All Blog Posts (82)

What is the goal of the effective communicator ~ provocation! It is to challenge the status quo of groupthink. It is to call into question the tribal norms. To provoke is "to arouse to a feeling or action, to stir up purposely, to provide the needed stimulus." The effective communicator challenges our paradigm, stirs emotions, stimulating us to do something about what we have heard.



Think of a speech…

What is the goal of the effective communicator ~ provocation! It is to challenge the status quo of groupthink. It is to call into question the tribal norms. To provoke is "to arouse to a feeling or action, to stir up purposely, to provide the needed stimulus." The effective communicator challenges our paradigm, stirs emotions, stimulating us to do something about what we have heard.



Think of a speech…

 When we are born again, we change our citizenship: from a kingdom of darkness to a kingdom of light. Paul tells us "our citizenship is in heaven" (Philippians 3:20 ESV). It is from this new kingdom that we are sent as representatives, or ambassadors if you will, to the micro-cultures where we find our selves living.

A quick glance at some of the facts about ambassadors will give us some insights regarding how we are to live as representatives of our King. According to…

Triple Cross: Israel, the Atomic Bomb & the Man Who Spilled the Secrets by Louis Toscano, published in 1990, is the story of Mordechai Vanunu and the pictures he took inside the Dimona plant. I've posted a brief review of the book here:

http://tomryerson.wordpress.com/2012/01/29/photos-of-israels-nuclear-weapons-production/

I recently read The Final Move Beyond Iraq by Mike Evans. Mr. Evans is a Middle East expert and a Christian evangelist. I posted a short review of his book here:

http://tomryerson.wordpress.com/2012/01/24/the-fight-in-iraq/

My Mom has been telling me for possibly a year now, how the foods I eat have these so called "preservatives" in them, and I would always make light of it saying "I'm eating some preservatives in my McDonald's today, Mom". Well, I just recently decided to explore this book where my Mom has received all her wisdom from, and that book is called " Food for Thought" by Sylvia Ferrin. I have to admit I really didn't expect anything to change, I new how to eat healthy (Fruits, Vegetables, etc.), so…

In October of 2004 I (Jim) attended my first Glorious Church Conference. I had been discussing, reading and studying biblical eldership but needed a little more information and to see where others were at in this process.

Process? Yes, the process of going from being a solo/single pastor to becoming an elder led assembly. After leaving the Conference I went home and shared with the other men what I learned, and we started Elder Training in January of 2005.

The…

Part of my prayer this morning was probably like most christians: there was a desire to become more like Jesus. While praying this, the thought occurred to me, just what am I asking for? Then I took some time to meditate on what could the answer of this prayer entail.



It is a common theme today for many…

For a recent conference, I was asked to be one of the members of a panel discussion, our topic was: The Church in the 21st Century. A lofty theme for a two-hour dialogue.

In preparation, I spent much time ruminating on what has been written about the current church situation and what is seen as biblical models of a New Testament church. The following is a few thoughts I jotted down. Now they are not a complete dissertation, but I think, they are…

So I have finished the makeover on this house and we now have it on the market. To help make the sale, a key step is to stage the house. The idea of staging is to place furniture, pictures and decorations in key places to give the prospective buyer an idea of how they could arrange the house. When done correctly, you find they will begin to discuss how their furniture would fit in the particular room.



One of the components of staging is the outside, particularly the front door:…

This post is a response to the entry for Acts 2:38 in The New Treasury of Scripture Knowledge, Revised and Expanded, edited by Jerome H. Smith (Thomas Nelson Publishers, 1992, pp. 1234-1235). 

Smith writes,

The English text does not adequately convey the grammar of this verse.  When the grammar is understood, the verse no longer can be used to support any view of baptismal regeneration or baptismal remission of sin.  The phrase "every one of you" is mistakenly…

The worth of a book is to be measured by what you can carry away from it. ~James Bryce

The following is a list of the books that significantly impacted me in 2010. To reach this list, these books changed, clarified or reinforced my (new way of) thinking. Obviously, I do not agree with every word, but enough to recommend them.

Total Church – Chester & Timmis

What impacted me most regarding this book was their grasp on the holistic…