Escaping Enemy Mode Together

It will be exciting to see many of you in Denver this month. We are going to experience joy and learn to stay connected to Jesus and to our people, even when we are in enemy mode. We are going to share stories from the field and hear how it is going. How is escaping […]

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 […]

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. […]

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 […]

The Shortcomings of Trying to Talk our Way Back to Peace 

By Jim Wilder and Ed Khouri  (Part 3 of 10 from the article, “Through the Eyes of Heaven:  Does ‘Talking It Through to Find Peace’ bring Shalom?”)  God sees through heaven’s eyes — an infallibly gracious perspective. Until you and I are with Him, our objective is to cultivate peace in our lives by sowing […]

Why we lack peace when we are hurt or upset

By Jim Wilder and Ed Khouri (Part 2 of 10 from the article, “Through the Eyes of Heaven: Does ‘Talking It Through to Find Peace’ bring Shalom?”) When what people say about us — or how we are treated — does not fit who we believe we are, we feel hurt and upset. It feels […]

Playgrounds for Avatars: “Talking it Through to Find Peace”

By Jim Wilder and Ed Khouri (Part 1 of 10 from the article, “Through the Eyes of Heaven: Does ‘Talking It Through to Find Peace’ bring Shalom?”) For your heart will always pursue what you value as your treasure. Matthew 6:21, The Passion Translation Life experiences and relationships shape us. For those who follow Jesus, […]

Christmas Peace

We see two important words often during the Christmas holiday: joy and peace. We see them on Christmas cards, and we sing them in songs. At Life Model Works, we talk a lot about the importance of joy in lives. Our brains were designed with joy in mind, and when our joy gets low, life doesn’t work well. However, in this article we are going to focus on the other important word: peace .

How We Are Escaping Enemy Mode In Our Marriage

By Ray and Deborah Woolridge When have you had an enemy mode conversation with someone you love? How does it feel to you? How does it make them feel? As a couple married 36+ years, enemy mode feels like falling down a cliff. Falling into enemy mode is much easier than climbing out of it.  […]

A Sweet Spot For Kids

by Marlene Allen, Life Model Works Board Member Twelve-year-old Tess had one question for me as her children’s pastor, “Why is God always mad at us? I picture Him with a bat ready to get me if I do something wrong”,  This simple question began my quest to discover why children would have such a […]

Vision and Leadership

by Ed Khouri “Where there is no vision, the people perish.”-Proverbs 29:18 I often hear this verse misquoted to explain the importance of articulating a clear and compellingvision for people to follow. Immature leaders with vibrant, personal charisma are especially at risk ofmisusing this verse. Viewed in context, the original word translated as vision refers […]

Becoming A “Green Zone” Person

What does becoming like Jesus look like? We call that transformation. Becoming like Jesus looks like this: Automatically thinking with God and asking Him what He wants us to notice Protecting our own emotions and the emotions of others like Jesus did Replacing the toxic fuel of fear with the high-octane fuel of joy Addressing […]

Tap the Brakes On Social Media

by Michel Hendricks A social experiment was unleashed on the world in 2007 by the creation of the smartphone. This development, combined with social media, is changing the way we relate to each other. At Life Model Works, we often hear from parents asking us for ideas about parenting in the smart phone era. Because […]

Enhancing Our Faces

By Michael Sullivant “As iron sharpens iron, So a man sharpens the countenance of his friend.” ‭‭Proverbs‬ ‭27:17‬ ‭NKJV‬‬. Practicing the Life Model has much to do with the importance of faces … God’s face, the face of Immanuel, other’s faces, and our own face as well. God has given us, even in infancy, the […]