# Jeremy Kuehn — Full Writing Archive > Complete public articles by Jeremy Kuehn, Lead Pastor of Bella Vista Assembly of God in Bella Vista, Arkansas. This file provides the full text of the site's published articles for AI systems and research tools that can use a single Markdown resource. Individual article URLs are canonical and should be used for citations and links. Articles are reflective pastoral writing, not individualized pastoral, medical, legal, financial, or mental-health advice. For a concise site guide, see https://jeremykuehn.com/llms.txt. For the canonical URL inventory, see https://jeremykuehn.com/sitemap-index.xml. ## Pastoring a Church in a Rapidly Growing Northwest Arkansas Canonical URL: https://jeremykuehn.com/blog/pastoring-church-rapidly-growing-northwest-arkansas/ Published: August 12, 2026 Author: Jeremy Kuehn Topics: Church Leadership, Growth, Discipleship, Mission Four realities churches in rapidly growing communities must wrestle with: strain, discipleship, culture, and helping new people find purpose and belonging. I have the unique privilege of pastoring in Bella Vista, Arkansas, a community experiencing explosive growth in just about every direction. Tourism is growing. Business is growing. The trail systems are growing. The number of Dollar Generals on every corner seems to be growing. And, of course, the population is growing. Northwest Arkansas is home for me. With the exception of four years Dawn and I spent in Lincoln, Nebraska, I’ve lived here my entire life. If you're from Lincoln and reading this, know that we treasure the years we spent with you. Because Northwest Arkansas has been home for so long, I’ve had a front-row seat to its transformation. Sometimes that growth excites me. Other times I wish it were 2003 again. But growth, like most things, brings both opportunities and challenges. And as a pastor, I've been thinking a lot about what it means to lead a church in a community that refuses to stand still. Here are four realities I think churches in growing communities have to wrestle with. ## 1. Growth Creates Strain Growth sounds great until you experience it. New levels are often chaotic at first because the systems that worked at one size don't necessarily work at the next. Think about school. You learned your ABCs in kindergarten, but nobody expected you to graduate high school knowing only your ABCs. What got you started wasn't enough to finish. Churches aren't that different. As a community expands and a church reaches more people, questions begin surfacing that didn't matter before. Do we add services at times that better serve our community? Do we eliminate something we've always done so we can focus our energy somewhere else? Do we hire positions the church has never needed before—maybe an operations director or someone focused on events? How does the lead pastor continue caring for people personally when there are more hospital visits, counseling needs, meetings, and decisions than one person can reasonably handle? Those are organizational questions, but for a church they must begin as prayer questions. Growth isn't simply about figuring out how to do more. It's about discerning what God has actually called us to do. One of the worst responses to growth is believing you have to become all things to all people. In fact, I think the opposite is often true. **As you grow, you may need to become more focused, not less.** I've written before about [the principle of convergence](/blog/principle-of-convergence-leadership-focus/) and the importance of directing limited energy toward the things that matter most. Growth makes that principle even more important. The goal isn't to do everything. It's to do the right things increasingly well. ## 2. A Growing Church Still Has to Make Disciples There is another danger that comes with pastoring in a rapidly growing community: It's possible to confuse population growth with church health. If thousands of people are moving into your community, you can fill more seats without necessarily becoming more effective at making disciples. And it is possible to fill the seats of a church without filling heaven. If we're going to strain for something, I want us to strain for spiritual depth. That requires an unapologetic commitment to discipleship. A growing church has to continually ask whether people are simply attending or actually becoming more like Jesus. Are people praying? Are they reading Scripture? Are marriages becoming healthier? Are people serving others? Are they sharing their faith? Are they learning to hear and obey the voice of God? Attendance matters because people matter. But attendance is the beginning of the question, not the end of it. The mission of the Church is not simply to gather a crowd. It's to make disciples. ## 3. New Faces Make Culture More Important Growth brings new people. New people bring new ideas, experiences, expectations, and backgrounds. That's an incredible opportunity, but it also means a church has to understand its culture. Culture isn't what you put on the wall. **Culture is what people think when your name appears on their phone, when they see your church on Facebook, or when they drive past your building.** It's the accumulated experience people have with you. That makes a clear, Christ-centered mission incredibly important in a growing community. At the same time, a strong culture shouldn't be afraid of new ideas. Culture isn't necessarily **what** you do. It's **how** you do it. Programs can change. Methods can change. Staffing structures can change. Service times can change. Mission and values provide the stability that allows those things to change without the church losing its identity. And in a rapidly growing community, change isn't entirely optional. Here's a simple way I've been thinking about it: If your community grows by 10 percent and your church grows by 5 percent, you grew—but you also lost ground relative to the community around you. That doesn't mean every church should chase attendance numbers. It does mean we should pay attention to the mission field God has placed around us. ## 4. People Want Purpose, Not More to Do I've yet to meet the person who says, "You know what my life needs? More stuff to do." Most people already have plenty. Jobs. Kids. Sports. Appointments. Home projects. Responsibilities. What people are searching for isn't another obligation. It's purpose. I don't believe people simply join churches. They join a community pursuing a mission they believe matters. There's a concept in social science called **collective efficacy**. Put simply, it's the shared belief among a group of people that their efforts can actually affect an outcome. I think churches experience something similar. There's something powerful about being surrounded by people who genuinely believe: **God is doing something here, and I get to be part of it.** That means churches can't simply ask people to attend. We have to give people meaningful opportunities to become the hands and feet of Jesus. Serve someone. Pray for someone. Teach a child. Disciple a teenager. Welcome a stranger. Feed someone who is hungry. Tell someone about Jesus. Use the gifts God has given you for something larger than yourself. A growing community creates almost unlimited opportunities for this kind of ministry. Our job isn't simply to keep people busy. It's to help them discover where they fit into the mission. ## Growth Requires a Clear Path From Guest to Mission All of this leads to one final challenge I've been thinking about. A church in a growing community has to pay attention to what happens when someone new walks through the doors. When new people are constantly moving into Northwest Arkansas, churches will continually encounter people searching for relationships, community, and a church home. But showing up once isn't the same as belonging. Churches need a simple, understandable path that helps someone move from: **First-time guest → relationship → discipleship → serving → mission.** It doesn't have to be complicated. In fact, it probably shouldn't be. But it does need to exist. Without a clear path, a growing community can produce a revolving door of visitors. People come once or twice, have a positive experience, and quietly disappear. The opportunity isn't simply getting more people through the doors. It's helping people put down roots. ## Pastoring Where Everything Is Growing Northwest Arkansas isn't the same place it was when I was growing up. Bella Vista isn't the same place it was even a decade ago. And that's okay. I can appreciate what this place has been while also being excited about what it's becoming. For churches, that growth brings pressure. It requires new systems, greater focus, a stronger culture, meaningful opportunities to serve, and a clear path toward belonging. But underneath all of those things, the mission hasn't changed. We still want to reach people. We still want to make disciples. We still want to help people become more like Jesus. The community around us may be changing quickly. Our challenge is figuring out how to faithfully pursue an unchanging mission in the middle of it. --- ## Why I Created Exlectio Canonical URL: https://jeremykuehn.com/blog/why-i-created-exlectio/ Published: August 6, 2026 Author: Jeremy Kuehn Topics: Exlectio, Church Technology, Sermons, Ministry, AI I created Exlectio to help churches preserve the sermons they already work hard to create and make them useful long after Sunday. I preach a sermon every week. Like most pastors, a lot goes into those messages before anyone ever hears them on Sunday morning. There are hours of reading, studying, thinking, praying, writing, rewriting, and trying to figure out how to communicate something clearly. Then Sunday comes. You preach the sermon. And then Monday comes. For years, Monday usually meant that sermon manuscript went into a folder on my computer. I might come back to it someday. I might remember a story or illustration from it. I might even preach from the same passage again years later. But for the most part, something I had invested hours creating had a useful life of about 35 minutes. That started bothering me. Not because I think every sermon I preach deserves to be immortalized. Trust me, I've preached enough to know better. It bothered me because I started asking a different question: **What if the sermon didn't have to stop being useful when Sunday ended?** That question eventually became [Exlectio](https://exlectio.com/). --- ## We Already Did the Hard Part Churches create an enormous amount of teaching. Think about what happens over the course of a year. A pastor may preach 40, 50, or more messages. Add Wednesday nights, other pastors and teachers, special services, conferences, and additional teaching environments, and a church can produce a substantial body of biblical teaching every year. We already did the hard part. We studied it. We prayed over it. We wrote it. We preached it. But what happens to all of that material afterward? For many of us, the answer is surprisingly simple: **it goes into a folder.** Mine certainly did. I had folders organized by sermon series, dates, books of the Bible, and whatever organizational system made sense to me at the time. The sermons were technically preserved, but they weren't particularly useful. There is a difference between **storing something** and **being able to use it**. That difference is the problem I wanted Exlectio to solve. --- ## From Sermon Folder to Sermon Library Imagine someone in your church remembers that you preached about forgiveness a year and a half ago. Can they find it? What if a small-group leader wants to see what the church has taught through Romans? What if a future staff member wants to understand how your church has historically taught on marriage, generosity, discipleship, prayer, or the Holy Spirit? Or maybe the problem is much simpler. You vaguely remember an illustration you used three years ago, but you have absolutely no idea which sermon it was in. Those are very different problems than simply asking, *"Did I save the file?"* I wanted to be able to search the teaching our church had already created. That's why one of the foundational ideas behind Exlectio is turning sermon manuscripts into a searchable library. Sermons can be organized by Scripture, topic, series, speaker, tags, and keywords. Instead of accumulating files, the church begins building a body of teaching that becomes more valuable as the library grows. Over five years, that's significant. Over ten years, even more so. --- ## Preserve the Original, Improve the Working Copy There was another problem I wanted to solve. I wanted the convenience of having a clean, readable sermon in the library without sacrificing the manuscript I actually preached. Those aren't always the same thing. If you've ever looked at a preaching manuscript after the sermon is over, you probably know exactly what I mean. A manuscript designed to help someone preach might contain shorthand, stage directions, incomplete sentences, reminders, illustrations written only well enough to jog the pastor's memory, or formatting that makes perfect sense behind a pulpit but not six months later. So Exlectio preserves the original PDF or DOCX file while also creating an editable working copy. That distinction matters to me. **The original remains the original. The working copy can become something more useful.