We’ve observed the past two days that pastors like to run the Sunday morning “play” with hymns, preaching, and Communion without necessarily giving thought to whether Sunday morning alone is sufficient or even primary for disciple-making. One brother, when he was the Minister of Discipleship of a large church often questioned the effectiveness of Sunday morning. Now, he’s the lead pastor of a small church, and doing Sunday is all he seems to have time for.

So there’s definitely inertia going for the traditional Sunday morning form, so much so that if a slight modification is considered, the response is “That’s Not Church!”

Sometimes, pastors themselves see no need for change other than to try to constantly improve the Sunday morning presentation. Why? Maybe because ALL their training and ALL their experience leads them in that direction.

On August 19, 2026, Sahil Bloom told this story:

In 2013, a group of researchers at the Visual Attention Lab, a collaboration between Harvard Medical School and Brigham and Women’s Hospital, asked 24 trained radiologists to ​review chest CT scans​ for the appearance of lung cancer nodules.

On the final scan, an image of a gorilla, 48 times larger than the average nodule, was inserted into the scan image. 83% of the expert radiologists (20 out of 24) failed to see it. More damning was the fact that eye-tracking data showed the majority of the radiologists who had missed the gorilla had actually looked right at it.

Sahil explained:

The radiologists weren’t blind. Their attention had just been specialized and refined over years of dedicated effort to find one specific thing. It worked exactly as designed for the task they were trained for. It found what they were looking for. But missed what they weren’t.

It’s called inattentional blindness. The term was coined in 1992 by cognitive psychologists Arien Mack and Irvin Rock to refer to the mental lapse where you fail to notice an unexpected event or object in view because your focus was trained on a specific task.

Inattentional blindness is the source of your internal gravity. Each year you spend narrowing in on one thing is a year that builds the gravity that blinds you to everything else. It’s a sort of gravity you never even feel. Because it’s not that the change feels too heavy. It’s that it never occurs to you in the first place.

You can’t choose a door you can’t see.

Chilling: “You can’t choose a door you can’t see.” The Pharisees and other religions leaders missed Jesus:

Jesus said, “For judgment I came into this world, that those who do not see may see, and those who see may become blind.” Some of the Pharisees near him heard these things, and said to him, “Are we also blind?” Jesus said to them, “If you were blind, you would have no guilt; but now that you say, ‘We see,’ your guilt remains. (John 9.39 – 41, ESV)

When the large crowd of the Jews learned that Jesus was there, they came, not only on account of him but also to see Lazarus, whom he had raised from the dead. So the chief priests made plans to put Lazarus to death as well, because on account of him many of the Jews were going away and believing in Jesus. (John 12.9 – 11, ESV)

Why did they miss Jesus? Because they were looking for a different kind of Messiah. Why do some pastors miss disciple-making, at least the kind of disciple-making that involves skills training and character transformation? Because disciple-making doesn’t fit the Sunday morning model, and they can’t see it.

If you’re a pastor and you don’t have my book That’s Not Church!, write to me, and I’ll give you a copy. You don’t even have to read all of it: it’s filled with standalone blogs from The Ewellogy.

If you’re a (lay) church leader, don’t force your pastor to spend all his or her time on the Sunday morning service. Encourage your pastor to get in touch with me or someone from Navigator Church Ministries to get some coaching on how to add some new plays to the playbook.

He handed out gifts of apostle, prophet, evangelist, and pastor-teacher to train Christ’s followers in skilled servant work, working within Christ’s body, the church, until we’re all moving rhythmically and easily with each other, efficient and graceful in response to God’s Son, fully mature adults, fully developed within and without, fully alive like Christ. No prolonged infancies among us, please… (Ephesians 4.11 – 14, MSG)

PS The gorilla is black and near the top of the right-side dark gray area.

PPS Dolly Parton passed away yesterday at the age of 80.

The country music legend combined great talent with gratitude, generosity, humility, and good humor. Erica Andersen, “Dolly Parton’s Legacy,” published by World Magazine, August 26, 2026.

The only thing I would add to Erica’s tribute is that she was married to the same man, Carl Dean, from 1966 until his death last year. Nearly 60 years, quite an accomplishment and an inspiration for us all.

Yesterday, I reacted to an essay which argued for pastors being faithful running Sunday morning, likening it to a football team’s successful play:

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.

That would be fine except the mission of the church is to “equip the saints for works of service” (Ephesians 4.11, 12), and one duty of pastors is to train “reliable people who shall teach others also” (2 Timothy 2.2). A pastor friend of mine used to say, “We can’t put all the weight of the church’s mission on the Sunday morning service. It can’t carry it all.” Amen.

My friend and Navigator colleague Ron Bennett has written a marvelous little book: Intentional Disciplemaking: Cultivating Spiritual Maturity in the Local Church. He explains that if our objective is making disciples, we need more than the Sunday morning service. He likens the process to golf: you can’t put the ball in the hole with just the driver. You need…

• a Driver: the Sunday morning service – worship and celebration
• the Long irons: mid-size groups (20 – 70 people) – community
• the Short irons: small groups (3 – 12 people) – training
• a Putter: one-to-one – in-depth training/mentoring

To go back to “the play” analogy, football teams have more than one. Moreover, to run that play (or any play) requires individual disciplines, training, and practice.

This is not rocket science, but many pastors seem to have trouble getting beyond the Sunday morning service as their primary ministry method. Why? Stay tuned.

Him we proclaim, warning everyone and teaching everyone with all wisdom, that we may present everyone mature in Christ. (Colossians 1.28, ESV)

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)