• Talks

    Introduction for Michael Card – The Gathering 2015

    The imaginative Bible teacher requires a particular sort of humility. Whereas the writer or the poet or artist can create with an almost totally free hand, the Bible teacher does not write the text. So, teaching comes with limitations that frustrate some and in their desire to be creative and not repeat what has been heard over and over again, they fall into the trap of distorting the text in ways never intended. They are fascinating but they mislead and instead of using imagination they create fictions. We know that Rembrandt, Picasso and Van Gogh all painted over their own masterpieces and produced two masterpieces on the same canvas. But…

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  • Talks

    Introduction for Kay Warren – The Gathering 2015

    Maybe that’s just the right place to introduce Kay this evening because she has been down many roads over the last several years. C.S. Lewis said that a young man who wishes to remain a sound atheist cannot be too careful of his reading. There are traps everywhere – Bibles laid open, millions of surprises…fine nets and stratagems. God is, if I may say it, very unscrupulous.” It was one of those open books – actually a magazine – that disrupted Kay’s life as a wife, mother and co­founder of Saddleback Church. But it was just a few months after that she was diagnosed with the first of two bouts…

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  • Talks

    Introduction for Andrew Peterson – The Gathering 2015

    Artists require a special quality of humility. Not the kind that denies their gift but that which is often surprised when the ideas, images, words and melodies first come to mind. Because, in the end, they do not create out of nothing. The best are those who know how much of their work is listening and then following the thread to see where it leads. When asked where his inspiration comes from Andrew replied, “The biggest thing is this: by the discipline of paying attention.” But there is something else. I read this in an interview by Sarah Geil with Andrew in the studio while he was recording his new…

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  • Talks

    Leaning on the Everlasting Arms: Opening Talk for The Gathering 2015

    There are times when people ask what the theme of the conference is, and without exception I tell them there never is a theme. We have no idea what the conference will be when we start thinking about next year. Sometimes a theme emerges that is totally unplanned and we are all surprised. This may be the first time in many years I have seen something ahead of time but only a short while ago did I realize it. I was looking at the speakers and noticed there is a pattern in some of their lives. I met Kay Warren and Lynne Hybels through their husbands, Rick and Bill. At…

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  • Bible Studies

    Romans 1:1-17

    When I was in the Navy there was one thing you could count on doing constantly. It was the paint detail. While I was never on a ship I served in a number of hard places that were surrounded by the sea ­ Italy, Bermuda, Key West ­ and every surface was subject to corrosion from the salt air. Yes, there were times when we did paint detail just to keep us busy and out of trouble but, on the whole, it was necessary because of our environment. We added layers and layers of paint to surfaces that were painted over for years. There was never any arguing with the…

  • Fred's Blog

    A Movement or a Mob

    Nicky Gumbel, the Rector of Holy Trinity Brompton Anglican church in London said, “Movements grow from the intersection of a personal story and circumstances.” It’s true. Movements do not begin without an extraordinary individual, but they are not just a series of rallies around that charismatic individual. That person must come at just the right time and under the right set of particular circumstances to make change possible. Because so much of what I believe about human behavior and group dynamics comes from stories in the Bible, I’ve looked at the number of times mobs came up against the movement of the early Church—a movement founded in hope in the…

  • Bible Studies

    The Rent House in Rome: Acts 28

    Nicky Gumbel, the Rector of Holy Trinity Brompton Anglican church in London says, “Movements grow from the intersection of a personal story and circumstances.” It’s true, isn’t it? Movements cannot be explained in any other way. They do not begin without an extraordinary individual but that person must come at just the right time and under the right set of circumstances that make change possible. It’s interesting to watch the movement growing around Donald Trump right now. Conditions and personality are in perfect alignment. Erik Erikson in his book titled “Young Man Luther” said this, “Ideological leaders, so it seems, are subject to excessive fears which they can master only…

  • Fred's Blog

    The Impeded Stream

    Like some of you, I grew up singing the old hymn, “The Haven of Rest,” taken from the account of the Apostle Paul’s sea journey as a prisoner of Rome. I can still hear the congregation singing this line: “I’ve anchored my soul in the ‘Haven of Rest,’ I’ll sail the wide seas no more; The tempest may sweep over wild, stormy, deep, In Jesus I’m safe evermore.” Until recently, I had not thought about it, but when I went back to look at the story again I realized this may be one of those many instances when an enthusiastic songwriter unintentionally distorted the biblical text. There are three harbors…

  • Bible Studies

    Three Harbors: Acts 27

    1.  Nothing ever seems to be easy in Paul’s life. Every journey is punctuated by hardship, opposition, riots, persecution, and obstacles of all kinds. I have a friend who reminds me of Paul. None of us will travel with her because the unimaginable always happens. One year she planned a trip to China to attend a conference and somehow instead of taking a plane that was going in that direction she boarded a plane going in the opposite direction. You know how these things tend to cascade with one mistake leading to another. She ended up spending five days on planes and only made the final day of her conference…

  • Fred's Blog

    Setting Your Hair On Fire

    Normally, when I read pieces on the woes of church denominations I toss them into the “ain’t it awful” stack. After all, have we seen any articles lately on denominations growing or re-inventing themselves? I don’t recall seeing any of them used as illustrations in “Good To Great” or “Where Good Ideas Come From.” Just the opposite. Growing numbers of observers believe denominations are going the way of once-thriving organizations like TWA, Montgomery Ward, General Foods and RCA. Having outlived their purpose, they are institutions where ideas go to retire. So, I was not surprised when I read the recent article in Christianity Today on the new president of the…