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How is your marriage doing in quarantine? Marriage health can be challenging during “normal” times. But marriage health during 24-hour lockdown can become terminal if not made a priority. Relational stress has only been compounded by children’s homeschooling, financial fears and the demands of work from home.

Carolyn and I have made the health of our relationship a priority during challenging seasons of our marriage. But many of you know that wasn’t always true. We shared the story of our own struggle in an interview in our home a few years ago. I would encourage you as a couple to sit down together after the kids are in bed and take six minutes to watch this together. Click below, and take ten minutes after viewing to share with each other insights from our story that relate to your own relationship. We believe that God’s intention is for your marriage to thrive and not just survive. We are praying for your marriage health!

George Floyd was the unarmed black man who was handcuffed and pinned to the ground by four Minneapolis police officers on Monday, May 25. He can be heard pleading for his life for almost four minutes with an officer’s knee crushing his neck to the pavement. Bystanders can be heard on a video trying to get the officers to stop. Floyd’s last words were, “I can’t breathe,” while calling for his mother.

I work with a group of very bright students in an economically challenged neighborhood in the Cincinnati area. Those of us who have been born in white privilege are often blind to the challenges that children of color have growing up in a climate of fear. The emotional and psychological impact of racism is deeply ingrained in our culture.

Palm Sunday’s drive-through food drive at Ginghamsburg Church’s Tipp City Campus

A global pandemic. Near empty streets. Millions unemployed. Daily updates on new infections and mounting deaths. Passover and Easter celebrations in this holy season will have a much different meaning.

This Holy Week has me reflecting on the meaning of suffering. Why God? What did the Apostle Paul mean when he said, “I want to know Christ, yes, to know the power of his resurrection and participation in his sufferings…?” How can resurrection and suffering be part of the whole? Need I say that I would prefer the power of resurrection minus the suffering?

Here are a few of my reflections from my journal meditations this week:

Churches across the country are announcing the closing of in-house worship this coming weekend. Many are prepared for worship online, but most are not. The Governor of Kentucky has asked people to voluntarily not attend worship services for an indefinite period of time.  Our Ohio Governor Mike DeWine has exempted religious groups from his directive about meeting together in public gatherings, but he has encouraged people not to meet in groups larger than 100. No one knows how long or what impact this virus will have on public gatherings or the outcomes of its viral impact on public health.

Church attendance has been in decline for decades. One source published that only 4 percent of 18-35 year olds are actively participating in a Christian community. So, the question has been asked: if the responsible restrictions on public gatherings last for an extended period of time, what impact will it have on church participation?

Words have power! “The tongue has the power of life and death” (Prov. 18:21). The words that flow from our mouths have the power to create unity or division. Have you ever said or posted something that you wish you hadn’t? Words spoken can’t be taken back.

A friend recently told me about his family’s Thanksgiving Day dinner table “blow up.” The family was equally divided about the status of the current head of state as well as the nation’s political differences, so you can probably guess what the blow up was all about. An older brother, who had earlier given the Thanksgiving blessing, got up from the table and announced he would never return to his younger sibling’s house. The animosity will probably blow over eventually, but even when the words we speak may be forgiven, they are not easily forgotten.

12th century icon at Mt. Sinai (St. Catherine’s Monastery) / Wikimedia Commons

Three of Jesus’ disciples witnessed an unexplainable event on the mountain of Jesus’ transfiguration (Mark 9:2-7). I have to believe their life-altering experience wasn’t caused by the psychoactive plants and herbs used for many centuries in religious contexts for mind-altering experiences. Jesus’ appearance was “transformed in front of, and his clothes were amazingly bright.… Elijah and Moses appeared and were talking with Jesus” (verses 2, 4). A voice is heard coming from the covering of a cloud; “This is my Son, whom I dearly love. Listen to him” (verse 7).

Who are you listening to? A recent Pew Research Report found two-thirds of Americans are getting their news from social media. Ready for this? Facebook is the number one source, followed by Twitter, YouTube and Snapchat.

Tuesday evening’s State of the Union address was a painful demonstration of our country’s toxic divide. The President refused to shake the Speaker’s hand, and the Speaker tore up the President’s speech in a very visible display of anger. I must admit that my own tribe, the United Methodist Church, has failed to demonstrate a better way, as we are heading for a painful separation. Our behavior at last February’s special General Conference ended with police cars surrounding the building and police barricading doors.

Is it any wonder, according to Pew Research, that the numbers of nones (no religious affiliation) has grown from 15 percent in 2007 to 26 percent today? The percentage of nones is significantly higher among younger generations.

I am writing this in the midst of hot, angry debate, in what could end up being six days of opening statements in the third impeachment trial of an American President in American history. Sadly, many in the church parrot the angry, sharp partisan divide. So, who is right and who is wrong? Better yet, how should those who represent the Revolutionary Kingdom and have committed to follow the Rebel Jesus respond?

This interview clip from the DVD that accompanies my latest book, Revolutionary Kingdom, with Pastors Jacob Armstrong, Lisa Yebuah, Matt Miofsky and Rachel Billups contains some wisdom for response. Watch below.

(L to R) Matt Miofsky, Mike Slaughter, Rachel Billups, Lisa Yebuah, Jacob Armstrong

The meaning of the word “disciple” has been diminished through the centuries of church practice. Since Jesus first called his followers to go and make disciples of all nations, discipleship has been reduced to creedal affirmations rather than transformational practice. After 2000 years of church history Christian identity has become more formed around doctrinal distinctive and norms of morality rather than a relationship with the living Christ and commitment to his lifestyle. Our own practices have created more fans of Jesus than followers.

A new year brings fresh opportunities to assess, clarify and refine our priorities. In this first month of a new decade I am reviewing these critical practices with the folks in my coaching network. These three characteristics are essential for the success of both personal and corporate objectives. Every effective leader must have:

1. A clear PICTURE of where the organization needs to be in the future. Vision leads! Vision comes from leaders; it doesn’t come from committees. George Barna reminds us that leadership is based on the ability to see future possibilities and shape the environment to facilitate desired outcomes. Effective leaders are vision wombs. People commit to following visions, not institutional programs. Vision is a leader’s mental image that conveys where an organization needs to be in the future. Vision addresses WHY, WHAT and HOW. Vision is primarily right-brained and passionate. Vision evokes emotion. Goal setting and strategy development are the result of vision. The process does not precede vision. There are four characteristics of vision: clarity, urgency, importance and scale.