Links & Quotes

May 13, 2023 — Craig T. Owens

Unhealthy leaders don’t admit their need for help, and as a result they put a lid on their leadership potential. Check out more of this message here. And be sure to check out all of my videos on my YouTube channel.

A prominent Chinese scholar, Dr. Wang Yun Wu (1888-1979), abandoned atheism in 1924 after he witnessed the miraculous healing of his sister’s eyesight. Dr. Wang later became Vice Premier of the Republic of China (Taiwan). Check out this miraculous story in the Pentecostal Evangel.

The Culture Translator weekly email from Axis had some helpful information for Mental Health Awareness Month.

What it is: May is mental health awareness month, making mental health and suicide prevention bigger topics than ever. #mentalhealthmatters has around 42 billion views on TikTok, and #mentalhealthawareness has racked up 20 billion.

Why the conversation is changing: The CDC’s Youth Risk Behavior survey showed that suicidal ideation, especially for teenage girls, is continuing on a concerning trajectory. In 2021, 30% of girls said that they had seriously considered suicide in the past year, and 24% said they had an actual plan to end their life. According to data published by Mental Health America, 16.4% of youth reported experiencing a major depressive episode within the last 12 months. This news comes at a time when adults are feeling so lonely that the US surgeon general has declared loneliness a public health emergency. Stigma around mental health topics appears to be eroding, but that isn’t necessarily leading to better mental health outcomes for teens and for the population at large.

Conversation Starter: What do you think are the biggest contributors to mental health issues for your generation? (Check out our new video series on Mental Health for more help having this conversation!)

One of the things contributing to the unhealthy mental state of many people (not just teens) is the negative impact of pornography. Fight The New Drug reports how watching porn hurts self-esteem.

“A pessimist is one who makes difficulties of his opportunities and an optimist is one who makes opportunities of his difficulties.” —Harry Truman

Is pain good or bad? Dr. Matthew Loftus makes the case that avoiding suffering undermines the role of medicine and also stunts our ability to feel and express compassion. Check out this full article and the thoughts John Stonestreet shared about them.

“What a sweetness lies in the little word ‘our’; how much is God’s glory endeared to us when we consider our interest in Him as ‘our Lord’ [Psalm 8:1].” —Charles Spurgeon, in Spurgeon and the Psalms

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Gut-Level Compassion

March 14, 2023 — Craig T. Owens

Listen to the podcast of this post by clicking on the player below, and you can also subscribe on Apple, Spotify, or Audible. 

I think the best-known verse in the Bible may be, “For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life” (John 3:16). This truly is amazing love! 

But on several occasions, the Gospel writers talk about the compassion of Jesus. This is a different word altogether. The root Greek word is “bowels.” To feel this kind of compassion means to feel it in your gut—to ache with the same pain that is afflicting someone else. 

But compassion means more than feeling the pain, it also means going into action to alleviate the pain. True compassion aches and then acts. 

Look at the compassion of Jesus—

  • He sees crowds of people “harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd.” His compassionate response is to pray for His Father to send more shepherds to these sheep (Matthew 9:36-38). 
  • He sees people plagued by diseases—paralysis, deafness, blindness, even death—and He places His hands on them and brings complete healing (Matthew 14:14, 20:34; Mark 1:41, 9:22; Luke 7:11-15). 
  • He notices hungry people and He feeds them (Matthew 15:32; Mark 8:2). 
  • He encounters confused people and He teaches them the illuminating truth (Mark 6:34). 

(Check out the above Bible verses by clicking here.) 

This word isn’t just used for Jesus, but we see His compassionate heart behind the gut-level response of others. See the Christ-like compassion in…

  • …a crushing, insurmountable debt completely forgiven (Matthew 18:21-27). 
  • …a Samaritan caring for an injured Jew (Luke 10:30-35).
  • …a prodigal father fully forgiving and restoring his wayward son to himself (Luke 15:11-24). 

