and reflection, Sabbath, days alone with God, time with life-giving people, creating, etc.

Spiritual transformation doesn't happen by accident; we need to make the space and rhythms for God to work in us.