Hope: "In These Trying Times"

My daughter, Kate, when slightly bothered, annoyed, or put-out by requests, has started saying in protest, “in these trying times.” She’s speaking in jest, but many of us feel her words. Right now, in America and around the world, we are living through “trying times.”

In the midst of it all, though, I am holding onto hope. My hope is not in American politics, world leaders, partisan striving, or even Christian leaders, but in God’s powerful work in the lives of women and men who are genuinely seeking transformation and the Kingdom. No time in my life have I been less optimistic in the organized church. But optimism is not a theological category. Hope is. I am hopeful because I know well many of the Christ-centered people who exist as the church and in the church.

This fall I will join many of those believers who, like me, are not optimistic (indeed many of us are despondent) about the American church, but hopeful that God is faithful and will bring beauty from our current ashes. In this season, I will speak more boldly, directly, and personally than ever before. This is no time to pull punches, bite my tongue, or wait for those empowered by deliberately slow-walking the needed Christian reformation away from White-Nationalism, gun-dolatry, racism, sexism, and misogyny.

Here’s where you can connect with me:

Teacher — Empower Your Relationships w/ the Enneagram — Online NOW

Guest Preacher — South Bend City Church, South Bend, IN, July 24

Guest Preacher — Christ Church of Oak Brook, Chicago, IL, August 7

Host — Post-Evangelical Collective, Denver, CO, October 11-12

Speaker — Craft and Character Preaching Conference, Phoenix, AZ, November 2-3

Host & Speaker — Agape Conference, Little Rock, AR, November 4-6