** And that's where AI enters the picture. --- ## Where I Think AI Actually Helps I didn't build Exlectio because I wanted AI to write sermons. I built it because I saw places in the work surrounding a sermon where AI could save time without replacing pastoral judgment. One of those places is cleaning up a preaching manuscript. Exlectio can use AI to take the manuscript a pastor already created and produce a cleaner, more readable working draft. But I intentionally didn't want that process to end with AI. A person reviews the result, edits it, and decides what is actually approved. That distinction is important. I'm interested in AI as a tool. I'm much less interested in handing theological judgment over to it. AI can help clean up formatting. It can help make a spoken manuscript easier to read. It can help organize information and reduce some of the repetitive work surrounding content a pastor has already created. But the church should remain responsible for what the church publishes. That's why nothing in Exlectio automatically becomes public simply because AI touched it. There is a human review process and intentional publishing controls built into the workflow. **AI assists. People approve.** That's the model I wanted for my own church, so that's the model I built. --- ## What Else Could the Sermon Do? Once I started thinking about sermons this way, another question became obvious. **What else could we do with something we've already created?** Small groups were one of my first answers. A church shouldn't necessarily need to start from a blank page every week to create discussion material related to Sunday's message. The sermon already contains the Scripture, central idea, theological framework, illustrations, and applications. So Exlectio can use that sermon to help create an editable small-group discussion guide. Again, the word **editable** matters. The goal isn't to have AI pastor the small group. The goal is to give the pastor or ministry leader a useful starting point that can be reviewed, adjusted, and then handed to leaders. That means the work invested in preparing one sermon can continue serving the church during the week. And that gets at the larger idea behind Exlectio: **Get more ministry value from work the church is already doing.** --- ## From My Computer to the Church Eventually, I realized I didn't just want a better private sermon archive. I wanted our church to be able to use it. Exlectio allows a church to choose sermons from its internal library and publish them into a public sermon library. That library can also be embedded directly into the church's existing website. The important word there is **choose**. Not every note needs to be public. Not every draft should be public. And not everything we've ever preached necessarily needs to live on the Internet forever. The church decides what gets shared. But the things we *do* want to make available can become part of an organized resource for church members, visitors, small-group leaders, staff, and whoever comes after us. That's something I particularly like thinking about. A sermon library isn't only about preserving what happened last Sunday. **It can become part of the institutional memory of a church.** Imagine a new pastor or staff member arriving five years from now and being able to search the teaching history of the church. Imagine a small-group leader finding a sermon from three years ago that addresses exactly what their group is discussing. Imagine a church member studying a passage and discovering that their pastor taught through it two years earlier. The sermon was already preached. The work was already done. Exlectio simply helps make that work useful again. --- ## Building Something for the Way Churches Actually Work I also knew this couldn't just work for one pastor sitting at one computer. Church ministry is collaborative. An administrative assistant may upload something. A pastor may edit it. Another staff member may organize a series. Someone responsible for discipleship may work on a small-group guide. Passing Word documents around by email isn't a great system for that. So Exlectio uses a shared church workspace where owners and editors can work together in the same sermon library. Sermons and small-group guides can also be exported as PDFs when something needs to be printed, emailed, or distributed outside the system. None of these features are particularly valuable simply because they are technologically impressive. **They're valuable if they remove friction from ministry.** That's the test I keep coming back to as I build this. You can [see how Exlectio works](https://exlectio.com/features/) if you want a closer look at the workflow and features. --- ## The Bigger Idea I'm a pastor who also happens to enjoy building things with technology. Exlectio came out of those two worlds colliding. I didn't start with the question, *"What can I build with AI?"* I started with a folder full of sermons. Those files represented hundreds of hours of study, prayer, writing, and preaching. And yet most of them had essentially disappeared from the life of the church after the Sunday they were preached. I don't think they have to. What if Sunday's sermon helped guide a small group on Wednesday? What if someone searching for help with grief discovered a sermon their pastor preached three years ago? What if a new staff member could search years of teaching instead of digging through old folders? What if the next generation of leaders inherited an organized library of what their church had taught? That's what I want Exlectio to help churches build. Not more content for the sake of content. Not AI replacing pastors. Not another complicated piece of church software. Just a practical way to take something churches are already investing deeply in every single week and make it useful for longer. **Sunday's sermon shouldn't have to end on Sunday.** That's why I created Exlectio. --- ## The Principle of Convergence Canonical URL: https://jeremykuehn.com/blog/principle-of-convergence-leadership-focus/ Published: June 2, 2026 Author: Jeremy Kuehn Topics: Leadership, Focus, Organizations, Growth, Productivity The most effective people and organizations are rarely those attempting to do the most things. They are the ones who have learned to direct their energy toward what matters most. Several years ago I decided I wanted to run a sub-five-minute mile. The problem was that I wasn't really training for a sub-five-minute mile. I was training for a sub-five-minute mile, mountain biking on recovery days, and chasing a handful of other fitness goals at the same time. On paper, every activity looked productive. In reality, they were competing with one another. My legs never fully recovered. My progress stalled. Eventually, a friend who had already accomplished what I was trying to do told me something simple and direct: > "If you want to get faster, you're going to have to become more focused." At the time I thought he was talking about running. Looking back, I think he was talking about life. The older I get, the more I notice that highly effective people share a common trait. They are not necessarily smarter. They are not always more talented. They are rarely the busiest people in the room. What separates them is that their energy converges. --- ## Focus Is an Act of Exclusion Most people think focus is about paying attention. I think focus is more about deciding what not to pay attention to. Every act of focus is simultaneously an act of exclusion. To focus on one thing is to intentionally neglect something else. That sounds restrictive, but it is actually liberating. Without focus, every opportunity feels urgent. Every request feels important. Every new idea competes for attention. With focus, decisions become clearer. A nonprofit organization drilling water wells in Africa exists to provide clean water. Every meeting, budget discussion, hiring decision, and strategic conversation eventually returns to the same question: Does this help us provide clean water? The moment the organization loses sight of that question, energy begins to scatter. > "Not every good thing deserves equal attention." The people who create unusual impact seem to understand this instinctively. They have learned that effectiveness is not determined by how many things they can hold onto. It is determined by what they are willing to let go of. --- ## The Principle of Convergence Most people assume growth means expansion. More opportunities. More projects. More commitments. More responsibilities. Yet I have become convinced that growth often works in the opposite direction. As we mature, our energy should not merely increase. It should converge. Think about a campsite. Imagine someone building six small fires around the perimeter. Each fire produces a little warmth. Each consumes wood. Yet the camper never becomes truly warm. Now imagine gathering every log into a single fire pit. The amount of wood has not changed. The energy has. > "Concentrated energy produces a different result than scattered energy." The same principle applies to people. Many of us spend years dividing our attention among dozens of worthwhile pursuits. We become involved in everything but exceptional at very little. The people who create unusual impact gather the logs. They identify what matters most and continually return their energy there. I have never seen this more clearly than in a labor and delivery room. For much of the process, activity appears relatively ordinary. A nurse moves in and out. A physician checks in periodically. Family members wait. Time passes. Then delivery becomes imminent. Suddenly people begin appearing from everywhere. Nurses, doctors, technicians, and specialists converge on a single objective. Every person has a role. Every action serves the same outcome. For a brief moment, dozens of individual efforts become one coordinated effort. That is convergence. --- ## Why Organizations Drift The same principle applies to organizations. Every organization begins with a mission. Over time, however, new opportunities emerge. New departments form. New priorities compete for attention. What began as a focused effort can slowly become fragmented. In the church world there are countless legitimate areas that require attention. Worship. Children's ministry. Student ministry. Production. Facilities. Administration. Every one of them matters. The danger appears when individual teams begin to see themselves as the destination rather than contributors to the destination. When that happens, convergence disappears. What replaces it is fragmentation. Healthy organizations continually return to the same question: What are we actually trying to accomplish? When that question remains clear, every team understands its role. The worship team serves the mission. The children's ministry serves the mission. The production team serves the mission. > "The mission becomes the point of convergence." When that happens, something powerful emerges. The efforts of many people begin moving in the same direction. What we often call momentum is frequently nothing more than focused energy moving toward a common goal. --- ## Move To, Through, and Away Years ago, while working in industry, I learned a surprisingly useful principle from OSHA. The standard dealt with something as mundane as doorways. People should be able to move to, through, and away from them safely. Simple enough. Yet I have found the same framework useful when thinking about leadership and organizational effectiveness. Can people easily move to us? What happens when they move through us? What do they walk away with afterward? Every organization answers those questions whether it intends to or not. In church life, for example, many congregations spend tremendous energy trying to get people through the front door. They invest in marketing, events, social media, signage, and invitations. Those things matter. But what happens once someone arrives? What if our efforts converged on helping people move to, through, and away from the church in a meaningful way? What if every interaction was designed to help someone feel seen, valued, and connected? Imagine a first-time guest leaving with a clear sense that they mattered. Imagine a family driving home thinking: > "When do we get to come back?" That kind of experience is rarely accidental. It is the product of focused effort. --- ## Gather the Logs At some point every person and every organization must decide what effect they want to have on the world. Not everything deserves a yes. Not every opportunity deserves your best energy. Not every good thing is the best thing. The most effective people and organizations are rarely those attempting to do the most things. They are the ones who have decided what matters most and have the discipline to keep returning to it. > "Growth should increase depth of impact, not merely breadth of activity." Focus is the discipline that gathers scattered energy and directs it toward meaningful work. Without it, effort disperses. With it, momentum begins to build. So gather the logs. The warmth will take care of itself. --- ## Why the Blog Has Been a Little Quiet Lately Canonical URL: https://jeremykuehn.com/blog/homelab-journey-blog-update/ Published: May 29, 2026 Author: Jeremy Kuehn Topics: Technology, Homelab, Learning, Personal Growth, Leadership A quick update on my homelab journey, what I’ve been learning, and why the blog has been a little quieter lately. If you've noticed that the blog has been a little slower than usual, you're not wrong. Over the last several months, a surprising amount of my spare time has been spent on something that might sound a little strange: **Building a homelab.