I’ll probably get in trouble for this blog…

A brother wrote a powerful essay published by World Magazine. He opens by talking about how football teams should run the play that’s working until it doesn’t. He applies that principle to churches:

Week after week, the work of the church looks about the same. We gather to sing and pray and open the Bible and preach it. We baptize new believers and bury old saints. We take the Lord’s Supper together. We sit with the sick, we comfort people who are grieving, and we go looking for the ones who have wandered off. The songs and the sermons change, but the shape of the thing stays remarkably steady. Sunday comes, and then it comes again. – Josh Reavis, “Run It Again,” August 18, 2026.

He continues:

Here is what I have to keep preaching to myself. We do not keep doing the same things because we lack imagination. We keep doing them because Jesus told us to. “Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you” (Matthew 28:19-20). That is the play, and He drew it up Himself. He did not hand His church a playbook and then invite us to improvise a better one. He gave us the ordinary means of grace, His Word preached, and His people gathered around the table, and He promised to build His church through them.

But is the “play” the author described in his essay really what Jesus meant in what we call “The Great Commission,” Matthew 28.19 – 20?

When people ask what I do, I reply with something like, “I help pastors and church leaders make disciples. Churches are very good at running Sunday morning, but not so good at making disciples, at training and sending.” I’ve never had a non-pastor disagree with that assessment. Once I told some friends I was on my way to India to teach pastors how to make disciples. The response was immediate: “We need that here!”

I posted a comment to the essay:

I marvel that we can take our form of church, the “play” that churches all over the world are running, attribute it to Jesus and call it making disciples. Jesus didn’t run that play, he trained 12 men (Mark 3.13, 14). Paul said the job of church leaders was to “equip the saints” (Ephesians 4.11 – 12). Paul also told “Pastor Timothy” to train reliable people “who will also be qualified to teach others.” (2 Timothy 2.2)

I’ve written about this problem before:

• Primary Tasks? reviews an essay in which the pastor’s functions are described around “the play,” and DON’T include training and equipping.
• That’s Not Church! tells the story of what happened when a pastor suggested a Sunday morning format different from “the play,” demonstrating people’s commitment to “the play” over Bible-based alternatives.

FYI, here are the verses I cited in my comment:

And he went up on the mountain and called to him those whom he desired, and they came to him. And he appointed twelve (whom he also named apostles) so that they might be with him and he might send them out to preach… (Mark 3.13, 14, ESV)

And he gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds and teachers, to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ… (Ephesians 4.11, 12, ESV)

And the things you have heard me say in the presence of many witnesses entrust to reliable people who will also be qualified to teach others. (2 Timothy 2.2, NIV)

PS This is NOT a stand-alone blog. I’m criticizing an over-reliance on one “play.” Let’s continue our discussion tomorrow.

A few pictures from a sunset dog walk at YMCA of the Rockies at Estes Park a few days ago.

The heavens declare the glory of God, and the sky above proclaims his handiwork. (Psalm 19.1, ESV)

What?

Seth Godin shared some practical, common sense advice on August 13. He called it Emotional Hygiene. Here are some snippets:

When I was growing up, my family would sometimes go to Fantasy Island, a low-rent amusement park not far from my home. I soon figured out that while the spinning rides seemed appealing and daring, they would always make me sick and ruin the whole day. The good idea? Don’t go on the spinny rides.

Our culture creates traps and opportunities. There’s social and commercial pressure to engage in activities and jobs that don’t serve us very well. If horror movies give you unsettling nightmares, don’t go. No matter how many times your friends invite you, no is a complete sentence.

If being in debt is going to cause a long, stressful spiral for you and your fiancé, then don’t have an expensive wedding.

If doomscrolling your social feeds puts you in a bad mood, put down the phone and go for a walk instead…

Persistent emotional turmoil can undermine our peace of mind, and it might be caused by an ongoing spiral that’s fueled by the short-term choices we make. Cultural and economic pressure can make those choices feel non-optional, but if we can protect ourselves early, we may be able to create enough value for others that our hygienic choices easily pay for themselves.

