TwelveTwelve: The Leader Blog of North Wake Church

Photo by Omer Nezih Gerek on Unsplash The Harvard Business Review reports about business trends and popular ideas. One of the most widely held is called the “First Mover Advantage.” Writing for HBR, Fernando Suarez and Gianvito Lanzolla describe how popular this idea is: Business executives from every kind of company maintain, almost without exception, that early entry into a new industry or product category gives any firm an almost insuperable head start. God, too, has a first mover advantage: He took the initiative to love us before we ever loved anyone and before we even knew what love

  Read: 2 Timothy 4:9-22   When Lindsay and I moved from Tennessee to Wake Forest, we knew no one.  We bought a beautiful little starter home in Flaherty and began to set up house for what we thought was only going to be a couple of years while I studied for my master's degree.  Two days after moving in, someone knocked on our front door.  I was greeted by a gangly, mop-headed guy who looked about my age. He was wearing a baseball hat, t-shirt, shorts, and flip-flops, and his name was Phud.     "Welcome to the neighborhood," Phud chirped.  "My wife and I just moved in a couple of

Photo by frank mckenna on Unsplash   In our study of 2 Timothy, we have come to the saddest part of the letter.  The part after which I imagine Timothy stopped reading for a moment.  Wait.  Did Paul really just say that?  Did my mentor and friend just tell me it is time for him to die?  Maybe Timothy had to read it again. In the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who will judge the living and the dead, and in view of his appearing and his kingdom, I give you this charge: Preach the word; be prepared in season and out of season; correct,

Photo by Johannes Plenio on Unsplash Read: 2 Timothy 3:14-17 Have you ever been to a sporting event? This could be any sporting event from kids at the soccer field to what I consider the ultimate sporting event: an SEC football game with a sold out stadium. Regardless of the size or the sport, at some point in the event someone (or lots of someones) almost always starts screaming, “Keep going! Go! Go! Go!!” Have you ever noticed that this does not happen when the player is standing still doing nothing? NO! This happens when the player is already doing something, and people want to encourage them to keep going, begging

Read: 2 Timothy 3:1-13 2 Timothy 3 is a difficult section of scripture to read. "But understand this," Paul writes, emphasizing that what he is about to say must be kept in mind. When difficult things must be known, we can thank God for bringing them to us. Father, help me to engage the ugliness of sin described in your scripture and be transformed. The Days of Fierce Trials Are Now Paul says, "In the last days," something will be happening. Those last days he discusses are now:  the time since the coming of Jesus. Jesus warns us not

Read: 2 Timothy 2:14-26 When Wise Pastors Choose to Say Less Article by David Mathis Pastors are teachers, and teachers can be talkers. Not all teachers, but many. Good teachers love to read and think; they amass knowledge and have opinions. Over time, they learn to formulate thoughts and choose words with greater ease — and it can become all too easy to just say something, when wisdom would be more guarded with words. The temptation for pastors to be talkers, and get sucked into endless triviality and frivolity, is no new trap. The apostle Paul saw it, and spoke to it repeatedly,

Photo by Elena Mozhvilo on Unsplash Remember Jesus Christ, risen from the dead, the offspring of David, as preached in my gospel, for which I am suffering, bound with chains as a criminal. But the word of God is not bound!  Therefore I endure everything for the sake of the elect, that they also may obtain the salvation that is in Christ Jesus with eternal glory.1 The saying is trustworthy, for: If we have died with him, we will also live with him;  if we endure, we will also reign with him; if we deny him, he also will deny us;  if we are faithless, he remains faithful— for he cannot deny

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