Why New Life Doesn’t Allow Members to Raise Funds for Mission Trips

Just recently I received four support letters from college students who are not members of New Life.  They are all planning to go on a mission trip this summer and they each needed to raise at least $3,000 if not more for their trip.  This is a lot of money. As I was making online contributions for them, various thoughts came to mind in regards to church and missions.  Why are they asking for money to go on a mission trip?  Why is it that their church is not taking care of them?  What will they learn and gain from participating in these mission trips? Many ...

Read More


House Church or Village Outings

New Life has come to a point where we can't just think about our own well-being. There are several churches that are looking to us for direction and guidance. And this is especially true among those churches whose pastors attended house church seminar and are committed to do house church ministry. In light of this, I would like to ask you to make Sunday corporate worship non-negotiable. When you are on vacation with your family, it is perfectly fine to worship at another church if you are outside of Houston. And if you are camping with your family in a remote place ...

Read More


Do not abuse social drinking

We have some members who are alcoholics. Some struggle a lot with alcohol and lose the battle repeatedly. Some, on the other hand, struggle but are making a courageous decision to stay sober each and every day as they rely on the power of the Holy Spirit through prayer and others holding them accountable. It is a beautiful thing! Due to the fact that we have members who are fighting against alcoholism, my stance on social drinking has been very firm especially for those who are serving in a leadership capacity: no drinking in public period! However, as I watched and ...

Read More


Helping other churches that are trying to do house church

We have many medical school students here at New Life. After four years of studying, they all have to apply and get matched to a residency program to get more practical training to become a full-fledged doctor. Some will stay in Houston but some will leave to go to other places for their residency. This past week, I heard from two members that they got matched to places in California. One is a shepherd and the other one is a core member in our Missions Team. A great loss for Texas but a great gain for California! From God's perspective, however, this could turn out to ...

Read More


Praying for You at the Praying Altars

In the Bible, we see pastors devoting themselves to God's word, prayer, equipping God's people and providing leadership to church. Therefore, prayer is one of my main responsibilities and I try to take it seriously. It also is one of my great joys in pastoral ministry. I routinely work about 60 hours a week and prayer takes up about 15-20% of my work hours. The rest is approximately divided up 35%, 30% and 15% in the order of God's word, equipping God's people and providing leadership to church. I use various things to pray for you. Using the prayer request form that I ...

Read More


How Many Evenings at Home a Week?

I subscribe to this quarterly journal called "Leadership Journal." In this issue, they are dealing with the topic of "Declutter." Bill Hybels was interviewed by two editors and they addressed the issue of simplifying your life to do all that God has called you to do. They also included an excerpt/story from the book Hybels recently wrote called "Simplify." I made copies of this and put one in each of our team leaders' mailboxes because I wanted them to read it with their wives. In this short story, Hybels talks about how he had decided to stay home four nights a week ...

Read More


Sydney, Chiang Mai and Surgery

By the time you read this, I will have left from IAH on my way to Sydney, Australia, arriving there on Monday morning.  It is a little more than a 20-hour flight including a two-hour layover in LA.  I am going there because Pastor Isaac Min, who attended our House Church Seminar for Pastors two years ago, asked me to come and speak at a joint retreat that he is part of.  In fact, he had asked me if I could come and speak in the beginning of 2014, but I couldn't go because of the multiple eye surgeries I had in 2013 as well as the process of recovering.  Pastor Isaac ...

Read More