There are countless opportunities to thrive. But we might have to make hard choices to find them. Don’t go on the spinny rides. We need you at your best. – Seth Godin, August 13, 2026

How about, “If watching the news depresses you, quit watching the news.”? Seth says “…those choices feel non-optional…” but they’re not. But, Bob, I have to know what’s going on in the world! No. You don’t. And if something is really important, you’ll find out about it.

If reading others’ political comments on Facebook riles you up, stay off Facebook…or at least avoid posts that make you angry.

Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things. (Philippians 4.8, ESV)

Avoid it; do not go on it; turn away from it and pass on. (Proverbs 4.15, ESV) (You figure out what your “it” is!)

June’s brother Paul lives in the tiny town of Piedmont, South Carolina, population less than 6,000. He begins his days walking his dog, Catfish, the German Shepherd. Often he documents the walk with a Facebook post. Here’s a sample from August 23:

The peaceful dawning of a late summer morning. The grass along the marsh is beginning to turn brown. Soon the population of geese on the mill pond will multiply as the autumn migration begins, but this Thursday morning it’s just the year round residents who are sitting around, chatting idly about the heat, and getting fat. — Paul Porter in Piedmont, SC

Paul is spreading grace and beauty in the world. A real artist in words and pictures with no interest in monetizing his art. Thank you, brother.

And now, dear brothers and sisters, one final thing. Fix your thoughts on what is…lovely… (Philippians 4.8, NLT)

As we move into the end of Ezekiel, beginning with chapter 40, it’s useful to recall part of Peterson’s introduction:

Whether through denial or despair, the people of God nearly lost their identity as a people of God. But they didn’t. God’s people emerged from that catastrophic century robust and whole. And the reason, in large part, was Ezekiel.

According to Peterson, Ezekiel’s main job was to keep the people encouraged during the exile. And although there was A LOT about sin and judgment, there were also many passages about restoration. And the longest section in Ezekiel comes at the end: chapters 40 – 48, which describe in detail what the new temple will look like and other details about being back in the land. In other words, HOPE.

In the twenty-fifth year of our exile, at the beginning of the year, on the tenth day of the month, in the fourteenth year after the city was struck down, on that very day, the hand of the LORD was upon me, and he brought me to the city. In visions of God he brought me to the land of Israel, and set me down on a very high mountain, on which was a structure like a city to the south. When he brought me there, behold, there was a man whose appearance was like bronze, with a linen cord and a measuring reed in his hand. And he was standing in the gateway. And the man said to me, “Son of man, look with your eyes, and hear with your ears, and set your heart upon all that I shall show you, for you were brought here in order that I might show it to you. Declare all that you see to the house of Israel.” (Ezekiel 40.1 – 4, ESV)

“Declare all that you see to the house of Israel.” Then begins eight chapters of detail, mostly about the rebuilt Temple. HOPE.

Maybe if we saw ourselves in exile, passages in Revelation would give us similar hope. For example,

Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth…Then came one of the seven angels…and spoke to me, saying, “Come, I will show you the Bride, the wife of the Lamb.” And he carried me away in the Spirit to a great, high mountain, and showed me the holy city Jerusalem coming down out of heaven from God, having the glory of God, its radiance like a most rare jewel, like a jasper, clear as crystal. It had a great, high wall, with twelve gates, and at the gates twelve angels, and on the gates the names of the twelve tribes of the sons of Israel were inscribed— on the east three gates, on the north three gates, on the south three gates, and on the west three gates. And the wall of the city had twelve foundations, and on them were the twelve names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb. And the one who spoke with me had a measuring rod of gold to measure the city and its gates and walls… (Revelation 21.1, 9 – 15, ESV)

Sounds like Ezekiel!

• Ezekiel and John were both carried to a high mountain
• Both saw someone with a measuring rod
• I didn’t show the Ezekiel text but both contain descriptions of the gates
• …

Truly, “this world is not my home…”

If I’m going to write about Ezekiel 38 and 39, I have to call the blog “Gog and Magog.” It will surely be the only time I’ll have a chance to use such an esoteric title! Read the chapters quickly, skim them, and here’s what you’ll see:

• There will be an invasion of Israel from the north.
• It will be in the future.
• The invasion won’t succeed.

