Five Important Contemporary Books on Spiritual Formation and Discipleship

In my message this past weekend at Eastbrook, "The Fruitful Life," I explored what it means to lead a fruitful life with God based in what we encounter in Psalm 1 and John 15. Amidst that message, I shared a basic framework for spiritual formation, or discipleship, that came from Dallas Willard. Reflecting on that …

Spiritual Tourists or Pilgrims?: Eugene Peterson from A Long Obedience in the Same Direction

Not too long ago, I was sitting with some of my staff in what feels like an altogether different universe from today. We were talking about the calling of the church and what it means to really do ministry. I shared with them this introduction from Eugene Peterson's masterful book, A Long Obedience in the …

Ten Ways Eugene Peterson Shaped My Pastoral Ministry

My first introduction to the work of Eugene Peterson was through one of my college roommates, who often read from Peterson’s paraphrase of Scripture, The Message. In his own idiosyncratic style, Peterson’s work with the words of Scripture helped me remember God’s word was a relational word to us here and now. Roughly five years …