Elder Leadership: Priorities for Thriving Communities
By Barbara Moon Elders look after their community. Elders are in the stage of life where strength is lessening while responsibility is increasing. Communities usually contain different age groups and can be of different sizes. It’s a good thing that elders have had lots of practice throughout all the other stages of maturity. Communities can […]
Flexible Diligence & Parenting
By Michael Sullivant One of the skills we are meant to learn during the parent stage of maturity is to gracefully balance and synchronize our attention and energies to meet the appropriate needs of our spouse, children, extended family, church, work, friends, and the broader community. I’m now almost 70 with five married adult children […]
More Than Our Momentary Failures: Lessons from Parenting in the Child Stage
By Joel and Joca Prudhomme Before having children, I was sure that I would be a great dad. What a surprise to discover as a parent of young children that I seemed completely incapable of doing even half of the wonderful things that I had read in the parenting books! This grand adventure of raising […]
Child Maturity – Learning What Truly Satisfies
By Michel Hendricks Have you ever been hungry, and intended to eat a little snack before dinner and ended up eating way too much and ruining your appetite? Have you ever gotten so obsessed by a sport or hobby that you ignored other important things? Have you ever been hooked on a substance or behavior […]
What Does Love Look Like?
If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. […]
What My Best Self Believes About God
By Jen Pfeiler “Write the first five things that come to your mind when you think about God,” Lydia calmly instructed. She looked around the group of just under a dozen fellow ministry students. Throughout our time together, we took turns instructing the group. It was her turn to teach and I could sense her […]
Immanuel & Grief
By Mercy Johnson It happens to each of us at some point, that internal longing for someone who is gone. One of the sorrows of our sinful and broken world is relational disconnection through death, unhealthy relationships, or other causes. Within Life Model-based training, we refer to this as attachment pain. Unresolved attachment pain causes […]
The God Who Wants Us
By Michael Sullivant You are the God who wants us and wants us to want him back! “God, who made the world and everything in it, since He is Lord of heaven and earth, does not dwell in temples made with hands. Nor is He worshiped with men’s hands, as though He needed anything, since […]
The Moped Lady Started it!
A Blog by Marlene Allen She drove up on what Thais call a motorcycle, but it was a moped. Quite impressive that a woman would drive one in the crazy traffic of Chiang Mai, Thailand, but it was good to see my friend, Dr. Esther Wakeman. I had so much to share with her. By […]
Recordings that Reach & the Translator’s Journal
This blog is sponsored by the special donations made to help Life Model Works share the love and peace of Jesus with people in Ukraine! Thank you to all who contributed to the Ukraine trip for LMW. We were able to teach passing the peace in the middle of a war. Our team was active […]
Testimonies from Friends in Kiev
This blog is sponsored by the special donations made to help Life Model Works share the love and peace of Jesus with people in Ukraine! Thank you to all who contributed to the Ukraine trip for LMW. We were able to teach passing the peace in the middle of a war. Our team was active […]
Passing the Peace During Kiev Air Raids
This blog is sponsored by the special donations made to help Life Model Works share the love and peace of Jesus with people in Ukraine! Thank you to all who contributed to the Ukraine trip for LMW. We were able to teach passing the peace in the middle of a war. Our team was active […]
A Dedicated and Gifted Team
This blog is sponsored by the special donations made to help Life Model Works share the love and peace of Jesus with people in Ukraine! Thank you to all who contributed to the Ukraine trip for LMW. We were able to teach passing the peace in the middle of a war. Our team was active […]
Resources for Creating Transformational Small Groups
(Part 10 of 10 from the article, “Through the Eyes of Heaven: Does ‘Talking It Through to Find Peace’ bring Shalom?”) By Jim Wilder and Ed Khouri Having explained the practices, pitfalls, and perils of talking things through to find “peace,” let’s turn our attention to resources that can help. These materials encourage the development […]
Finding Identity and Transformation by Seeking Things Above
(Part 9 of 10 from the article, “Through the Eyes of Heaven: Does ‘Talking It Through to Find Peace’ bring Shalom?”) By Jim Wilder and Ed Khouri Followers of Jesus are in the process of being transformed into the image of Jesus. We are born into an entirely new identity from the moment we receive […]
Grace as a Foundation for Peace in Your Small Group
(Part 8 of 10 from the article, “Through the Eyes of Heaven: Does ‘Talking It Through to Find Peace’ bring Shalom?”) By Jim Wilder and Ed Khouri The word grace was around for hundreds of years before Paul used it in his epistles. Grace is a relational term that implies an ongoing, mutual connection between […]
Breaking Through the Fog
(Part 7 of 10 from the article, “Through the Eyes of Heaven: Does ‘Talking It Through to Find Peace’ bring Shalom?”) By Jim Wilder and Ed Khouri Looking back over the previous blogs, it is clear we have been misapplying what the Bible says. In a sense, we have been creating fog around the topic. […]
The Shortcomings of Denying Wounds to Fake Peace and Building Community According to the Flesh
(Part 6 of 10 from the article, “Through the Eyes of Heaven: Does ‘Talking It Through to Find Peace’ bring Shalom?”) By Jim Wilder and Ed Khouri Hurt and wounding is destructive. Such experiences fester within us. That is why it is blatant stupidity to deny or try to toss away wounds by claiming they […]
Shortcomings of Enveloping Our Identities in Sticky Sin to Build Spiritual Community
(Part 5 of 10 from the article, “Through the Eyes of Heaven: Does ‘Talking It Through to Find Peace’ bring Shalom?”) By Jim Wilder and Ed Khouri Our perception of reality is skewed by all the wounds and hurts we experience — whether they result from our sin or someone else’s. Throughout every life, Satan […]
Sharing Wounds and Pain to Develop Attachment and Intimacy
(Part 4 of 10 from the article, “Through the Eyes of Heaven: Does ‘Talking It Through to Find Peace’ bring Shalom?”) By Jim Wilder and Ed Khouri Getting to know each other by talking things through is often used in Christian circles to form spiritual community. We get to know each other by discussing as […]