Tag Archives: spiritual formation

Ten Distinctives of Emotionally Healthy Preaching

I spent a good part of this week reflecting on more than twenty-five years of preaching as I spoke this morning at a Preaching Rocket conference here at New Life in NYC. Others, like Andy Stanley, have done an outstanding job describing the craft around preaching. My task was to consider the unique applications of emotional healthy spirituality to the preaching/teaching task. The following are the ten questions to which I return over in preparation my own sermons and work with our NLF Preaching Team: Am I contemplatively grounded in God Am I centered in myself? Am I allowing the text to intersect deeply with my family of origin? Am I preaching out of my vulnerability and weakness? Am I allowing the text to transform my spiritual journey? Am I surrendering to the birth, death, resurrection, and ascension process? Am I taking sufficient time to think through clear and pointed applications? Am I thinking. Read more.

Top Five Regrets of the Dying

What would your biggest regret be if this was your last day of life? Bronnie Ware is an Australian nurse who spent several years working in with the dying. She began to ask them their most common regrets at the end of their lives. Ware writes, “When questioned about any regrets they had or anything they would do differently,” she says, “common themes surfaced again and again.” And among the top, from men in particular, is ‘I wish I hadn’t worked so hard’. She recorded their dying epiphanies in a blog called Inspiration and Chai, which gathered so much attention that she put her observations into a book called The Top Five Regrets of the Dying. Here are the top five regrets of the dying that she discovered: 1. I wish I’d had the courage to live a life true to myself, not the life others expected of me. She notes: “When people realize. Read more.

"Getting Saved"

Geri shared the following out of a Conversations Journal article by Henry Cloud entitled “Getting Saved” at a recent NLF Marriage Leadership Meeting. Her goal was to help us refocus on the central themes of our spiritual formation for the ministry in 2012-2013. God wants to heal (i.e. save) us and the people we lead so that we can do the following: 1. Connect Deeply with God and Others. Emotional connection is central to life. The Trinity lives in unbroken communion and union. God exists, three in one, in an ongoing, unbroken relationship; He created us for the same. How are your emotional connections with God and your family? 2. Establish Boundaries. God is free from the ones He loves. He stands up to the ones He is in relationship with, and set limits when He is violated. He is free from being controlled by those He loves. For relational or psychological problems to. Read more.

Emotionally Healthy Preaching: Part 1

The following 25 points emerged out of multiple conversations between Rich Villodas and I around preaching in our context at New Life Fellowship Church. We have been noting how God has been coming to us through the preaching process. The following is the first of three parts on what we are learning about “emotionally healthy preaching.” They are not in order of importance. Remember: You are doing spiritual formation. Life change is our goal. Preach from grounded place of a contemplative (i.e. out of deep place of prayer). Be grounded in one text, referring to it often through the message. Do thorough exegetical work. Keep in mind the importance of silence and space in your preparation, adjusting your rhythms accordingly. You can’t do as many other leadership tasks. Embrace your limits. The text must change you first, both during and after the preparation. What is different in your life because of this sermon? Know. Read more.

Emotionally Healthy Deliverance!

For a number of years, in the early days of New Life Fellowship Church here in Queens, NYC. I was involved in driving demons out of people. Yes. Real demons. I didn’t seek it out. They simply began screaming out during services in the early years. In fact, there was a season in the early days of New Life’s history (from 1988-1994) that we had weekly meetings with people who had demons. It was exciting, exhilarating, exhausting. So we learned from the best deliverance ministries in North America at that time. However, something was clearly missing. They were “better” and “freer” for a while. Yet only for a while. Something was clearly wrong. Emotional health and contemplative spirituality filled in missing components in people’s spiritual formation.Yet it is rare to meet pastors/leaders who are contemplatives, who integrate the emotional components of discipleship, and who also embrace the need for driving out demons when needed.. Read more.

The Local Church and Monasticism… a Growing Learning Curve

We move our membership at NLF a few years ago to a Rule of Life in order to focus more clearly and succinctly on how we do spiritual formation. The commentary on our NLF Rule of Life can be read online. The image of our need for a “trellis” or structure to provide rhythm to our days and order to our lives has been immensely helpful. At the same time, we continue to look for ways to communicate our DNA and clarify the pathways to help people in our community move towards greater Christlikeness. The following reflect, of course, our local church and context. Any feedback is greatly appreciated. We call them the 5 M’s.(the values and foundations of NLF) Monastic – slowing down to be with God. Growth in this area includes learning about silence/solitude, Daily Offices/prayer, Sabbath-keeping, Scripture, the examen. Multiracial– bridging racial,cultural, economic and gender barriers. Growth here includes learning about. Read more.

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