Simple…and I’ve told you all I know. Actually, I’ve told you all anyone knows for sure. Some doubt that the invasion is real. It might be a metaphor. Some doubt that it’s in the future. Some who think it’s in the future don’t know when in the future. You can read a detailed account from a Christian source that believes in end-time prophecy involving Israel.

Here’s a key paragraph from Ezekiel 38:

A long time from now you will be called into action. In the distant future you will swoop down on the land of Israel, which will be enjoying peace after recovering from war and after its people have returned from many lands to the mountains of Israel. You and all your allies—a vast and awesome army—will roll down on them like a storm and cover the land like a cloud. (Ezekiel 38.8, 9, NLT)

“Distant future…after its people have returned from many lands…you…will roll down on them like a storm…” It feels more like present (or future to now) day when the nation Israel is inhabited by people “from many lands,” than the return from the Babylonian exile.

You will come from your homeland in the distant north with your vast cavalry and your mighty army, and you will attack my people Israel, covering their land like a cloud. At that time in the distant future, I will bring you against my land as everyone watches, and my holiness will be displayed by what happens to you, Gog. Then all the nations will know that I am the LORD. (Ezekiel 38.15, 16, NLT)

But Gog and Magog won’t win:

I will summon the sword against you on all the hills of Israel, says the Sovereign LORD. Your men will turn their swords against each other. I will punish you and your armies with disease and bloodshed; I will send torrential rain, hailstones, fire, and burning sulfur! In this way, I will show my greatness and holiness, and I will make myself known to all the nations of the world. Then they will know that I am the LORD. (Ezekiel 38.21 – 23, NLT)

The story continues into Ezekiel 39 with graphic detail on how big the fires fueled by weapons will be and how long it will take to bury the dead. The section ends with a clear promise:

Therefore thus says the Lord GOD: Now I will restore the fortunes of Jacob and have mercy on the whole house of Israel, and I will be jealous for my holy name. They shall forget their shame and all the treachery they have practiced against me, when they dwell securely in their land with none to make them afraid, when I have brought them back from the peoples and gathered them from their enemies’ lands, and through them have vindicated my holiness in the sight of many nations. Then they shall know that I am the LORD their God, because I sent them into exile among the nations and then assembled them into their own land. I will leave none of them remaining among the nations anymore. And I will not hide my face anymore from them, when I pour out my Spirit upon the house of Israel, declares the Lord GOD.” (Ezekiel 39.25 – 29, ESV)

There’s little agreement, even among conservative biblical scholars on who Gog and Magog are and when exactly the invasion will occur.

THEREFORE, skip it! Some texts are just hard. Some texts have no direct application to my life other than something like:

When it appears that all hell is breaking loose, God is still in control, and he has the power to save and restore.

Remember,

The secret things belong to the LORD our God, but the things that are revealed belong to us and to our children forever, that we may do all the words of this law. (Deuteronomy 29.29, ESV)

In fact, that text is the last verse of Deuteronomy 29, followed immediately by the message of the last paragraph of Ezekiel 39:

And when all these things come upon you, the blessing and the curse, which I have set before you, and you call them to mind among all the nations where the LORD your God has driven you, and return to the LORD your God, you and your children, and obey his voice in all that I command you today, with all your heart and with all your soul, then the LORD your God will restore your fortunes and have mercy on you, and he will gather you again from all the peoples where the LORD your God has scattered you. (Deuteronomy 30.1 – 3, ESV)

When I was researching the corrected story involving Dawson Trotman, founder of The Navigators, and Bill Bright, founder of CRU, I discovered something else about Dawson Trotman that blew me away…

It’s always been part of Navigator lore that Dawson came to faith while reviewing scripture memory verses he had learned because he wanted to impress girls in a young people’s group. Here’s the whole story from an interview with Justin Taylor, August 18, 2016:

By the time [Dawson] turned 20 he was a fairly pagan guy. He was bootlegging liquor down from San Francisco during prohibition, he was stealing stuff with regularity, and he was something of a pool shark in the local bars. But after getting caught drinking by local law enforcement officers, he said a quick “save me” prayer and committed to attending church again.