(Check out the above Bible verses by clicking here.)

This kind of compassion is costly. It cost Jesus time to be alone, it cost the king, the prodigal father, and the Samaritan money to forgive a debt, lose an inheritance, and pay medical bills. But Christ-like compassion knows there is no greater reward than aching and acting like Jesus. 

Christ-like compassion must be extended in faith. Like touching someone with unclean disease, or fasting to receive power to release a loved one shackled to a heavy burden, or embracing someone who hurt me, or canceling a debt owed to me, or helping someone who despises me. When we ache and act like this, we show the love of God in irrefutable ways. Our selfless, Christ-like compassion paints a vivid picture for a skeptical world to see and embrace the love of God that sent His Son to ransom us.

Let’s make it our prayer that we would ache with the needs of the people around us, and then to move in faith-filled, Christ-honoring, selfless action to alleviate that need. Then let us believe that our compassion will show others the love of a Savior. 

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Poetry Saturday—I Stay Near The Door

March 26, 2022 — Craig T. Owens

Listen to the podcast of this post by clicking on the player below, and you can also subscribe on Apple, Spotify, or Audible.

I stay near the door.
I neither go too far in, nor stay too far out,
The door is the most important door in the world—
It is the door through which men walk when they find God.
There’s no use my going way inside, and staying there,
When so many are still outside, and they, as much as I,
Crave to know where the door is.
And all that so many ever find
Is only the wall where a door ought to be.
They creep along the wall like blind men.
With outstretched, groping hands,
Feeling for a door, knowing there must be a door,
Yet they never find it…
So I stay near the door.


The most tremendous thing in the world 
Is for men to find that door—the door to God. 
The most important thing any man can do 
Is to take hold of one of those blind, groping hands, 
And put it on the latch—the latch that only clicks 
And opens to the man’s own touch. 
Men die outside that door, as starving beggars die 
On cold nights in cruel cities in the dead of winter— 
Die for want of what is within their grasp. 
They live, on the other side of it—live because they have found it. 
Nothing else matters compared to helping them find it, 
And open it, and walk in, and find Him… 
So I stay near the door.




Go in, great saints, go all the way in— 
Go way down into the cavernous cellars, 
And way up into the spacious attics— 
In a vast, roomy house, this house where God is. 
Go into the deepest of hidden casements, 
Of withdrawal, of silence, of sainthood. 
Some must inhabit those inner rooms, 
And know the depths and heights of God, 
And call outside to the rest of us how wonderful it is. 
Sometimes I take a deeper look in, 
Sometimes venture a little farther; 
But my place seems closer to the opening… 
So I stay near the door.




The people too far in do not see how near these are 
To leaving—preoccupied with the wonder of it all. 
Somebody must watch for those who have entered the door, 
But would like to run away. So for them, too, 
I stay near the door.




I admire the people who go way in. 
But I wish they would not forget how it was 
Before they got in. Then they would be able to help 
The people who have not even found the door, 
Or the people who want to run away again from God. 
You can go in too deeply, and stay in too long, 
And forget the people outside the door. 
As for me, I shall take my old accustomed place, 
Near enough to God to hear Him, and know He is there, 
But not so far from men as not to hear them, 
And remember they are there too. 
Where? Outside the door— 
Thousands of them, millions of them. 
But—more important for me— 
One of them, two of them, ten of them, 
Whose hands I am intended to put on the latch, 
So I shall stay by the door and wait 
For those who seek it.  
‘I had rather be a door-keeper…’ 
So I stay near the door. —Samuel Shoemaker




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4 Ministries Of Healthy Churches

September 6, 2021 — Craig T. Owens 




Listen to the podcast of this post by clicking on the player below, and you can also subscribe on Apple, Spotify, or Audible.