** For those unfamiliar with the term, a homelab is essentially a small server environment that runs out of your home. Think of it as a miniature data center where you can host applications, learn new technology, experiment with ideas, and build projects without relying on outside services. For me, it started as a way to sharpen my technical skills. Over the last few years I've developed a growing interest in software development, web applications, networking, and automation. What began as a few simple projects eventually turned into a desire to understand how everything works together. Instead of renting servers somewhere else, I wanted to learn how to build and manage the infrastructure myself. So I started tinkering. One project became two. Two projects became five. Before long I was learning about virtualization, networking, Docker containers, backups, self-hosted applications, Raspberry Pis, and enough acronyms to make my head spin. The funny thing is that the homelab isn't really about the hardware. It's about learning. I enjoy building things. I enjoy solving problems. I enjoy taking an idea and figuring out how to make it work. In many ways, it's the same reason I enjoy ministry, leadership, and even writing. There is something deeply satisfying about taking complexity and turning it into something useful for people. The homelab has become my workshop. Some people work on classic cars. Some people build furniture. I apparently build servers in my office. The practical side of this journey has been helpful as well. It has given me a place to experiment with ideas for church systems, personal projects, websites, automation tools, and even future business ventures. Many of the things I am learning behind the scenes will eventually make their way into projects that help churches, ministries, and organizations operate more effectively. The downside is that there are only so many hours in a day. Every hour spent troubleshooting a network issue or configuring a server is an hour that isn't spent writing blog posts. As a result, the blog has taken a slower pace than I would like. The good news is that the slowdown is temporary. One of the lessons I've learned over the years is that seasons of learning often produce seasons of creating. Right now I've been doing a lot of learning. Eventually that learning turns into writing, teaching, building, and sharing. So if you've been wondering where I've been, the answer is simple: I've been in the server rack. Learning. Building. Breaking things. Fixing them. And preparing for whatever comes next. Thanks for reading, and thanks for sticking around while I occasionally disappear into the world of blinking lights, virtual machines, and far too many browser tabs. The blog isn't going anywhere. In fact, I have a feeling some of the things I've been learning lately will provide plenty to write about in the months ahead. --- ## Evaluating Ministry Transitions: Counting the Cost Before You Move Canonical URL: https://jeremykuehn.com/blog/evaluating-ministry-transitions-counting-cost/ Published: March 31, 2026 Author: Jeremy Kuehn Topics: Ministry, Leadership, Calling, Pastoral Ministry, Transitions A practical and pastoral framework to help ministers evaluate job transitions and ministry role changes wisely. This article is meant to help ministers evaluate transitions when moving from one organization to another or from one position of responsibility to another. This is not about making changes in the ministry you currently lead. This is about evaluating whether or not you should step into a new role somewhere else. One of the biggest points of tension in my life as a ministry leader has been transition. At different times in my ministry I have told myself the same lie: “I will just keep doing the same thing I did here, there.” To a point that is true. Character matters wherever you go. Your calling matters wherever you go. But your systems will have to change, and your capacity will have to grow. Every ministry role requires energy, and the larger the gap between what you are doing now and what you are about to do, the harder the transition will be. Many transitions are hard not because they are wrong, but because the energy demand is higher than we expected. So what I want to give you is a very simple way to evaluate a ministry transition from an energy demand perspective. It is not perfect, but it will help you walk into a transition with your eyes open instead of being surprised six months in. Before we get to anything practical, we have to start with the most important question. --- ## First Question: Are You Called? The number one question in any transition is this: Are you called? There are a lot of ways people try to answer that question. Some people start with frustration. They are tired, burned out, or hurt, so they assume God must be moving them. Other people start with gifting. They can preach, lead teams, organize ministries, or care for people well, and others have affirmed those gifts, so they assume the next opportunity must be their calling. In my experience, calling is usually affirmed through three things. First, you feel drawn to it. Not just that it looks like a better job, but there is a pull toward a specific place, people, or role. Sometimes the place you feel called to is not even the most obvious or attractive place on paper, but you cannot shake the feeling that you are supposed to go there. Second, other mature believers affirm it. There is no replacement for spiritual mentors who have more experience than you and who will tell you the truth. A job is never just the job. It is the people you will work with, the culture you are stepping into, and the organization you are joining. Mature voices can help you see things you cannot see on your own. Third, you have prayed and fasted about it and God has given direction. Not every opportunity is your opportunity. There have been times in my life when God closed doors through prayer and fasting and I did not understand why until years later. If you know you are called, then you may still move forward even if the role is demanding. But even when you are called, it is wise to understand what the new role will require from you and your family. --- ## Understanding Ministry Energy Here is something I wish someone had shown me earlier in ministry. You can evaluate a ministry role, at a basic level, by the amount of energy it requires from you each week. Every ministry role is different, but most ministry energy is spent in three places: services, nights, and people you lead. Think about services first. Not how many times you repeat the same sermon, but how many distinct services you are responsible for each week. If you preach the same sermon at 9:00 and 11:00, that is one service because it does not change your week. But if you have a Saturday service and a Sunday service, that is two because it changes the rhythm of your week. Each service you are responsible for requires preparation, mental space, spiritual energy, and emotional energy. Each service carries weight. Then think about nights. How many nights a week are you obligated to be at church because of your role. Sunday night services, midweek services, classes, meetings, rehearsals. Nights matter because they affect your family, your rest, and your long term sustainability. Nights are not just events on a calendar. They are energy you are giving away. Finally, think about the people you lead. Not volunteers in general, but leaders who lead other people. In simple terms, anyone who schedules other people is a leader you are responsible for. These are your direct reports. When you lead leaders, you are not just doing ministry. You are carrying responsibility for entire areas of ministry. That requires meetings, coaching, problem solving, conflict resolution, and vision casting. Leadership multiplies ministry impact, but it also multiplies energy demand. So here is the simple evaluation: - Give every service you are responsible for a value of 1 - Give every night you are obligated to ministry a value of 1 - Give every direct report you lead a value of 1 Add those numbers together and you will have a basic picture of the energy output required for your role. For example, if a campus pastor is responsible for Sunday morning, midweek, and has four direct reports, his energy output would be 7. Midweek counts twice because it is both a service and a night away from home. Now take that same system and apply it to the job you are considering. The greater the gap between the two numbers, the greater the friction you should expect in the transition. This does not mean you should not take the job. It means you should prepare your life, your family, and your expectations for what the role will require. --- ## My Own Transitions When I look back over my ministry, I can see this clearly now, but I could not see it at the time. When I was a youth pastor, I had one service, one night, and one leader I oversaw. That role had an energy output of 3. I then became a production director. I had no direct reports, but I had a Saturday night service and Sunday services. That role also had an energy output of 3. Honestly, it was easier than youth pastoring because I was not in a traditional pastoral role. Later I became a campus pastor. I had a Sunday service, a midweek service (this was both a service and a night), and three direct reports. That role had an energy output of 6. That was double the energy responsibility of my previous roles, and it took me about a year before I felt comfortable in that position. Now I am a lead pastor. I have Sunday morning, Sunday night, midweek, multiple staff members, and a board. That role has an energy output over 11. I have been in this role for 10 months and I still feel stretched all the time. Not because I am not called, but because the role requires more energy and different kinds of energy than the roles before it. This is what I wish I had understood earlier. When you transition, you are not just doing a new job. You are doing three things at the same time. You are trying to lead, you are trying to learn, and you are trying to earn trust with your new people. Always remember, when you join a new team or lead a new people, they like you but they don’t trust you yet. All three of those things require energy. That is why transition is hard. Sometimes transitions are quick and after a few months it feels like you are rolling. Sometimes they take longer and you have to earn trust over time. Understanding the energy demand of a role helps you prepare for that reality instead of being surprised by it. --- ## Why This Matters This kind of evaluation gives you a way to have objective conversations with your spouse. It helps you evaluate whether compensation matches the responsibility. It may help you understand why a church has gone through several people in the same role in a short amount of time. It helps you recognize that if you feel stretched in a new role, it does not automatically mean you made a mistake. It may simply mean the role requires more from you than your last one did. And this system only accounts for services, nights, and staff. It does not even account for administration, counseling, funerals, weddings, crises, and the emotional weight of pastoring people. So do not let this system discourage you. Let it prepare you. If you are called, step into it with faith. But step into it with your eyes open. Count the cost, prepare your life, talk honestly with your spouse and mentors, and give yourself grace in the transition. Because calling is not just about where God sends you. It is about becoming the kind of person who can sustain the place He sends you. If you are not called, it will not matter what the energy output is. You will not last. But if you are called, and you prepare wisely, you can walk into each new assignment with clarity, wisdom, and endurance. As your ministry develops over the years, my prayer is that you would fulfill the call God has placed on your life with honor, wisdom, and faithfulness. --- ## Family: Power (Part 3) Canonical URL: https://jeremykuehn.com/blog/family-power-serving-others-part-3/ Published: February 19, 2026 Author: Jeremy Kuehn Topics: Family, Leadership, Power, Mark 9, Discipleship Part three of a series exploring how families redeem power by serving, protecting, and helping one another grow toward God. Over the past few weeks we’ve been talking about family. One of the questions I ask myself often is how to speak to everyone in the room. We are all in different stages of life. Different experiences. Different seasons. But one thing unites us: **We are all in a stage of family.** From the youngest child in the building to the most experienced grandparents… husbands and wives… sons and daughters… aunts and uncles… We all live inside family relationships. And every family needs a biblical foundation for: - navigating conflict - deciding who we serve - understanding power Because whether we acknowledge it or not, power dynamics exist in every family. --- ## Understanding Power in the Home Power is a word that can make us uncomfortable — especially in the home. Many of us didn’t learn about power from healthy examples. Power, simply defined, is the ability to overcome resistance. Within family relationships, it is the ability to influence the behavior of others. And not all power is bad. In fact, when power combines, something beautiful can happen. A few years ago my grandmother was visiting us in Nebraska. It had been bitterly cold for two weeks. One thing we share is a love for fishing. So I suggested we go ice fishing. She grew up in Mississippi. Ice fishing had never even been an option. So we combined our powers. She had the power to buy the gear. I had the power to drill the holes and walk on the ice. We grabbed some Yaktrax and off we went. When power combines, something beautiful happens. When power competes, something often breaks. --- ## Power Struggles Are Universal Every stage of family life encounters power dynamics: - husbands and wives navigating marriage - infants controlling sleep schedules - toddlers testing boundaries - teenagers pushing for independence - young adults redefining norms - aging parents needing care Power exists because relationships exist. Scripture shows us that from the beginning. Before the fall, man and woman walked side by side. After the fall, power became distorted: > “You will desire to control your husband, but he will rule over you.” > —Genesis 3:16 Power shifted from partnership to position. So the question isn’t: **How do we eliminate power?