He went to the local young people’s (Christian Endeavor) meeting where they had a Scripture memory contest. He was a smart kid and wanted to impress the pretty girls so he ended up memorizing the 10 verses and coming back the following week to recite the verses with perfection.

While working on memorizing the next week’s verses, he suddenly realized the logic of the gospel. He was on his way to work at a local lumber yard and as he recalled John 5:24 in the King James Version: “Verily, verily, I say unto you, he that heareth My Word, and believeth on Him that sent Me, hath everlasting life . . .” Trotman asked himself the honest question: Do I have everlasting life? He prayed to Jesus to give him this life on the sidewalk. Soon after he shared his conversion experience with a Christian co-worker who encouraged him to share this testimony with all of his co-workers at lunch the following day. That began Trotman’s speaking ministry.

…

The only church that Trotman knew was Lomita Community Presbyterian Church, so he began attending the Christian Endeavor meetings with regularity. Learning Scripture through memorization was how he came to understand the outline of the Bible. His leaders, Miss Mills and Miss Thomas, were the first Christians to pour into his life. They soon encouraged him to begin taking classes at the Bible Institute of Los Angeles (now Biola University) and the Los Angeles Baptist Theological Seminary (now Northwest Theological Seminary).

Did you see it? The young people’s group was part of Christian Endeavor. Dawson was born in 1906, thus when he was 20 and went to a Christian Endeavor youth meeting, it would have been 1926. Fast forward 100 years to 2026. Christian Endeavor lives (an organization founded in 1881).

Please note: “Ministry Director Josh Good.” I first mentioned Josh in the blog Hippos and Honeybees, November 21, 2019. At the time, Josh and I had been meeting by phone approximately monthly for about a year, and we continue to meet, processing life, discipleship, and leadership together. Josh is a great guy, young(!), with a lot of responsibility at home (five children), church, and the #2 guy of an international organization.

I am excited to learn that the founder of my organization was reached by Christian Endeavor, and now, as a descendant of Dawson Trotman, I’m able to give back “a little” to that organization! The wheel turneth.

Christian Endeavor remains committed to producing disciples – “producers” not “consumers,” as witnessed by a letter they sent a couple of years ago, prompting my blog Busy…but not fruitful. And thanks for their faithful service 100 years ago, resulting in the conversion of Dawson Trotman, founder of The Navigators.

Here’s some of what I have shared with Josh…more than once!

Command and teach these things. Let no one despise you for your youth, but set the believers an example in speech, in conduct, in love, in faith, in purity. Until I come, devote yourself to the public reading of Scripture, to exhortation, to teaching. Do not neglect the gift you have…Practice these things, immerse yourself in them, so that all may see your progress. Keep a close watch on yourself and on the teaching. (1 Timothy 4.11 – 16, ESV)

I’m meeting with two men, Chris and Tom, going through Every Man a Warrior together. Chris is a retired Navy captain. Tom is a Navy reservist. (Important to the story!) We’ve just finished Book 2 and because of August travel and our upcoming anniversary celebration, we’ll start Book 3 on September 14.

So I wrote them a little message encouraging them in their daily disciplines and giving two additional assignments. Chris’s response, in Navy lingo, blew me away:

In receipt and taking for action!

In the Air Force, we might say, “Understand and will comply.” Or, “Roger. Wilco.”

But I love Chris’s attitude: “In receipt and taking for action!”

So do we always respond to God’s Word that way? Not, “Well, that was interesting.” But, “Speak, Lord for your servant is listening.” (1 Samuel 3.9)

Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says. (James 1.22, NIV, emphasis mine)

…A good understanding have all those who do His commandments… (Psalm 111.10, NKJV, emphasis mine)

A few days ago, we looked at some important lessons on prayer. Today, we have a practical lesson on faith…

We’ve been in our new house just over a year, and it’s time to solve some of the storage challenges and make a little more room in our garage for both cars. (They’re in there, but it’s tight.) The solution? Overhead shelves so I ordered a pair from Costco, and my son Mark installed them. (I don’t do ladders.)