In the Foreword to my book Shepherd Leadership: The Metrics That Really Matter, Dick Brogden observes, “God plucked David from the sheepfold. God chose a sheep to be a shepherd. And though we all are stupid sheep, when God plucks us out of obscurity to serve others, we can have the humble confidence for as long as we are asked to lead that God has chosen us. That confidence both faithfully drives us to our knees and fearlessly propels us against our giants. It is good to be a sheep; it is good to be an under-shepherd. Just remember you are stupid, chosen by the Wise One, and as long as you serve as a shepherd, you and your flock will be safe.” 


How true it is that all of us are sheep. The role of the shepherd is to care for the sheep and create a healthy environment for them. The role of healthy sheep is to reproduce more sheep. In this, both shepherds and sheep are ministers—we all minister to those God has placed around us. 


God calls all Christians to be ministers. The Church is the sheepfold that equips us, but then we must go out to minister in a way that will bring lost sheep to a personal relationship with Jesus. 


Our foundational truth statement about church ministry says: A divinely called and scripturally ordained ministry has been provided by our Lord for the fourfold purpose of leading the Church in evangelism, worship, sanctification, and compassion. 


(1) Evangelism. When we looked at the foundational belief about the Church, we noted that it’s not either-or—evangelism or discipleship—but it’s both-and. Christians are being the Church when they are intentionally living in a way that makes Jesus known (Matthew 10:1, 7-8; 28:18-20). 


(2) Worship. We shouldn’t have the mindset of, “Let’s go to church to meet with God.” Instead, we need to live in a way where we are always abiding in God’s omnipresence. This worship-centric lifestyle empowers our evangelism, changes our hearts, and fuels our compassion (John 4:23-24; Romans 12:1; Acts 2:46-47). 


(3) Sanctification. Remember that we are all in-process of becoming saints (I like to remember this by calling it saint-ification). We need each other to do this, which is why God gives gifts to bring out Christ-like maturity in us (Ephesians 4:1-7, 11-16). 




(4) Compassion. Compassion is feeling turned into action. This opens the door for evangelism, creates more opportunities for worship, and matures Christians (Mark 6:34-37; Luke 10:33; Acts 2:45).  


Notice that each of these ministries are interdependent with all the other ministries. 


In a blog post nearly 10 years ago, I questioned: “How do we know if our church is successful?”  The apostle Paul uses two words to help answer these questions: Quality and Faithfulness (1 Corinthians 3:13, 4:2). 


So here are two important questions we need to ask ourselves: (1) Am I doing quality work? (2) Am I faithfully doing my work? 


To help answer those questions, I like this thought from Leonard Sweet’s book I Am A Follower: “The most important metrics we must rely on, the crucial ‘deliverables’ we can present, must focus on the newly formed lives of the disciples we are making, the followers who are following Christ into a place of serving Him by serving others. The most important measure of our faithfulness to Christ must be the extent of transformation into the living image of Christ Himself. … The quantifiable fruit of our church is not found in the number of people we can gather on a weekly basis. What counts is what is happening in the lives of those who have gathered.” 


These are questions we should all ask the Holy Spirit to reveal to us: 


    

  • What is happening in my life? 
    • 

  • Am I telling others about Jesus? 
    • 

  • Am I worshipping God so consistently that everyone can see it? 
    • 

  • Am I maturating as a saint and am I helping other saints mature? 
    • 

  • Is my faith seen in my compassionate actions? 
    • 



Our individual answers to those questions will determine the success of our individual churches, which will ultimately determine the effectiveness of the global Church of Jesus Christ. I hope you will take some time to consider these questions for yourself. 




If you’ve missed any of the other messages in our series exploring our foundational beliefs, you can access the full list by clicking here.