** Because it isn’t going away. The real question is: **How do we redeem it?** --- ## Jesus Redefines Power In Mark 9, the disciples are arguing about who is greatest. Same pride. Same insecurity. Same power struggle. Jesus sits down — the posture of a teacher — and rewrites the rules. > “Whoever wants to be first must take last place and be the servant of everyone else.” > —Mark 9:35 Then He does something unforgettable. He brings a child into their midst. From that moment, Jesus gives us three defining truths about redeemed power. --- ## Power Goes Last In God’s design, power is not about position. It is about posture. The one with authority: - goes last - carries the weight - absorbs the cost Biblical leadership doesn’t ask: **How do I win?** It asks: **How do I serve?** This is the antidote to domination, manipulation, and ego-driven leadership in the home. --- ## Power Brings the Vulnerable Close Jesus placed the child at the center. Children in that culture had no status. No leverage. No voice. Power in God’s design does not distance itself from weakness. It draws it near. This applies to: - children still learning - spouses who are hurting - family members who are struggling - seasons requiring more grace than correction Power that serves doesn’t push people away. It protects them. --- ## Power Helps Others Grow Toward God > “Anyone who welcomes a little child like this on my behalf welcomes me.” > —Mark 9:37 Redeemed power creates an environment where people grow toward God. It’s not about gaining compliance. It’s about cultivating maturity. True authority creates space for the vulnerable to flourish. When power intimidates, people shrink. When power serves, people grow. That is redeemed power. --- ## What This Looks Like at Home ### Go Last on Purpose Instead of asking, *How do I get my way?* Ask: **How do I serve well right now?** --- ### Bring the Vulnerable Closer Instead of quick correction: Sit. Listen. Lead. Ask: - “How did that make you feel?” - “What happened next?” Lead with presence before instruction. This isn’t passive parenting. This is Christlike leadership with conviction and compassion. --- ### Use Power to Grow, Not Control The goal is not behavior modification. It is heart formation. Because in God’s design: Authority protects. Leadership nurtures. Power reflects Christ. --- ## Why This Matters When a family redeems power, the world sees the gospel in motion. Strong families are not defined by the absence of conflict. They are defined by maintaining their witness in the middle of it. When families live this way, the world sees something rare: Not domination. Not chaos. But Jesus Christ. Power that goes last. Power that draws close. Power that helps others grow. That is the power of Christ. And that is the power our families are meant to display. --- ## Family: Serve (Part 2) Canonical URL: https://jeremykuehn.com/blog/family-serve-god-part-2/ Published: February 8, 2026 Author: Jeremy Kuehn Topics: Family, Discipleship, Joshua, Faith, Christian Living Part two of a three-part series exploring how families choose to serve God amid distraction, busyness, and competing priorities. Serving God as an individual has never been particularly difficult for me. I don’t struggle to read my Bible. I don’t struggle to pray. I don’t struggle to go to church. Growing up, church was where my friends were. In fact, I’m convinced the school system tried to separate us every year. I remember youth camp. Wednesday night youth. And the first time I ever volunteered in church… I was asked not to come back. At thirteen, I thought it would be hilarious to put clear tape over the sink sprayer so when someone turned on the water, they’d get sprayed. Springdale First Assembly had excellent water pressure. My plan worked flawlessly — to the detriment of someone else. To be fair, I didn’t have much to contribute at 13. But here’s what I’ve learned since then: **Serving God as a family is much harder than serving Him alone.** It’s not that we don’t want to serve God. We do. But life is loud. Schedules. Fatigue. Opportunities. Activities. Most of these things aren’t sinful. They’re good things. But good things still compete. If we’re not careful, the things meant to support our family slowly begin to **lead** our family. And the hardest part of family discipleship isn’t believing in God. It’s deciding who gets first place when everything else is pulling for attention. --- ## This Struggle Isn’t New Humanity has wrestled with faithfulness since the beginning. Distractions. Pride. Curiously drifting hearts. Comfort replacing dependence. And nowhere is that drift more visible — or more costly — than in the family. Because: **The direction of the family today sets the tone for the next generation tomorrow.** What we prioritize now becomes what they normalize later. --- ## A Line in the Sand Joshua 24 records a powerful moment. Joshua is at the end of his life. Israel is living inside God’s promises. They are blessed, settled, and secure. But Joshua knows their history. He knows they drift when life gets comfortable. He knows blessing without remembrance leads to distance from God. So Joshua draws a line: > “But as for me and my family, we will serve the Lord.” > —Joshua 24:15 Regardless of what others do… Regardless of what is easy… Regardless of cultural direction… **Will our families serve the Lord?** --- ## Families Are Formed Together > “As for me and my family…” When we read Scripture, it’s actually hard to find a “perfect” nuclear family. Instead we find families that are: - blended - broken - redeemed - rebuilt That tells us something important: God’s covenant was never built on family perfection. It was built on a family’s pursuit of God. Faith is not meant to be a private individual experience when it can be a shared household commitment. When Paul and Silas shared the gospel with a jailer, they said: > “Believe in the Lord Jesus and you will be saved, along with everyone in your household.” > —Acts 16:31 --- ## Everyone Serves Something > “We will serve…” Everyone serves something. The choice is unavoidable — but the direction is optional. The Hebrew word for serve is used: - when Adam cultivates the garden - when Israel is forced into labor in Egypt Which reveals a powerful truth: **We either choose what we serve, or we serve what is forced upon us.** Elijah challenged Israel with similar clarity: > “If the Lord is God, follow him! But if Baal is God, then follow him!” > —1 Kings 18:21 The real danger is not calling on God when life is hard. Most people do that. The danger is forgetting Him when life is good. --- ## Not a God — The Lord Joshua doesn’t say “a god.” He says **the Lord** — Yahweh. The covenant God who rescued, provided, and sustained His people. Many things parade around as god today: success comfort sports achievement approval Joshua reminds us: **Who you serve matters as much as the fact that you serve.** --- ## The Decision Begins With You > “As for me…” No one can decide this for you. No one can serve God on your behalf. Spiritual leadership begins with personal responsibility. A decision without action is not a decision — it’s a hope. So what might action look like? ### Put Things in Their Proper Place **Job** A job is meant to serve the family, not replace it. **Sports** Sports shape a child — they shouldn’t dominate a home. **Hobbies** Hobbies are outlets, not identities. **Meals** Meals are gathering points, not fueling stations. If God created family before these things, then these things must come after the family. And the only thing created before family was a relationship with God. Which is why the first step toward a rebuilt family is a rebuilt relationship with Jesus. --- ## Serve the Lord Together Serving the Lord is not theoretical — it is lived. If you’re in town on Sunday, go to church. Nothing replaces a community of faith. Make the Word of God present in your home. > “Keep this Book of the Law always on your lips…” —Joshua 1:8 Read an age-appropriate Bible story to your kids. Ask them what they learned. Half the time Haven says something like, “Noah builds boats.” But she’s hearing the Word of God. And that matters. If we can schedule practices, games, work, and hobbies… we can schedule moments with God. --- ## Following Jesus Is Not a Spectator Sport Let’s not let the apex of discipleship be a sermon. Following Jesus is hands-on. Joshua didn’t wait for consensus. He didn’t wait for culture to shift. He drew a line and said: **“As for me and my family — we will serve the Lord.”** So the question is not what everyone else will do. The question is: **What will we do — together?** --- *Part 3 will explore how families build spiritual strength by shaping what they prioritize and what they practice daily.* --- ## Family: Honorable Living (Part 1) Canonical URL: https://jeremykuehn.com/blog/family-honorable-living-conflict-part-1/ Published: February 1, 2026 Author: Jeremy Kuehn Topics: Family, Conflict, Romans 12, Christian Living, Discipleship Part one of a three-part series on building healthy families by choosing honorable living during conflict. One question I think about often is this: **How can we, as a church, minister to everyone?** God loves every age and stage of life. Yet the very first institution God created was the family. From infants to great-great grandparents, every single person is living in some stage of family life. And today, the family is under attack. It has been since the beginning — it just feels more personal now. We see it in: - instability and fear about raising children - homes with absent parents - parents who are physically present but emotionally absent - couples learning marriage from television instead of Scripture - confusion being taught as truth The list could go on. But we are not victims. We are **more than conquerors in Christ.** So the question becomes: **Is it even possible to have a healthy family today?** This post begins a three-part series exploring that question. And we start with something every family will face: **conflict.** Because the hardest part of conflict is not figuring out who is wrong — we are very good at that. The hardest part is deciding **who I am going to be while it’s happening.** --- ## A Lesson from Beartooth Pass In the summer of 2008, my family took a trip to Yellowstone. On that trip we drove over Beartooth Pass — one of the highest highways in the continental United States. At the top, I had a brilliant idea: we should go sledding in trash bags. If you’ve never tried it, it’s simple: grab a heavy-duty trash bag, sit down, and slide. It’s great fun. My dad and brother joined me. My dad left the rental van keys with my mom. Watching us have fun, my mom decided to join in. After our July sledding adventure, my dad asked for the keys. She reached into her hoodie pocket… They were gone. Somewhere in a massive snowbank on top of Beartooth Pass. We were stranded. So whose fault was it? - Mine for suggesting trash-bag sledding? - My dad’s for not keeping the keys? - My mom’s for wanting to join the fun? We rarely struggle to assign blame. But we often struggle to act in a way that honors God in the middle of the struggle. --- ## Conflict Is Shared — Conduct Is Personal Every family experiences moments where: - words cut - trust erodes - motives are questioned We tell ourselves: They started it. They deserve this. I’ll be kind when they apologize. But Scripture reframes the issue. Conflict may be shared. **Your conduct is personal.** > “Never pay back evil with more evil. Do things in such a way that everyone can see you are honorable. Do all that you can to live in peace with everyone. Dear friends, never take revenge. Leave that to the righteous anger of God.” > —Romans 12:17-19 If I’m honest, my flesh wants revenge. It wants to say, *“God, I volunteer as your righteous anger messenger.”* But healthy families begin when we take a step toward Christ first. --- ## Honor Chooses a Different Response Than Instinct > “Never pay back evil with more evil.” —Romans 12:17 This command does not deny pain. It refuses retaliation based on pain. Honor begins where impulse ends. God’s people are not meant to be reactionary people. We are meant to be God-honoring people. --- ## Honor Lives Openly and Visibly > “Do things in such a way that everyone can see you are honorable.” —Romans 12:17 Honor is not merely internal — it is observable. The word Paul uses here is *kalos*, meaning: **good that inspires others to embrace what is lovely, beautiful, and praiseworthy.