Josh Hunt's blog

Do you serve God to give or to get? The real spirit of the question is, "Should you serve God to give or to get?" If you were all you should be, godly and right thinking and mature and Christ-like, would you serve God for what you could get out of it, or what you could contribute? I think we would quickly agree that we should serve God to give. We should be more about contributing and less about receiving. We should, if we were more godly, serve God to serve God--to give. We might think so, but we would be wrong. Hebrews 11.6 lists two steps to drawing near to God: "And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him." The two steps are: We must believe that God exists. Turns out, this is a pretty easy step. About ninety-five percent of people on planet earth do believe that God exists. Even the devil believes that God exists. We must believe t...

Practical teachers are more likely to produce spiritually vibrant people -- by a wide margin. Groups where the teaching was described as very practical were more than twice as likely to report high levels of spiritual vibrancy. Groups where the teaching is practical were also more likely to be growing. I was watching the clock in Sunday School. About five minutes to quitting time. The conversation was interesting--even spirited--but I wasn't sure exactly where we were going. I raised my hand. My teacher called on me. "In about five minutes, we are all going to be walking out that door. (I pointed to the door.) What exactly do you want us to do about what we heard today?" (Aren't you glad I don't attend YOUR group?) That line got to be the running joke in class for months to come. If ever the conversation would get the least bit off subject, my teacher would say, "We need to get back on topic, because I know what Josh is thinking: what do you ...

I have read a lot of self-help / pop-psychology books and audio programs over the years. Books by people like Brian Tracy, Ziq Ziglar, Denis Waitley , and Jack Canfield. Reading this kind of literature is like eating fish--it is good as long as you realize you have to throw out the bones. There are a few bones to throw out, but I have found a lot of good stuff in there as well. I have long thought that preachers would do well to include some of that good stuff--some of that message of hope and optimism and you can to it! Well, in recent years, we have an example of a preacher who has done just that -- Joel Osteen. And, it has worked marvelously. This message of hope and optimism and you can do it has grown to be the largest church in America--almost twice as big as whoever is second. Most pastors, and most teachers could learn a thing or two from Joel Osteen. Having said that, I am not a big fan of Joel. The problem of Joel is that, well, he has too much of Joel. Is there...

We move now into the top tier of things that really matter in terms of creating spiritually vibrant people. We have talked about things that didn't matter very much, things that mattered a little. These things matter a lot. The first one is feeling loved by the people in the group. Here is the statement: "I feel loved by the people in my group." People who strongly agreed with this statement were more than twice as likely (111%) to be in the top tier of spiritually vibrant people when compared with people who only agreed, or disagreed with that statement. Creating a group where people strongly agree that they feel loved by the people in the group creates spiritually vibrant people. Feeling loved also had a positive correlation with the growth of the group Isn't this what the Bible says? Jn 13:34 "A new command I give you: Love one another . As I have loved you, so you must love one another . Jn 13:35 By this all men will...

Rick Warren taught us there are five purposes of the church and five purposes for our lives. They key to life and the key to church is to keep these purposes in balance. Do not emphasize one at the expense of another. You might be surprised to learn that everyone does not agree on the whole balance thing. (You might also be surprised by this. I heard and early teaching by Rick--back when his church was small, like five or ten thousand--and he taught about the four purposes of the church. He didn't add fellowship in until later.) I have heard Bill Hybels say we need to give a disproportionate amount of time an attention to one purpose--evangelism. He says balance does not work. They try to be unbalanced in favor of evangelism. www.willowcreek.com Steve Sjogren doesn't believe in balance either. He believes that the purpose of service can be the driver for all the rest. Servant evangelism, he calls it. Service drives the evangelism which gets people in the church wh...

The latest research indicates that 70% of the kids who grow up in our youth groups are not staying in church. Project that out for about ten years and we have disaster. Based on data from Essential Church, the trend looks like this: For a free sample of the book, see http://www.lifeway.com/lwc/files/lwcF_PDF_Rainers_Essential_Church_Sample.pdf Another good book on the subject is Ed Stetzer's Lost and Found. Let's look at it more personally. My oldest son graduated from High School in 2004. He walked across the stage at church at the recognition ceremony along with 20 or so of his classmates. Most of them had been very active in youth group. Very few of them are active in church today. In fact, my son may be the only one. If you are in the mood for a good depression, do the math at your church. Dig up the list of the kids that graduated five years ago. See if you can figure out how many of them are in church ...

I read these verses in my quiet time this morning From him the whole body, joined and held together by every supporting ligament, grows and builds itself up in love, as each part does its work. Ephesians 4:16 (NIV) My purpose is that they may be encouraged in heart and united in love, so that they may have the full riches of complete understanding, in order that they may know the mystery of God, namely, Christ, Colossians 2:2 (NIV) He has lost connection with the Head, from whom the whole body, supported and held together by its ligaments and sinews, grows as God causes it to grow. Colossians 2:19 (NIV) What do these verse have in common? I have put the words in bold. These words translate one Greek word: SUMBIBAZO. Gotta love the sound of that word. Say it three times out loud. SUMBIBAZO. SUMBIBAZO. SUMBIBAZO. The word means to be connected. What these verse tell us is we only grow as we are connected. We don't grow, can't grow alone. We grow as we are connected together. J...

Many of you know I am working on a new book on What Makes Groups Grow. I am puzzling just now over the data regarding teachers to lecture. Here is the puzzle: Teachers who use all lecture were the second mostly likely group to be growing Teachers who use all lecture were also the most likely group to be declining (by a wide margin) I have my own theories as to why this is true. What do you make of it? How could the lecturing group be both likely to grow and likely to decline?

I read this verse in my quiet time this morning: All over the world this gospel is bearing fruit and growing , just as it has been doing among you since the day you heard it and understood God's grace in all its truth. Colossians 1:6 (NIV) [Emphasis added] I take "growing" in this context to mean, "numerical growth." Growth that you can display on a graph. Paul was a numbers guy. In the next paragraph Paul uses the same Greek word: And we pray this in order that you may live a life worthy of the Lord and may please him in every way: bearing fruit in every good work, growing in the knowledge of God, (11) being strengthened with all power according to his glorious might so that you may have great endurance and patience, and joyfully (12) giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of the saints in the kingdom of light. Colossians 1:10-12 (NIV) [Emphasis added] The Colossians were growing numerically and Paul prayed that they gr...