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Podcast: Leaders And Friends

August 24, 2021 — Craig T. Owens 




On this episode of “The Craig And Greg Show” we talk about: 


    

  • some people wear the cliche “It’s lonely at the top” like a badge of honor, but it’s not [0:40] 
    • 

  • the best leaders are always developing new leaders [1:25] 
    • 

  • do people say, “It’s lonely at the top” because they don’t want others alongside them or because they don’t know how to develop people? [1:55]
    • 

  • some people are talented in leading but not talented in friending … what kinds of friends do leaders need? [2:52]
    • 

  • what are the differences and similarities between friends, peers, and colleagues? [4:57]
    • 

  • a huge leadership challenge in a new position or a new organization is quickly identifying your allies [6:00]
    • 

  • a teammates’ participation in team sports can give a leader great insights into that teammates’ leadership potential [7:00]
    • 

  • leaders that try to fly solo set themselves up for failure … what are the common traits of leaders who successfully raise up new leaders? [8:08]
    • 

  • Greg confesses a leadership mistake he had to correct in himself [9:20]
    • 

  • character is vital in emerging leaders [10:59]
    • 

  • compassion is valuable in emerging leaders [11:44]
    • 

  • consistency helps emerging leaders develop into solid leaders, and it helps the team leader to excel … great insight from Patrick Lencioni about being present [12:15]
    • 

  • teams must embrace diversity and find commonality [13:08]
    • 

  • I elaborate on Greg’s point about a leader’s presence and consistency [14:10]
    • 

  • the team leader has to take the initiative in identifying and raising up new leaders [15:47]
    • 

  • leaders need to continue to replenish themselves [17:22]
    • 

  • Greg shares a great leadership example from the life of Moses [17:50]
    • 

  • we are here to encourage you—check out information on our leadership huddles [18:20]
    • 

    • 



Check out this episode and subscribe on YouTube so you can watch all of the upcoming episodes. You can also listen to our podcast on Spotify and Apple.






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The Hiding Place (book review)

March 9, 2021 — Craig T. Owens 




Listen to the podcast of this post by clicking on the player below, and you can also subscribe on Apple or Spotify.



In The Problem of Pain, C.S. Lewis writes, “Suffering is not good in itself. What is good in any painful experience is, for the sufferer, her submission to the will of God, and, for the spectators, the compassion aroused and the acts of mercy to which it leads.” This sentiment was never more fully displayed than in the lives of the ten Boom family. Corrie ten Boom relates her story in The Hiding Place. 


The ten Boom family had lived in Holland for a couple of generations at the time the Germans occupied their country during World War II. Immediately, their family home and watch repair shop became a hub for underground resistance activity. But the start of this war was not the start of their compassionate activity in their city. The ten Booms lived out their Christian faith in tangible, compassionate ways every single day, and their neighbors reaped the benefits. 


The entire ten Boom family was actively involved in the efforts to protect at-risk people during the Nazi oppression of their country, including the elderly and sick, their Jewish neighbors, the mentally disabled, and the young men that were being pressed into duties to support the German war effort. As The Hiding Place progresses, the story begins to zoom-in on two sisters: Betsie and Corrie, especially their activities inside the German prisons and concentration camps in which they were imprisoned. 


The miracles that God performed for these women are too many to recount here, but it seems like hardly a page in the story passes before another miracle is seen. These Christian women took full advantage of each miracle and used them to continue to bring light and love into one of the most dark and hateful times in human history. Even after the war has ended and Corrie has returned to her Holland home, the ministry of healing, forgiveness, and reconciliation continued unabated through her tirelessly loving activities. 


The Hiding Place is truly a heroic tale! I highly recommend parents and grandparents reading it aloud to their children and grandchildren. May all Christians follow the example of the ten Boom family in finding ways to daily share the love of Jesus to their neighbors-in-need. 


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Poetry Saturday—Must I My Brother Keep?

February 20, 2021 — Craig T. Owens 




Listen to the podcast of this post by clicking on the player below, and you can also subscribe on Apple or Spotify.



Must I my brother keep,


And share his pain and toil;


And weep for those who weep,


And smile with those who smile;


And act to each a brother’s part,


And feel his sorrows in my heart?




