Outside the Walls: Don’t Give Up

“Tell them not to give up. Those two young men need to hear the gospel.” I was on the streets of Paris. The two North Africa migrants the missionary was referring to were smoking a cigarette waiting on the metro. I watched him walk over, start a conversation in Arabic, and share with them the […]

Outside the Walls: Heartbeat of a Multiplying Church

I sat in a local church recently that was full and vibrant. The pastor stood up in front of the packed house and shocked me with what he said: “We need some of you to leave.” Those who were guests couldn’t believe their ears, but the locals knew what he meant. It was time to […]

Outside the Walls: Planting Seeds

“Come help me in the garden a minute.” When my dad ever said something was going to take a minute, you may as well pack a lunch. I would hear these words every year that it was time to plant and knew that it was an all-day affair. It wouldn’t be so bad if all […]

Outside the Walls: Engage the Enemy

“I don’t need a ride. I need more ammunition.” With these words, Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy turned down the offer by the United States government to be evacuated from his country in the initial days of a Russian invasion. Rather than retreat to a life of comfort and safety, he chose to risk his life […]

Outside the Walls: The Salvator Mundi

A worn-out antique painting hung in Basil Hendry’s old plantation style home in Baton Rouge for decades. His family would walk by it regularly and not pay much attention to it. Upon his death, no one in his family desired to have the old painting, so it was sold at an estate auction for around […]

Outside the Walls: Don’t Sneeze Your Dream Away

We were one sneeze away from never hearing about Martin Luther King Jr.’s dream. King describes the incident in his final speech. He was signing copies of his first book at 29 years old in Harlem, N.Y., when he heard a female voice ask him if he was Martin Luther King Jr. He was still […]

Outside the Walls: What’s Your Moonshot?

“We choose to go to the moon.” With these words from John F. Kennedy, the United States of America began an accelerated mission to put the first man on the moon. No one could fathom a man standing on the moon, but it came to reality on July 20, 1969. “This is one small step […]

Outside the Walls: An Orchard Lies Inside

Santa always fills my wife Leisa’s stocking with fruit and gives all the rest of us candy. He’s been doing that for her since she was a kid. The first year of marriage, he didn’t for some reason — but he hasn’t missed a year since. Who wants a big apple in your stocking when […]

Outside the Walls: Potluck — How Will We Be Known?

I work out with a group of middle-aged men who are reliving their glory days. Whenever a new member joins us, we give them a nickname to help us remember something about them. When they gave me my nickname, I told them that I worked with church leaders to help them advance the Great Commission. […]

Outside the Walls: Answering the ‘All Call’

It started out as a normal day. Genelle sat down at her desk and began to get to work, when the unimaginable happened. A plane, hijacked by terrorists, flew into the World Trade Center where she worked on the 64th floor. She began to evacuate. When she reached the 13th floor, she bent over to […]