TwelveTwelve: The Leader Blog of North Wake Church

Photo by NEOM on Unsplash Have you ever heard the song “No Sleep ‘till” by the Beastie Boys? Some of us are old enough to remember it from its heyday. Others might remember it from the bridge scene in Secret Life of Pets, or others may know it from its recent use Guardians of the Galaxy 3 and The Super Mario Brothers Movie. Quick side note: I am not encouraging you to go listen to this song; not all of the lyrics are appropriate. But here is the thing: when this song comes on in a movie, it is always a war charge. Impossibilities lie ahead; determination drives the characters; a mission must be

Photo by Joel Muniz on Unsplash "Planting a Church" often involves trained pastors initiating relationships in an area lacking a healthy, established church. They begin by meeting with a core group of believers in a home for Bible study and prayer. Eventually, they secure a space for Sunday services with preaching and music, inviting others to join. This model, used by North Wake nearly 35 years ago, has brought people to know and worship God. But I want to pray and dream and hope for God to work in the traditional way I know and every other way! Jesus

In the first half of the 1990's I was a public high school history teacher and coach.  As a relatively new follower of Jesus myself, the classroom provided countless opportunities to invest into the lives of teenagers.  By God's grace, many of those young men eventually came to faith in Christ, some directly through my witness and others indirectly through those I was discipling.  After nearly six years of teaching, I sensed that God was calling me to cross-cultural missions.  So, after finishing my teaching contract, my wife and I moved to seminary to prepare for overseas ministry.  We rented  out

Photo by Kajetan Sumila on Unsplash   Read:  2 Tim 1:15-2:7 Paul’s concern in 2 Timothy 1 has been to prepare the Christians after him, represented by Timothy, to endure the suffering that often accompanies the faithful proclamation of the gospel. Without the Spirit of God, the assaults of men would indeed cause us to deny the Lord; but He has sent the Spirit to empower us to find honor in His truth (vv. 7, 14). In His unfathomable mercy, our Father chose to save us “before the ages began,” and we can trust this same mercy to vindicate us at

Photo by Hannah Busing on Unsplash This week, Jerry and I have entered into some hard things and hurts with some of those we love. We have sat with friends, talked with them on the phone, texted encouraging messages, shared podcasts, and drank coffee together. It seems that we keep turning around and finding that someone else we love and care for is hurting. And we want to fix it. We want to make it go away. We want to heal the pain, take away the disease, or enact justice and maybe a little revenge (more me than Jerry). But we can’t. We can’t protect them. We can’t stop

Photo by Patrick Tomasso on Unsplash The end of the matter; all has been heard. Fear God and keep his commandments, for this is the whole duty of man.  ~Ecclesiastes 12:13 In the story "The Prodigal Son," Jesus tells of a younger brother who took his share of the family wealth and went to explore the world. He experienced temporary happiness through the things he could buy but made no enduring friendships. He bought fun for a while but failed to realize he needed to buy a place to live. He lived off the fat of the land not realizing

Photo by MI PHAM on Unsplash   Read:  Ecclesiastes 11:9-12:8  "To you who boast tomorrow's gain, tell me...what is your life? A mist that vanishes at dawn..."   A little over a month ago, my oldest son stood before a group of about 200 people and made vows to a beautiful young girl that I now get to call my daughter-in-law.  It all happened in the blink of an eye.  I'm not referring to the ceremony or their engagement.  They've known each other since preschool.  I mean all of it.     As soon as Lindsay and I had adjusted to his infant

Photo by Jordan Christian on Unsplash Twenty-two years ago, on Sept. 11, 2001, I sat with a friend and asked if maybe I would be wrong to bring children into the world.  I had recently gotten married, and I wanted nothing more than to be home with babies.  But towers had tumbled and men, women, even children had died.  Perhaps the sorrows and terrors my children would face in their lives would be too much for them (and for me).  Maybe it was selfish of me to want babies to cuddle.  “Oh, Jett,” my friend said, “bringing babies into

Photo by Calvin Chai on Unsplash When my nephew was young, he had a game on his iPad called “Dumb Ways to Die.” I remember thinking, “This is a weird game for a child to play."  It has a catchy little song and in the game, beans die from strange accidents. While reading through Ecclesiastes 10:10-13 and seeing all the weird ways one could die (falling into a pit, being bitten by a snake, chopping yourself with an ax), I couldn’t help but think of the little song that went with the game. So I decided to look up the

Photo by Joanna Kosinska on Unsplash Again I saw that under the sun the race is not to the swift, nor the battle to the strong, nor bread to the wise, nor riches to the intelligent, nor favor to those with knowledge, but time and chance happen to them all. For man does not know his time. Like fish that are taken in an evil net, and like birds that are caught in a snare, so the children of man are snared at an evil time, when it suddenly falls upon them. -- Ecclesiastes 9:11-12 (ESV) We all want