The Schooley Files

We've all heard the phrase, "The end justifies the means." Actually, I've more often heard the phrase, "The end doe...

Around 25 years ago, back when I was doing a lot of songwriting, I wrote a song that I played in youth groups, seminary talent shows, church...

Justin Lathrop has some great things to say about productivity. My paraphrase: quality, not quantity, is what counts. Focus, thought, and t...

Jamal Jivanjee has a good post on the Illuminate blog about one of our most powerful secret weapons. I won't spoil it by telling you w...

Recently I've been running up against a controversy of which I'd previously been blissfully ignorant: the supposed conflict between ...

Scot McKnight writes a good summary/review of Andrew Root's book The Relational Pastor: Sharing in Christ by Sharing Ourselves. I thin...

What must it have been like? You've been following him for the better part of three years. You've seen amazing things that no one...

Just reviewed Scot McKnight's The King Jesus Gospel on Goodreads . I'll adapt it into a fuller discussion of the supposed Paul vs. ...

Check out Jayson Bradley's 3 Reasons to Quit Criticizing the Church . Good stuff.

[Adapted from “The Point of It All” in What's Wrong With Outreach .] The typical model of how evangelism is supposed to work divides p...

The Marginal Christianity blog has a very interesting piece suggesting that Christianity in America is indeed under persecution--but not fro...

Roger Olson has recently written a passionate post entitled, " Have American Evangelicals Become Secularized? Some New Year’s Reflectio...

The following is adapted from "The Great Commission," in What's Wrong with Outreach . The Great Commission is one of the mos...

The Of Dust and Kings blog has a great article: " Divorce: Joseph and the Essence of Sacrificial Love." Here's a snippet: ...

Jamal Jivanjee has a great post on the Illuminate blog--not new, but I just stumbled onto it--called Missional Confusion & the Amway Go...

We can learn a lot about the problems of the contemporary church by examining a seemingly unlikely source: television news. Broadcast tele...

Check out this blog post: " Don't Believe this Church Growth Myth ." Excellent points. Dovetails nicely with "The Analogy...

Happy Thanksgiving, all! I have a new book out: What's Wrong with Outreach: Reexamining Evangelism, Discipleship, and the Purpose o...

Bob Mitton has an interesting post discussing the book Proof of Heaven in his latest blog post. Anyone who's read what I've written...

Twenty years ago today I sealed my fate. I had met Cecile two years earlier at a temporary job. We should have known one another less tha...