** Imagine handling family conflict in a way that inspires others to follow Jesus. That is a goal worth reaching for. Conflict should not be handled through secrecy, gossip, or passive aggression. Biblical honor approaches conflict with a good-faith effort toward resolution. --- ## Honor Pursues Peace Without Compromising Integrity > “Do all that you can to live in peace with everyone.” —Romans 12:18 Notice the phrase: **do all that you can.** Scripture is realistic. Peace will not always happen. But faithfulness is always an option. The world judges outcomes. God examines effort and heart. Peace is the goal. Obedience is the responsibility. --- ## Honor Trusts God with Justice > “Never take revenge. Leave that to the righteous anger of God.” —Romans 12:19 When we take revenge, we assume a role God never gave us. Our flesh wants to win. Honor says: **God can handle what I cannot.** Trusting God frees us from the burden of winning and keeps us aligned with the heart of the gospel. --- ## Bringing Honor Into the Home Our homes should be the strongest place for Christlike maturity — yet often our families receive our leftovers. So what does honorable living look like in real life? ### Ask a Better Question Instead of: *Am I right?* Ask: **Is this honorable?** Take a breath. Pause. > “The wise are cautious and avoid danger; fools plunge ahead.” —Proverbs 14:16 --- ### Choose Visibility Over Vindication Would you be comfortable with your response being recorded and played publicly? > “We are careful to be honorable before the Lord, but we also want everyone else to see that we are honorable.” —2 Corinthians 8:21 We often behave differently at home because we think no one sees. But character is revealed in private. --- ### Take Responsibility for Your Side You cannot control reconciliation — only your contribution. > “Why worry about a speck in your friend’s eye when you have a log in your own?” —Matthew 7:3 We often say, *“I’ll be happy when they…”* Why give someone else control over your peace? --- ### Release the Need to Settle the Score Often our flesh doesn’t want an apology — it wants the other person to feel our pain. > “Don’t sin by letting anger control you.” —Ephesians 4:26 Better sleep often begins with a sincere apology. Try this: **“I apologize for ___. I could have ___. Will you forgive me?”** --- ### Decide Who You Will Be Before Resolution Comes Resolution takes time. Character is revealed immediately. > “A good person produces good things from the treasury of a good heart.” —Luke 6:45 How we act at home may be the strongest witness of Christ the world ever sees. --- ## Strong Families Are Built on Christ If the world needs anything today, it is strong families. Strong families do not happen by accident. They are built on the foundation of Christ. Conflict will come. The question is: **When it does, are we willing to do things in such a way that everyone can see we are honorable?** --- *Part 2 of this series will explore how humility transforms conflict and strengthens family relationships.* --- ## Mercy for the Misguided Canonical URL: https://jeremykuehn.com/blog/mercy-for-misguided-repentance-acts-3/ Published: November 10, 2025 Author: Jeremy Kuehn Topics: Acts, Mercy, Repentance, Discipleship Peter’s message in Acts 3 shows us that even when we sin in ignorance, God responds with mercy—and invites us into repentance that brings real refreshment and restoration. Have you ever looked back on something you said or did and thought, *“I had no idea… what was I thinking?”* We’ve all had those moments where ignorance blinds us, and only later do we see the consequences. I’ll never forget when my wife Dawn got into poison ivy just a few days before we got married. She didn’t even realize it until the rash hit full force. She didn’t mean to wander into it. She didn’t see it. She didn’t know any better in the moment. But the consequences still came. That’s the strange thing about ignorance—it doesn’t shield us from results. But it *does* shape how mercy meets us. Acts 3 gives us one of the clearest pictures in Scripture of how God deals with misguided people who didn’t know what they were doing—and how He calls us to respond once we finally see the truth. --- ## A Prayer Jesus Began… and a Work He Continues Before Peter ever preached in Solomon’s Colonnade, Jesus prayed something shocking on the cross: > “Father, forgive them, for they don’t know what they are doing.” > —Luke 23:34 He prayed mercy over the very people who mocked Him, beat Him, and killed Him. Mercy for the misguided. Mercy for the ignorant. Mercy for those who didn’t understand the weight of their actions. Fast-forward to Acts 3. Jesus has ascended. The Spirit has come. The believers are preaching. A crippled man is healed. A crowd gathers. And Peter—filled with the Spirit—picks up the same thread Jesus prayed into the world. --- ## A Miracle, a Crowd, and a Mistake We All Make Peter and John are on their way to the temple when a man begging for money receives something far greater—healing in the name of Jesus. The man leaps, praises, clings to the disciples, and suddenly a crowd forms in Solomon’s Colonnade. But the people assume something we often assume: **“They must have healed him.”** Peter immediately corrects them: > “Why stare at us as though we had made this man walk by our own power or godliness?” > —Acts 3:12 In their day, miracles were often thought to come from the spiritual perfection of a person. You lived right, God rewarded you. But Peter dismantles that idea completely. The power didn’t come from them. The miracle wasn’t proof of their goodness. The healing wasn’t a badge of honor. It was all Jesus. > “Faith in Jesus’ name has healed him before your very eyes.” > —Acts 3:16 But before the crowd can celebrate the miracle, Peter does something surprising: he reminds them of their past. --- ## Ignorance Doesn’t Erase Responsibility Peter says: > “Friends, I realize that what you and your leaders did to Jesus was done in ignorance.” > —Acts 3:17 That’s a heavy sentence filled with mercy. He softens the blow—they genuinely didn’t know. But he doesn’t remove accountability: - They handed Jesus over. - They rejected Him. - They chose a murderer instead. - They killed the Author of Life. Ignorance explains. It does not excuse. In our modern world, many people want the excuse without the accountability. Yet Scripture shows us: **God doesn’t weaponize our ignorance—He works through it. But He still calls us to repent from it.** Peter goes on: > “But God was fulfilling what all the prophets had foretold…” > —Acts 3:18 Their blindness did not derail God’s plan. Their misguided choices did not stop redemption. Their sin—even committed unknowingly—was still sin… but sin that God willingly forgave. This is the collision point of the gospel: **human guilt meets divine grace.** --- ## What God Asks of Misguided People: Repent and Turn Peter ends his message not with condemnation but invitation: > “Now repent of your sins and turn to God, *so that your sins may be wiped away.*” > —Acts 3:19 Repentance is more than sorrow—it is a turning. - Turning from ignorance to understanding. - Turning from our way to God’s way. - Turning from our sin to His mercy. And when we turn? Peter says **times of refreshment** come. Not shame. Not punishment. Not spiritual exhaustion. **Refreshment.** The kind of deep soul-rest Jesus describes: > “Come to me, all of you who are weary and carry heavy burdens, and I will give you rest.” > —Matthew 11:28 Is repentance easy? No. Is following Jesus always comfortable? Also no. But is it worth it? Absolutely. The most refreshing rest is the kind that comes after the hardest work—like taking your socks off before bed after a long day. That moment where your body sighs and your soul settles. Repentance leads to that kind of rest. --- ## The Privilege and Purpose of Mercy Peter closes by reminding the crowd of something important: > “You are included in the covenant… God sent His servant Jesus to bless you by turning you from your sinful ways.” > —Acts 3:25–26 Mercy isn’t just forgiveness. It’s an invitation. A privilege. A calling. God doesn’t forgive us to leave us as we are. He forgives us to bring us into His mission. Just as Israel was meant to bless the nations, we are meant to extend mercy to others—especially to those still blind to their own need for it. --- ## So What About Us? Let’s put ourselves in that colonnade for a moment. The healed man standing. Peter preaching. Truth hitting the heart. Have you ever done something that hurt someone—even though you didn’t understand the consequences at the time? We all have. So how does God help misguided people make things right? ### **1. He lets us see the truth. (Guilt)** We name it honestly: **“I was wrong.”** Not: - “I didn’t mean to.” - “I didn’t know.” - “It wasn’t my intention.” Guilt is the honesty that opens the door to grace. ### **2. He responds with mercy. (Grace)** Even if our actions were ignorant, hurtful, or self-focused, the heart of Jesus still prays: **“Father, forgive them…”** The invitation stands for all who will receive it. ### **3. He calls us to change direction. (Go)** Not “try harder.” Not “live in shame.” But: **“Repent, turn, and walk in new life.”** I once heard someone say: *“Admit it. Quit it. Forget it.”* There’s freedom in that kind of simplicity. We leave the past behind and live in the refreshing presence of Jesus. --- ## Conclusion: Mercy for Misguided People Like Us How does God help us make things right—even when we didn’t know we were wrong? He reveals our guilt. He gives grace. He calls us to repent. He brings refreshing. He restores us into His purpose. Ignorance doesn’t disqualify you. It doesn’t doom you. It doesn’t define you. Jesus’ prayer on the cross—and Peter’s sermon in Acts—remind us: **There is mercy for the misguided, forgiveness for the unaware, and refreshment for all who turn to God.** --- ## Kingdom Gospel: One Foot In Canonical URL: https://jeremykuehn.com/blog/kingdom-gospel-full-commitment/ Published: November 1, 2025 Author: Jeremy Kuehn Topics: Discipleship, Kingdom Gospel, Commitment, Spiritual Growth Following Jesus requires more than good intentions—it requires full commitment. Matthew 8:18–22 challenges us to move from half-hearted discipleship to a life fully aligned with Jesus. There are moments in life when you suddenly realize, *“I’m in. Really in. There’s no turning back now.”* Parenthood. Marriage. Signing the mortgage. Starting a ministry. Even the first time you step onto a roller coaster with your kid and watch the safety bar lock down—commitment hits you fast. I remember taking my son Judah on his first big-kid roller coaster at Silver Dollar City. Nighttime. Lights flashing. The clank of the chain lift echoing in the dark. He had no idea what he was getting into until that bar came down. There was no going back—only forward. In Matthew 8, Jesus invites us into that same moment of decision, but on a much deeper level. His words confront the part of us that wants to follow Him… but only as long as the ride stays comfortable. This passage asks every believer a challenging question: **Are we following Jesus with both feet in—or with one foot still on the dock?** --- ## When Jesus Calls, He Calls for Everything Matthew 8:18–22 gives us two short conversations that cut right through every modern version of half-hearted Christianity. > “Teacher, I will follow you wherever you go.” > —A religious teacher > > “Lord, first let me return home and bury my father.” > —Another disciple Two men. Two different hesitations. One wants comfort. The other wants convenience. Both want Jesus—*on their terms.* And Jesus responds with words that still challenge every disciple today: > “Foxes have dens… birds have nests… but the Son of Man has no place to lay his head.” > > “Follow me now. Let the spiritually dead bury their own dead.” This isn’t Jesus being harsh. It’s Jesus being clear. Following Him requires **decisive commitment**, not part-time allegiance. --- ## 1. Following Jesus Means Realigning Your Lifestyle The first man tells Jesus he’s willing to follow Him anywhere. But Jesus exposes what that really means: **“I can’t promise you comfort.”** To follow Jesus is to release the expectation that the path will be easy or predictable. Discipleship isn’t built on convenience. It’s built on surrender. Jesus essentially says: - *You may lose your pillow.* - *You may lose your preferred pace of life.* - *You may lose the illusion of control.* But what you gain—purpose, character, eternal significance—is infinitely greater. Too often we treat discipleship as something we fit *into* life. But Jesus teaches the opposite: **our entire life must fit into discipleship.** --- ## 2. Following Jesus Means Reordering Your Obligations The second man asks to fulfill a cultural and family expectation—burying his father. In Jewish custom, this was a sacred duty. Yet Jesus responds: **“Follow me now.”** He’s not disrespecting family or tradition. He’s revealing a deeper truth: **God doesn’t want to be one commitment among many—He wants to be the commitment that shapes them all.** In Scripture, those who took a Nazirite vow or served as High Priest had to set aside even family obligations for a season of consecration (Numbers 6:7). Not out of coldness, but out of calling. Following God required undivided devotion. Jesus is giving the same invitation here: **“Put first things first. Let following Me define everything else in your life.”** --- ## The Real Issue: One Foot In You can feel the tension in both of these encounters: - *“I’ll follow you wherever… but I’m expecting comfort.”* - *“I’ll follow you… but after I take care of this first.”