Recently I went through a Cardiac Computed Tomography(CT) Scan.   Sounds complicated, but really it is not!   Doctors used x-rays to take a bunch of detailed pictures of my heart, just to see how healthy my heart is.   Soon I will meet with a cardiologist to discuss the results of this scan. Every year I meet with many churches to discuss their health.   They too have gone through a scan.   In fact, over 1/3 of all CRCA churches...

Making disciples has always been a hot topic for me.  David Watson's book on world-changing discipleship, Called and Committed, changed my thinking back in the early 1980's, and in many ways, set the direction for my life's journey as a Christ-follower, a husband, father, and minister of the gospel.   Since then my library shelves have filled with countless other books on discipleship.   Did I really need to have one more? I couldn't resist when I...

Have you heard of Cardinal Borromeo?   A story is told by Abraham Kuyper when he gave the Stone Lectures at Princeton Theological Seminary in 1898.   A 16 th century plague had ruined the Italian city of Milan, and as the story goes, Cardinal Borromeo bravely stayed in that city to feed and pray for those who were dying.   Kuyper admired this Cardinal’s piety, but he admired John Calvin even more: During the plague, which in...

Water currents affect weather patterns. A clear example is an El Nino. When the central and eastern tropical Pacific Ocean become substantially warmer than average this causes a shift in atmospheric circulation. For Australia this means that 2015 will shape up to be one of the hottest years on record. Weather pattern bringing drought and bushfires is expected to reach full force by Christmas. New currents are also happening with the CRCA SWIM mission in...

In the CRCA we talk lots about church health.   It has been stated that healthy churches are growing churches.  But is this true?   If a church is healthy, does that means that we will see growth?   And what kind of growth are we referring to?   Growth in numbers?   Growth in spiritual vitality?   Growth in gospel impact?   Peter Smit has been engaged as a church planter in Baldivis, a growing suburb south of Perth in Western Australia.   I asked him about the correlation...