At one point one of the shelves was in, and Mark was working on installing the ceiling brackets for the other, and the easiest way to do that was, you guessed it, lay on the existing shelf:

As Mark observed, the shelves are designed to hold 800 pounds “if properly installed.” And they were. If they weren’t, Mark wanted his tombstone to read:

If properly installed

A demonstration of faith, is it not? Do you believe the shelf will hold you? Yes? Then put your whole weight on it.

He did not waver at the promise of God through unbelief, but was strengthened in faith, giving glory to God, and being fully convinced that what He had promised He was also able to perform. (Romans 4.20, 21, NKJV)

Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen…But without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him. (Hebrews 11.1, 6, NKJV)

PS The finished product with stored Christmas decorations:

Ezekiel 37 is a well-known chapter containing the “Valley of Dry Bones.” There’s even a song about it! The song is not that deep theologically, but if you like gospel quartet…

The Dry Bones are about Israel returning from exile:

Then he said to me: “Son of man, these bones are the people of Israel. They say, ‘Our bones are dried up and our hope is gone; we are cut off.’ Therefore prophesy and say to them: ‘This is what the Sovereign LORD says: My people, I am going to open your graves and bring you up from them; I will bring you back to the land of Israel. Then you, my people, will know that I am the LORD, when I open your graves and bring you up from them. I will put my Spirit in you and you will live, and I will settle you in your own land. Then you will know that I the LORD have spoken, and I have done it, declares the LORD.’ ” (Ezekiel 37.11 – 14, ESV)

The story starts with dry bones…dead, and they look dead:

The hand of the LORD was on me, and he brought me out by the Spirit of the LORD and set me in the middle of a valley; it was full of bones. He led me back and forth among them, and I saw a great many bones on the floor of the valley, bones that were very dry. He asked me, “Son of man, can these bones live?” I said, “Sovereign LORD, you alone know.” (Ezekiel 37.1 – 3, ESV)

A vivid picture of life without God:

As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins, in which you used to live when you followed the ways of this world and of the ruler of the kingdom of the air, the spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient. All of us also lived among them at one time, gratifying the cravings of our flesh and following its desires and thoughts. Like the rest, we were by nature deserving of wrath. (Ephesians 2.1 – 3, ESV)

Bringing the bones back to life was a two-step process:

Then he said to me, “Prophesy to these bones and say to them, ‘Dry bones, hear the word of the LORD! This is what the Sovereign LORD says to these bones: I will make breath enter you, and you will come to life. I will attach tendons to you and make flesh come upon you and cover you with skin; I will put breath in you, and you will come to life. Then you will know that I am the LORD.’ ” So I prophesied as I was commanded. And as I was prophesying, there was a noise, a rattling sound, and the bones came together, bone to bone. I looked, and tendons and flesh appeared on them and skin covered them, but there was no breath in them. (Ezekiel 37.4 – 8, ESV)

Still on the ground. Still dead. Until they are filled with the Spirit, the “breath,” the pneuma, they are dead.

The wind [pneuma] blows wherever it pleases. You hear its sound, but you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going. So it is with everyone born of the Spirit. (John 3.8, ESV)

To the angel of the church in Sardis write: These are the words of him who holds the seven spirits of God and the seven stars. I know your deeds; you have a reputation of being alive, but you are dead. (Revelation 3.1, ESV)

And here’s the second step:

Then he said to me, “Prophesy to the breath; prophesy, son of man, and say to it, ‘This is what the Sovereign LORD says: Come, breath, from the four winds and breathe into these slain, that they may live.’ ” So I prophesied as he commanded me, and breath entered them; they came to life and stood up on their feet—a vast army. (Ezekiel 37.9, 10, ESV)

But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions—it is by grace you have been saved.

And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, in order that in the coming ages he might show the incomparable riches of his grace, expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus. (Ephesians 2.4 – 7, ESV)

Very truly I tell you, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life and will not be judged but has crossed over from death to life. (John 5.24, ESV)