* And Jesus presses gently but firmly: **“Follow Me now.”** Not later. Not after conditions are met. Not with divided priorities. The disciples were only rowing across the lake—a short trip. But symbolically, Jesus was asking them to make a deeper crossing: **from convenience to commitment.** --- ## What About Us? Three Questions Every Disciple Must Answer If we’re honest, we all have areas where we want to follow Jesus *almost* fully. Here are three questions to help expose where we might still have one foot on the dock: ### **1. Where am I prioritizing comfort over obedience?** Is God asking you to step out in something—serving, giving, forgiving, leading, confronting sin—but you’ve been waiting for the “right moment”? ### **2. What obligations or expectations am I placing above Christ?** Work? Family expectations? Financial fears? Personal plans? Good things become dangerous things when they become ultimate things. ### **3. What is Jesus asking me to do *now* that I keep postponing?** Delayed obedience is disobedience dressed in nicer clothes. --- ## Action Steps for a Fully Committed Discipleship Life Here are three practical ways to move from “one foot in” to “all in”: ### **1. Identify one comfort you need to lay down this week.** Maybe it’s your evening routine, your free time, or a habit that’s keeping you spiritually stagnant. Ask: *“What comfort is competing with my calling?”* ### **2. Choose one area where Jesus needs to become the priority.** Pick something specific: - Weekly worship - Daily Scripture - Tithing - Serving - Reconciling a relationship - Saying yes to a ministry opportunity Make a concrete plan and commit. ### **3. Practice immediate obedience.** When God prompts—through Scripture, prayer, conviction, or counsel—respond the same day. Not tomorrow. Not “when things settle.” Now. Immediate obedience builds lifelong faithfulness. --- ## The Invitation Still Stands The call Jesus gave those two men in Matthew 8 wasn’t a one-time moment in history. It’s the same call He gives today: **“Follow Me now.”** Not because He wants to make our lives harder— but because He wants to make our lives *whole.* Following Jesus is not about adding another commitment to the list. It’s about giving Him the foundation upon which every other commitment stands. The ride may be wild. The climb may be steep. The bar may lock you into places that feel uncomfortable. But once you go all in, you’ll discover what countless disciples before you have found: **The only way to truly live is with both feet in.** --- ## A Man After God's Own Heart Canonical URL: https://jeremykuehn.com/blog/man-after-gods-own-heart-acts-13-22/ Published: September 12, 2025 Author: Jeremy Kuehn Topics: Bible, Discipleship, Heart, Obedience Why was King David called a man after God's own heart? Acts 13:22 reveals the key—doing all of God's will. Here's how that truth challenges and inspires us today. Growing up in church, I’ve heard just about every piece of Christian-ese you can imagine. One phrase that has always stood out is, *“King David was a man after God’s own heart.”* For years I accepted that at face value. After all, David did some amazing things. He refused to kill King Saul even when he had the chance. He captured Jerusalem and made it the capital for God’s people. And, of course, as a teenager he stepped onto a battlefield with only a sling and a stone and took down a giant. But none of those feats are what made David a man after God’s own heart. And it certainly wasn’t because he lived a perfect life—we can rule that out immediately. So what was it? The answer is found in **Acts 13:22**: > “He raised up David as their king and testified about him, ‘I have found David the son of Jesse to be a man after my own heart, **who will carry out all my will**.’” That single line—*who will carry out all my will*—unlocks the mystery. --- ## Knowing the Commander’s Intent I like to compare this to a modern military idea: **commander’s intent**. A soldier who understands his commander’s intent doesn’t need every detail of the mission. He can make decisions on the fly because he knows the ultimate objective. Likewise, knowing God’s heart isn’t about having every instruction in advance. It’s about knowing His intent—His will—and choosing to follow it wherever it leads. --- ## An Unqualified Yes David earned the title *“a man after God’s own heart”* because he was willing to **do all God’s will**. - He didn’t pick and choose the parts of God’s plan that were convenient. - He gave God an unqualified *yes*, with no plan B. - He did God’s will despite the cost. Focus for a moment on that word **“all”** in Acts 13:22. It’s overwhelming. None of us know all of God’s will, but we are accountable for all that we *do* know. And this is where none of us can escape the challenge. --- ## Our Call You and I are called to be people after God’s own heart. We don’t earn that by military conquest, public position, or heroic stories. We don’t have to be kings like David. We simply need the same posture: **a heart ready to carry out all of God’s will that He makes known to us**. That’s what it means to give God an unqualified yes—and that is what still delights His heart today. --- ## Agreement, Action, & the Presence of Accountability Canonical URL: https://jeremykuehn.com/blog/agreement-action-accountability-leadership/ Published: August 24, 2025 Author: Jeremy Kuehn Topics: Leadership, Teams, Agreement, Action, Accountability Effective leadership requires more than action and accountability—it begins with agreement. In this post, we explore how the Triple-A framework (Agreement, Action, Accountability) equips leaders to build happier, more effective teams. I’ve long pondered the role of rhythms in life—and how often we try, to our own detriment, to bypass them. When I was in college, I worked at UPS. I stayed for six years, even a year after graduating, and spent time in management. My chief frustration in that role was the constant pursuit of what felt like never-ending bar-raising. Here’s how it worked: we’d be handed production goals for our warehouse. Those goals were based on someone else’s time study of our facility. We would grind, push, and adjust until we finally hit them. And then—new time study, new goals. Immediately. Suddenly, what was once a win became the new baseline. Every 3–6 months, we entered a fresh cycle of strife to meet a “new normal.” Looking back, I realize my frustration came from what I’d call a short-circuited leadership cycle. We ping-ponged between demands for **action** and **accountability**—but we never had **agreement**. And without agreement, leadership eventually breaks down. --- ## Triple-A Leadership The key to leading effective and *happy* teams is remembering that agreement is the foundation. Not agreement enforced by reward or punishment, but agreement forged through collaboration. Think of it as **Triple-A Leadership**: 1. **Agreement** – the foundation. 2. **Action** – the fruit of that agreement. 3. **Accountability** – the rhythm that sustains progress. Let’s walk through each. --- ## Step 1: Agreement Any venture involving more than one person should begin with agreement. Agreement brings clarity about responsibility, resources, and outcomes. At its core, agreement means the team—whether two people or twenty—shares a common understanding of the beginning, the ending, and the journey in between. But here’s the challenge: many leaders (myself included) often start with a clear picture of what they want to see happen. That’s not wrong—it’s part of vision. But vision without agreement can be alienating. So how do you get agreement? Here’s a framework you can use. ### The “I Want” → “How Could” Framework 1. **Write down what you want.** Be as clear and specific as possible. Keep the list short—no more than 5–7 “I want” statements in a single meeting. - Example: *I want our team to move our average follow-up time from 72 hours to 12 hours.* 2. **Turn it into a question.** Reframe the statement as a collaborative “How could” question. - Example: *How could we adjust our average follow-up time from 72 hours to 12 hours?* 3. **Bring it to the team.** In your meeting, share the “How could” questions along with the “why” behind them. Then ask—and really listen. 4. **Listen for gold.** As the team responds, pay close attention to the person who moves from *“How could we…”* to *“I could…”*. That shift is the gold standard of buy-in. Even better? When someone’s “I could” helps a teammate succeed. 5. **Capture agreement.** Write down the observations, points of clarity, and small steps where there is genuine alignment. --- ## Step 2: Action Agreement without action is wishful thinking. The next step is defining actions clearly, supported by resources. A few guidelines for this stage: - **Don’t overshoot.** Every action requires input—time, money, or both. Keep that in mind. - **Clarify duration.** Label actions as either temporary adjustments or long-term commitments. - **Define responsibilities.** Everyone should know exactly who is doing what and what handoffs are expected. Surprises are your enemy here. One of the most flagrant abuses of leadership is not continuous improvement—it’s **continuous burdening**. Be careful: if you lean too heavily on the same “I got this” person, over time they can quietly become the “I’m broken” person. Actions must be distributed in ways that sustain—not crush—your people. --- ## Step 3: Accountability Finally, we come to accountability. Here’s the problem: when people hear “accountability,” they tend to think of it in negative terms—being called out for failure. But true accountability, when built on agreement and action, is life-giving. Accountability should not feel like reporting to a boss. Instead, it’s about being responsible to the team and to the outcome you’ve all agreed upon. This is where your earlier “why” becomes crucial. Don’t just present the task—present the value. - *“If we moved guest follow-up from 72 hours to 12 hours, guest retention would increase by X%. We’d be able to better serve newcomers, and our entire church community would feel the difference.”* When people understand the **why** behind their work—and know they’ve helped shape the agreement—they’ll hold themselves and one another accountable in a healthier way. --- ## Bringing It Together Teams who are truly committed to each other will always outperform teams made up of individuals committed only to themselves. Triple-A leadership—agreement, action, accountability—creates rhythms that don’t just drive results. They build trust. They sustain morale. And they make your team both effective *and* happy. Leadership is not about bar-raising that never ends. It’s about creating agreements people believe in, actions people can sustain, and accountability that pulls the team forward together. --- ## Jesus Said: Tools and Tasks (The Yoke That Fits) Canonical URL: https://jeremykuehn.com/blog/jesus-said-yoke-easy-burden/ Published: July 23, 2025 Author: Jeremy Kuehn Topics: Jesus Said, Spiritual Formation, Calling, Surrender In this post from the 'Jesus Said' series, we explore what it means to carry Jesus’ yoke and His burden—and how His tools and tasks are designed for our good, not our exhaustion. # Jesus Said: *“My yoke is easy to bear”* Not all yokes are built for you. But Jesus’ yoke is. In *Matthew 11:28–30 (NLT)*, Jesus gives this promise and challenge: > *“Come to me, all of you who are weary and carry heavy burdens, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you. Let me teach you, because I am humble and gentle at heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy to bear, and the burden I give you is light.”* Jesus doesn’t remove responsibility—He redefines it. He doesn’t take away our work—He gives us the tools to do it His way. ## Custom-Fit Calling A few nights ago, my son needed help. He was injured at camp and, at 10PM, I got the call to come pick him up. There was no hesitation—I drove him to the hospital, sat with him through staples and tears, and got home at 3AM. Why? Because I’m his dad. That’s my burden—and it fits. That’s what Jesus is getting at here. His yoke is built for you. It’s not mass-produced or “one size fits most.” It’s personal. It’s made with you in mind. The yoke is the tool. The burden is the work. And when Jesus gives them, they’re **made to fit together.** ## The Right Tools: Holy Spirit, Word, and Prayer We don’t carry the burdens of life empty-handed. Jesus provides tools for the task: - **The Holy Spirit** – God’s presence dwelling within, empowering us. - **The Word of God** – A living guide that shapes our thinking. - **Prayer** – Real communion with God that keeps us aligned and fueled. These tools aren’t burdens—they’re lifelines. They don’t exhaust us—they equip us. ## Some Yokes Don’t Belong to You In *Acts 15:10*, Paul warns against placing on people a “yoke” they can’t carry—rules, traditions, and pressures that Jesus never required. We do this, too. - We take on expectations from others. - We carry guilt from the past. - We drag performance and perfectionism like plows in dry ground. These are yokes that **grind us down instead of building us up.** ## The Burden You’re Meant to Carry Jesus doesn’t give meaningless weight. His burdens are *yours* to carry. You can’t delegate them: > *“The LORD has told you what is good… to do what is right, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God.”