Must I his burden bear,


As though it were my own,


And do as I would care,


Should to myself be done;


And faithful to his interests prove,


And as myself my neighbor love?




Then Jesus at Thy feet


A student let me be,


And learn as it is meet,


My duty, Lord, of Thee;


For Thou didst come on mercy’s plan,


And all Thy life was love to man.




Oh! make me as Thou art;


Thy Spirit, Lord, bestow—


The kind and gentle heart


That feels another’s woe.


May I be thus like Christ my Head,


And in my Savior’s footsteps tread! —Thomas Raffles




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12 Lessons From The Good Samaritan

January 29, 2021 — Craig T. Owens 




Listen to the podcast of this post by clicking on the player below, and you can also subscribe on iTunes or Spotify.



Dwight Moody was passionate about telling others how they could have a relationship with Jesus. In his book To The Work! he encourages other Christians to share this passion with him, and he counters any hesitations that Christians have to this work. Using the story Jesus told about the good Samaritan, Moody made these noteworthy observations: 


“Some people seem to think that all the world needs is a lot of sermons. Why, the people of this land have been almost preached to death. What we want is to preach more sermons with our hands and feet—to carry the Gospel to the people by acts of kindness. … 


“The Jews considered that the Samaritans had no souls; that when they died they would be annihilated. Their graves would be so deep that not even the sound of Gabriel’s trump would wake them on the resurrection morning. He was the only man under heaven who could not become a proselyte to the Jewish faith, and become a member of the Jewish family. …  


“You observe there are twelve things mentioned in the narrative that the Samaritan did. We can dismiss in a word all that the priest and the Levite did—they did nothing.


(1.) He ‘came to where he was.’ 


(2.) He ‘saw him;’ he did not, like the priest, pass by on the other side. 


(3.) He ‘had compassion on him.’ If we would be successful winners of souls we, too, must be moved with compassion for the lost and the perishing. We must sympathize with men in their sorrows and troubles, if we would hope to gain their affections and to do them good. 


(4.) He ‘went to him.’ The Levite went toward him, but we are told that he, as well as the priest, ‘passed by on the other side.’ 


(5.) He ‘bound up his wounds.’ Perhaps he had to tear up his own garments in order to bind them up. 


(6.) He poured in oil and gave some wine to the fainting man. 


(7.) He ‘set him on his own beast.’ Do you not think that this poor Jew must have looked with gratitude and tenderness on the Samaritan, as he was placed on the beast, while his deliverer walked by his side? All the prejudice in his heart must have disappeared long before they got to the end of their journey. 


(8.) He ‘brought him to an inn.’ 


(9.) He ‘took care of him.’ … 


(10.) When he departed on the morrow, the good Samaritan asked the host to care for him. 


(11.) He gave him some money to pay the bill. 


(12.) He said: ‘Whatever thou spendest more, when I come again I will repay thee.’ …  


“Do you want to know how you can reach the masses? Go to their homes and enter into sympathy with them; tell them you have come to do them good, and let them see that you have a heart to feel for them. When they find out that you really love them, all those things that are in their hearts against God and against Christianity will be swept out of the way.” 


To read my full book review of To The Work!, please click here. You can also check out some other quotes that I have shared from this book by clicking here. 






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Like Jesus Or Like “They”

March 5, 2019 — Craig T. Owens 




It’s amazingly sad to realize the devaluation the crowd puts on people who are different from them 😔


In Luke 18, the crowd devalued the blind man because he was poor and blind.


In Luke 19, the crowd devalued Zaccheus because he was rich and a tax collector for the Romans.


Both men—in the crowd’s jaded eyes—weren’t worth much to anyone.


But Jesus sees people so differently!


He was moved by compassion to heal the son of Timaeus of his blindness. He was moved by compassion to redirect the hostility of the crowd away from Zacchaeus and put it on Himself.


Jesus invited Himself to lunch at Zacchaeus’ house, and “when they saw it, they all began to grumble.” 


