Barnabas File

We live in an amazing time.     We can share our ideas instantly in various forms with people around the world.   The challenge is being heard among all the different voices trying to do the same.   In Reach, Becky Robinson has provided an accessible, effective way to get our message out.  Whether your content is written, audible, visual, or in-person, Robinson provides a strategy for engaging with your potential audience.  Her approach is not a quick fix but one that requires commitment, discernment, intentionality, and clarity.  To make an impact, one must be willing to invest herself or himself to do the hard work.  The author has learned this from years to promoting her own work and that of other thought leaders.   The key ingredients that Robinson identifies are value, consistency, longevity, and generosity.  She shares practical, effective ideas to implement each aspect of the strategy, but at the hea...

Throughout the history of the church, men and women have stepped up to renew the church and stretch its ministry in new directions.   These are pathfinders, entrepreneurs, or pioneers who see new opportunities for Kingdom work and respond accordingly. Stephen, one of the first deacons in the church at Jerusalem, provides a good model of a true “thought leader,” one who moves things in a new direction. Although originally chosen as one “to wait on tables” or care for widows, Stephen had the ability and the opportunity to do much more than this simple task of service.  A servant leader in the best sense of the term, he was ready and willing to follow the leadership of the Spirit. In the descriptions of Stephen in the Book of Acts, a pattern is clear.  He was “ known to be full of the Spirit  and wisdom ” (6:3); “ a man full of faith and of the Holy Spirit” (6:5); and “a man full of God’s grace and power” (6:8).  There was a spiritu...