* > — *Micah 6:8 NLT* These are holy tasks. They’re personal, not transferable. You can’t subcontract out faithfulness. You can’t outsource obedience. ## Lighter Doesn’t Mean Easier Jesus’ burden isn’t always easy—but it is light when it's accepted. When we resist His way, everything gets harder. When we carry His burden for the wrong reasons—like people-pleasing—it gets heavier. > I don’t love others so they’ll love me back. > I love them because Jesus asked me to. That’s what keeps it light. Even in marriage, when we try to take without giving, the yoke becomes unbearable. But when we accept Jesus’ pattern—selfless love and mutual respect—His way brings life. ## Final Thought: Let Him Teach You Jesus doesn’t just give the tool and the task—He gives **Himself** as the Teacher. > *“Let me teach you…”* We often accept the yoke, but resist the teacher. We want the identity of a believer, without learning the way of Christ. But the yoke only works when we walk with Him. --- **His burden is light because He is near. His yoke is easy because He carries it with you. Don’t just work for Him—walk with Him. That’s where the rest is.** Let Jesus be your Teacher. Let His yoke shape your stride. Let His burden lift you up, not wear you down. --- ## Jesus Said: Take My Yoke (Rest That Restores) Canonical URL: https://jeremykuehn.com/blog/jesus-said-take-my-yoke-restoration/ Published: June 18, 2025 Author: Jeremy Kuehn Topics: Jesus Said, Spiritual Formation, Discipleship, Rest In this post from the 'Jesus Said' series, we explore what Jesus meant when He invited us to take His yoke—and how real rest is more than relief, it’s restoration. # Jesus Said: *“Take My Yoke Upon You”* Not all burdens are bad—but not all rest is helpful either. In *Matthew 11:28–30 (NLT)*, Jesus offers this invitation: > *“Come to me, all of you who are weary and carry heavy burdens, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you. Let me teach you, because I am humble and gentle at heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy to bear, and the burden I give you is light.”* What Jesus offers isn’t just relief—it’s **restorative**. And what He asks for isn’t weightless—it’s **well-fitting**. ## Choosing the Better Burden I enjoy running—not because I love the pain, but because I choose it. Running clears my mind and wears me out in the right way. In contrast, life often wears us out for the wrong reasons. Jesus’ invitation to *“take my yoke”* is a call to trade chaos for rhythm, imbalance for intentionality. We’re not called to a balanced life. We’re called to **alignment with Him**. ## What Kind of Rest Is This? The rest Jesus gives is deeper than sleep. It’s the kind of rest that rebuilds you—**not just ceasing work, but regaining strength**. He’s not talking about escapism. He’s talking about restoration. Think of it like this: You don’t need a 15-minute break, you need a **real nap**. Jesus’ rest works at a soul level. Not temporary relief, but long-term recovery. The kind that reminds you who you are and who you're with. > *“Get away with me and you’ll recover your life… I’ll show you how to take a real rest.”* > — *Matthew 11:28–30 MSG* ## The Yoke: A Tool for Two Jesus follows His offer of rest with a challenge: *“Take my yoke upon you.”* A yoke was a wooden harness used to keep two animals walking together to plow a field. It served two main purposes: ### 1. **Alignment** The yoke forces the animals to stay in step. One can’t run ahead or lag behind without the other feeling it. Jesus is saying: *“Walk with me—learn how I live. Let my way shape yours.”* ### 2. **Endurance** Yoked together, the animals could go farther than they ever could alone. Jesus knows the road can be long. So He offers not a shortcut, but **strength for the journey**—through companionship with Him. This yoke isn’t earned, and no one else can give it to you. It only comes from Jesus. ## Why It Matters for the Next Generation One of the reasons I believe so deeply in kids and youth ministry is this: it's often their **first experience** with Jesus' yoke. Their first step into alignment with Him. And when a young person experiences what it feels like to be *with* Jesus—not just know about Him—it changes everything. That’s why this invitation isn’t just theoretical. It’s formational. ## What Are You Yoked To? Here’s a hard but honest question: **What most influences your decisions?** - Pressure to perform? - Fear of letting others down? - The idea that everything depends on you? If we’re not yoked to Jesus, we’ll tie ourselves to expectations and pressures that grind us down. But when we walk in step with Him, **endurance becomes natural**. ## Final Thoughts The truth is, Jesus gives rest. But He doesn’t force it on us. We have to take it. We often say, *“I’ll rest when…”* - After this week. - After this project. - After vacation (which we over-plan). But life doesn’t slow down. And Jesus doesn’t say, *“Come to me later.”* He says, **“Come now. Take my yoke.”** --- **You don’t need more productivity hacks—you need partnership. Walk with Jesus. Learn the unforced rhythms of grace. His yoke is easy. His burden is light.** --- ## Jesus Said: When Religion Wears You Out Canonical URL: https://jeremykuehn.com/blog/jesus-said-religion-spiritual-anxiety-rest/ Published: June 11, 2025 Author: Jeremy Kuehn Topics: Jesus Said, Spiritual Formation, Rest, Religious Pressure In the 'Jesus Said' series, this post explores how burdensome religion leads to spiritual anxiety—and how Jesus offers a better way: rest for the weary. # Jesus Said: *“Come to Me”* Some weight we carry is necessary—most of it is not. When Jesus says, *“Come to me, all of you who are weary and carry heavy burdens, and I will give you rest”* (Matthew 11:28–30 NLT), He’s speaking directly to people exhausted not just by life, but by **religion**. Not faith. Not devotion. But religion that crushes people under demands they were never meant to carry. ## When Good Intentions Become Heavy Loads In 2014, my wife Dawn and I spent five months hiking the Appalachian Trail. Over 2,000 miles of rugged terrain—Georgia to Maine. At the start, we saw a guy trying to carry two five-gallon buckets full of food along with his backpack. He was sweating, straining, and stopping every few feet. His plan? Unsustainable. That’s how spiritual life can feel when we start carrying what was never ours to bear. Especially when others load us up with expectations and checklists, even if well-intentioned. Jesus saw that happening in His day. ## The Religious Pressure of the Pharisees The Pharisees weren’t villains for sport. They were deeply committed to keeping God’s Law. Their logic was simple: if everyone followed the rules perfectly, God would bless the nation again. But in their pursuit of holiness, they built what they called *“a fence around the law.”* Hundreds of extra rules, interpretations, and traditions—each one designed to protect God's Word, but many of them ended up smothering it. Jesus described their approach in *Matthew 23:4 (NLT)*: > *“They crush people with unbearable religious demands and never lift a finger to ease the burden.”* When leadership forgets the heart behind the command, it turns obedience into oppression. ## Weary and Heavy Laden Jesus' words in Matthew 11 describe two kinds of spiritual strain: - **Weary** – the Greek word *kopiaó* refers to laboring to the point of exhaustion. Not once, but repeatedly. The kind of living that slowly drains your soul. - **Heavy laden** – *phortizó* implies being overloaded, especially with spiritual anxiety. Like a pack animal pushed beyond its capacity, people were spiritually breaking under the weight. Sound familiar? Maybe today, the weight isn’t laws about Sabbath travel or food pairings. Maybe it’s the unspoken belief that if you don’t look the part, God is disappointed. Maybe it’s spiritual anxiety dressed up as performance. Jesus didn’t come to reinforce that system—He came to invite us out of it. ## Rest for Your Souls Jesus doesn’t call the **worthy**—He calls the **weary**. His solution isn’t a new checklist, it’s an invitation: > *“Take my yoke upon you. Let me teach you, because I am humble and gentle at heart…”* A yoke implies work—but shared work. Not solitary struggle. He’s still leading, still teaching, but He’s carrying it with us. **And that changes everything.** ## Strength and Worth in Christ As a youth pastor, I often had students lead moments during our services. Afterward, they’d quietly come ask: - *“Did I do okay?”* - *“Would you have me do that again?”* What they were really asking was, *“Do you see me as strong?”* or *“Am I still wanted?”* Those questions don’t go away when we grow up. We still wonder: - Am I enough? - Am I seen? - Would God choose me again? Here’s the good news: **With Jesus, you’re strong—because He carries what you can’t. With Jesus, you’re chosen—again and again.** ## Final Thoughts The rest Jesus offers isn’t just physical. It’s **spiritual relief** from the crushing weight of trying to earn what He already gave. So if you’re tired—really tired—not just from life but from religion that wears you out, maybe today’s the day to take Him at His word. --- **You don’t have to carry it all. Jesus is still saying: “Come to me.”** --- ## Jesus Said: Come To Me Canonical URL: https://jeremykuehn.com/blog/jesus-said-come-to-me-rest-for-weary/ Published: June 5, 2025 Author: Jeremy Kuehn Topics: Discipleship, Spiritual Formation, Rest Exploring Jesus' invitation in Matthew 11 to trade the weight of self-reliance for the rest found in walking with Him. Some words echo in the soul long after they’re spoken. For me lately, it’s these three: **“Come to me.”** That’s how Jesus begins one of His most tender invitations, spoken in *Matthew 11:28–30 (NLT)*: > *“Come to me, all of you who are weary and carry heavy burdens, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you. Let me teach you, because I am humble and gentle at heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy to bear, and the burden I give you is light.”* ## The Wear and Tear of Life A few days ago, while pulling a trailer across state lines during our move to Arkansas, my truck started sputtering. Something wasn’t right. I pulled into an auto parts store and, after some troubleshooting, discovered a spark plug completely worn out. Not cracked. Not chipped. **Worn. Down. To. Nothing.** It reminded me: everything wears out eventually—even the strong stuff. If we’re going to wear out, let it be for the right reason. Let it be for Jesus. Life doesn’t always wait for perfect timing to add pressure. And Jesus doesn’t wait for perfect conditions to invite us in. He meets us in the mess, misfires and all, and offers **rest**. But not the kind of rest that removes all responsibility—the kind that reorders it. ## What We Leave to Come to Jesus Coming to Jesus means we’re leaving something else behind. Not because He’s harsh, but because His way is lighter—**not weightless, but well-fitting**. Here are three burdens we often carry that Jesus calls us to drop: ### 1. Pride We’ve all said it: *“I’ve got this.”* But James 4:6 reminds us: > *“God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.”* When we rely on ourselves alone, we cut ourselves off from grace. Jesus calls us to humility—not weakness, but willingness to depend on Him. ### 2. People Pleasing Ever tried to make everyone happy? It’s exhausting—and impossible. Paul puts it plainly in *Galatians 1:10 (NLT)*: > *“If pleasing people were my goal, I would not be Christ’s servant.”* Kindness isn’t the problem—**misplaced approval is**. Our worth isn’t in how many people like us. It’s in the One who loved us first. ### 3. Performance It’s easy to confuse fruit with performance. Jesus warned against empty worship in *Matthew 15:8–9 (NLT)*: > *“These people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me.”* There’s nothing wrong with structure or effort. But when the method becomes sacred and the mission becomes stale, we’ve drifted. Jesus invites us back—not to doing, but to **being**. ## The Invitation That Still Stands Jesus once told a story about a feast in *Luke 14:15–24*. Invitations went out. Excuses came back: - “I bought a field…” - “I just got new oxen…” - “I just got married…” The host didn’t cancel the party—**he found new guests**. Sometimes we miss the banquet because we’re too busy managing the oxen. ## Final Thoughts There’s a beautiful simplicity in Jesus’ invitation: *“Come to me.”* Not come perform. Not come fix yourself. Not come figure it all out. Just *come*. He doesn’t offer an escape from responsibility, but an exchange of burdens. His yoke doesn’t remove the work—it redefines it. And in that shift, we find something we desperately need: **rest for our souls**. --- **What are you carrying today that Jesus never asked you to hold alone? Lay it down. Walk with Him. His way is still the way of rest.** --- ## Lost, But Not Fully Lost: Leading the Discipleship Journey Canonical URL: https://jeremykuehn.com/blog/lost-but-not-fully-lost-discipleship-journey/ Published: May 16, 2025 Author: Jeremy Kuehn Topics: Discipleship, Leadership, Spiritual Growth Exploring the six stages of the Christian journey from 'The Critical Journey' and how leaders can guide others through spiritual growth and challenges. Have you ever been lost—but not fully lost? There’s a unique genre of “lost” that I like to call *“man lost.”