What will my response to be to the sick, the beggars, the rich, and the schemers when they want to come to Jesus? Will I (like Jesus) be moved by compassion to bring them close to Him? Or will l (like “they”) grumble about their unworthiness?


Will I be like Jesus or like “They”?






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God Knows Your Name

January 21, 2019 — Craig T. Owens 




Allow me to introduce myself in the Aramaic fashion—I am Craig bar Raymond. I am proud of my father and want my name to always be associated with his, so I remember my heritage by telling people I am Craig son of Raymond. 


If I wanted to be a little more formal I might introduce myself as Craig Bar Raymond Bar Colson, or even Craig Bar Raymond Bar Colson Bar Walker, to honor my forefathers back four generations. 


People took great pride in their family heritage. They wanted to keep their connection to their family and their tribe intact and known to those around them. It’s how they kept their standing in their community.


That’s why it’s odd that Luke—the premier historian that he is—introduces us to a man he simply calls “a blind man” in the city of Jericho. Luke was always so precise in mentioning names throughout both his Gospel and the Book of Acts, and it appears that this man does have a name. In the Gospel of Mark he is called Bartimaeus, and presumably Luke used Mark as one of his source documents. So why would Luke omit this guy’s name?


Keep in mind that “bar” simply means “son of,” so although Mark calls him Bartimaeus, his name is really something like “_________ son of Timaeus.” Is that because he was born blind and his parents didn’t even name him? Or was he thought so little of that people couldn’t remember his first name? Maybe it’s because Timaeus means unclean, defiled, polluted. So this blind beggar is really just the Anonymous son of Filth! 


This beggar is looking for alms in Jericho when he hears a commotion. He asks what is happening and is told, that Jesus of Nazareth is passing by. 


This man knows the reputation of Jesus, recalling that He has even opened blind eyes. Immediately he shouts, “Jesus, son of David have mercy on me!” Son of David is a title only used twice in the New Testament (also see Matthew 15:22), and both times by desperate people who wouldn’t take “no” for an answer. 


Actually, his phrase is in the form of a command, so he really says, “Jesus, son of David, have mercy on me NOW!” 


“Who do you think you are, you nameless beggar,” the townspeople rebuke him. “How dare you demand anything of anyone! Shut your mouth, you worthless piece of filth!” 


Undeterred, this man now raises his voice to a shriek and repeats, “JESUS, SON OF DAVID, HAVE MERCY ON ME NOW!” 


This shriek gets Christ’s attention and He stops dead in His tracks. He commands that this man be brought to him.


Check out the confidence this blind man shows—he throws his cloak aside to get to Jesus. Why is that significant? Because he’s blind! If he can’t see, how is he going to find his cloak again? Who would ever want to help him? 


Jesus asks him, “What do you want me to do for you?” He was testing him: did he want a hand-out? did he want revenge on the cruel people in Jericho? did he want to get back at his parents? 


He specifically prays, “I want to see.” Jesus is moved by compassion (Matthew 20:34) and says, “Your faith has made you whole.” The blind man immediately is healed! 


What was his faith that healed him? It was a loud, insistent, persistent, won’t-take-no-for-an answer, audacious request. The crowd said he was asking too much, but Jesus was moved to compassion by his insistence and boldness and answered his prayer. 


That community may have forgotten that man’s name. Maybe the blind man had even forgotten his own name. But God hadn’t! 


Jesus is moved by faith-filled, won’t-be-silenced cries for mercy. He wants to answer your specific requests. You aren’t an anonymous son or daughter of filth. You aren’t marginalized, worthless, or overlooked by your Heavenly Father. 


God knows your name. He knows your need. He is passing by. Cry out to Him again and again and again! When He answers your prayer, you are made whole and our Heavenly Father is glorified. 




Join me this Sunday as we continue to learn lessons for our prayer life from the bold pray-ers we find on the pages of the Bible. 






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