* You’re not totally disoriented, but you’re unsure how to get from where you are to where you need to be. It’s often accompanied by the classics: - “It used to be here.” - “It’s around here somewhere.” - “It’s been a while since I came this way.” That feeling doesn’t just happen on road trips. It happens in our spiritual journey too. As leaders in the Church, we’re called to help people in two distinct but connected ways: to **reach the lost** and to **make disciples**. The first is often celebrated. The second is often slow, messy, and deeply personal. And yet both are essential. Jesus illustrated this beautifully in *Matthew 18:12–14*, reminding us that the Father rejoices not only in the salvation of the lost, but also in the return of those who’ve wandered. ## The Journey of Discipleship I recently explored a book called *The Critical Journey* by Janet O. Hagberg and Robert A. Guelich. They outline six stages of the spiritual life—patterns that reflect how people grow in faith, struggle with self, and mature into love. These stages help us know where people are and how to walk with them in grace. ### 1. Recognition of God A sense of awe or need awakens the soul. It’s a moment of divine awareness, but often coupled with insecurity or isolation. ### 2. Life of Discipleship Belonging, learning, structure, and spiritual security characterize this season. The risk? Becoming rigid or self-righteous. ### 3. The Productive Life Here, the believer finds purpose in serving. Many think this is the summit of faith, but it can become performance-driven and exhausting. ### 4. The Journey Inward This is where things get difficult. It’s a time of self-examination, spiritual crisis, and letting go. People face “The Wall”—a painful but refining barrier that invites surrender and deeper trust. ### 5. The Journey Outward After passing through the wall, the believer emerges with renewed purpose. Ministry becomes more about presence than productivity. ### 6. The Life of Love The final stage is marked by peace, detachment from striving, and compassionate living. ## When Ministry Gets Messy Most churches are good at guiding people to Stage 3. But Stage 4—the inward journey—is harder. It’s unpredictable. And it can feel like a threat to our tidy church systems. But as *2 Corinthians 1:3–4* reminds us: > “Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves receive from God.” You can’t lead someone through a cave you’ve never entered. But if you’ve walked through darkness and found grace, you can guide others with gentleness and hope. ## Leading with Compassion In the film *13 Lives*, rescuers attempt to save a soccer team trapped in a flooded cave. One diver gently guides a boy whose foot gets caught under a rock. He stops, frees him, and presses on. That’s what spiritual leadership often looks like. - We lead not because we know everything—but because we know the One who does. - We walk with people at the pace of grace. - We carry the burden of growth ourselves so we can better carry others. **Just because the last person failed doesn’t mean you will. Try something different. Stay faithful.** ## Final Thoughts Being a disciple-maker isn’t glamorous—it’s gritty. But it's one of the greatest calls you could ever answer. Everyone is lost or wandering until they aren’t. Let’s be the kind of leaders who don’t just reach the lost but guide the wandering. Let’s help others find their way—not with maps alone, but with compassion born from our own journey. --- **The Father rejoices over the one who wandered and is found. Let’s help them come home.** --- ## Water Can't Wash Away Blood Canonical URL: https://jeremykuehn.com/blog/water-cant-wash-away-blood-jesus-sacrifice/ Published: April 19, 2025 Author: Jeremy Kuehn Topics: Good Friday, Forgiveness, Jesus Reflecting on Pilate, guilt, and the only solution to the problem of sin—Jesus’ sacrifice. On Good Friday, we’re invited to ask a powerful question: can guilt ever be washed away with water alone? Pilate thought so. But his actions—and their consequences—reveal something much deeper about our need for true cleansing. ## Pilate’s Public Display Matthew 27:24–26 tells us: > “Pilate saw that he wasn’t getting anywhere and that a riot was developing. So he sent for a bowl of water and washed his hands before the crowd, saying, ‘I am innocent of this man’s blood. The responsibility is yours!’ … He ordered Jesus flogged with a lead-tipped whip, then turned him over to the Roman soldiers to be crucified.” Pilate tries to absolve himself of guilt with a symbolic gesture. A rinse of water. A declaration of innocence. But his soul still carried the stain. No amount of water could clean what only blood could truly address. ## A Universal Longing There’s something in this story that speaks to all of us. The desire to be clean. To be free of guilt. To know that we are okay. Romans 2:15 tells us that even those who don’t follow God have a law written on their hearts—their conscience bears witness to what is right and wrong. Pilate knew. So do we. We attempt to cleanse ourselves through: - Apologies - Distractions - Rationalizations - Good deeds - Avoidance - Blame But none of these reach the soul. They’re water-based approaches to a problem only solved by blood. ## The Cross: Where True Cleansing Happens What Pilate attempted with water, Jesus accomplished with blood. The crowd called for Barabbas, a guilty man, to go free. Jesus, the innocent one, took the punishment. This wasn’t a mistake—it was a mission. Jesus was willingly held accountable for what we could never atone for ourselves. 1 John 1:7 says: > “But if we are living in the light, as God is in the light, then we have fellowship with each other, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, cleanses us from all sin.” Water washes the body, but only the blood of Jesus washes the soul. ## Following the Desire to Be Clean That inner longing to be made right—it’s not something to ignore. It’s not a weakness. It’s a divine signal pointing us to Jesus. You and I have all tried to clean ourselves up. And while those efforts may help us manage the outside, they can never transform the inside. But Jesus can. Good Friday is a reminder: **Only Jesus can truly cleanse.** As you reflect on the cross, don’t just remember a moment in history. Receive the cleansing only His blood provides. The cross wasn’t a tragic accident—it was a divine exchange. The innocent for the guilty. Jesus for us. --- **Water can’t wash away blood. But Jesus’ blood can wash away sin.** --- ## The Universe of Influence PT 2 Canonical URL: https://jeremykuehn.com/blog/universe-of-influence-church-leadership-part-2/ Published: April 8, 2025 Author: Jeremy Kuehn Topics: Growth, Leadership Not everything in leadership creates motion. Here’s how to spot what’s quietly draining your team—and how to move forward with purpose. In [*Part 1 of The Universe of Influence*](/blog/universe-of-influence-church-leadership-part-1/), we explored how momentum works—how volunteers come to life through vision, encouragement, and direction. But every universe, even one filled with motion, has something else too: **Black holes.** In space, a black hole is a region so dense that even light can’t escape its pull. In leadership, black holes are just as real. They show up as mindsets, conversations, and habits that quietly drain energy from your team. Sometimes, you don’t even realize it’s happening—until things slow down or stop altogether. These black holes aren’t dramatic. They’re subtle. But their impact is massive. Let’s talk about three of the most common ones I've personally experienced—and how to lead your way out of them. --- ## Black Hole #1: “My Job Is Hard” Let’s be honest: some days, leading feels heavy. You’re navigating expectations, people, systems, emotions—and still trying to smile. It's easy to slip into the thought: > “This is harder for me than it is for anyone else.” We don’t always say it out loud, but we feel it. The weight of comparison starts to distort perspective. Suddenly, instead of seeing the potential in our role, we start seeing only the pressure. But here’s the truth: **every leadership role has gravity.** Yours isn’t harder. It’s *different.* And in that difference lies your unique advantage. **Let’s flip the mindset.** Instead of asking, “Why is this so hard?” ask, “What strength does this challenge reveal?” **Try this:** - List 3–5 *advantages* of your current role or context. - Think about what makes your influence *strategic*, even if it feels difficult. - Use that insight to frame how you encourage and recruit others. **Example:** If you’re leading in a smaller setting, your strength might be relational closeness. You know people’s stories. That’s gold. Use that connection to invite others into mission: > *“You’ve seen what this team means to people. You could help multiply that impact.”* Remember: **“Hard” doesn’t mean “wrong.” It often means “valuable.”** --- ## Black Hole #2: Commiseration Here’s one that sneaks in with a smile. You’re talking with another leader or teammate. Things aren’t going well. You both start venting. It feels honest. Real. Maybe even bonding. But then… nothing changes. Venting can feel productive, but over time it becomes **commiseration**—the kind of talk that swirls around the problem without ever moving toward a solution. > “I’m just processing.” > “It’s not fair.” > “Other teams have it easier.” That’s the pull. And if we’re not careful, it becomes the culture. **So how do we lead through it?** We don’t shut it down—but we *redirect it.* **Try this when you hear discouragement start to spiral:** - Say: *“That does sound tough. How can I help?”* - Or: *“I’ve felt that way too. What’s one small thing we could change this week?”* Empathy doesn’t mean spiraling with someone. It means offering a hand up. **Application Tip:** At your next team meeting, normalize honesty—but also normalize next steps. Model it. > “I’ve been feeling a little stuck in ________. So here’s what I’m going to try this week…” Culture is contagious. Be the leader who listens—and then moves. --- ## Black Hole #3: “Tomorrow Will Be Better” Ah, the lie of leadership optimism. This one feels like hope, but it’s not. It’s passivity wearing a disguise. > “We’ll figure it out eventually.” > “I’m sure it’ll get better next month.” > “Once things slow down, we’ll focus on it.” We all need hope. But **hope without action is just drift.** And as Newton reminded us—nothing changes without a force applied. **The way out? Push gently. Move something. Do one small thing.** **Try this today:** - Clean or organize the space your team uses. - Schedule one conversation you’ve been putting off. - Write down 2–4 people you could encourage or invite into leadership. None of those things solve everything—but they **create forward motion.** And motion creates clarity. Confidence. Momentum. > **Hope is the spark. Action is the fuel.** --- ## Final Thought: You Can Resist the Pull Leadership doesn’t get easier. But it can get *clearer.* Once you know what to watch for, you can lead with purpose—even when the gravity feels strong. Black holes don’t have to define your culture. You can be the leader who sees them, names them, and moves your team forward anyway. - When you feel like your role is too hard—look for its hidden strengths. - When you’re tempted to vent—choose empathy *and* movement. - When you feel stuck—act. Even a little. Especially a little. Because you’re not just managing a team. You’re building a movement. The universe of influence around you is full of potential. But it’s not automatic. It requires leadership. And you—right where you are—have the force to set it in motion. --- *Thanks for reading Part 2 of this series. If this encouraged or challenged you, share it with another leader in your orbit. The best teams don’t just move—they move together.* --- ## The Universe of Influence PT 1 Canonical URL: https://jeremykuehn.com/blog/universe-of-influence-church-leadership-part-1/ Published: April 1, 2025 Author: Jeremy Kuehn Topics: Growth, Leadership What outer space and church leadership have in common—and how to set your volunteers in motion. If there’s one topic that keeps rising to the surface in leadership conversations, it’s teams—how to build them, energize them, and keep them moving in the right direction. A few weeks ago, I found myself watching a show set in outer space. Over and over again, the characters referenced Newton’s Laws of Motion. It struck me: those same laws that govern stars and spacecraft also offer insight into something closer to home—how we lead people. Because here’s the truth: volunteers aren’t just static names on a spreadsheet. They’re people in motion. They carry momentum, direction, and potential. And as leaders, we’re called to guide that motion, to nurture it, and sometimes to help it start in the first place. That’s where Newton’s Laws come in. They’re not just about physics. They’re a metaphor for leadership—and a surprisingly useful one at that. Let’s explore what they can teach us. --- ## 1st Law: The Law of Inertia – Leadership Starts with Initiative > “An object at rest stays at rest, and an object in motion stays in motion unless acted upon by an external force.” In other words, things (and people) tend to keep doing what they’re already doing. A disengaged person won’t suddenly volunteer. A thriving team won’t automatically stay healthy. Inertia is real—and leadership is the force that disrupts it. If someone isn’t serving, it’s not always because they’re uninterested. It might be that no one has helped them imagine themselves in motion. A well-placed compliment, a meaningful invitation, or a gentle nudge can be the very thing that gets them moving. Here’s a practical approach that helps activate new volunteers: - **Make a specific observation** about what they’re already good at. - **Connect that strength to a need** in your ministry. - **Frame it as a personal invitation** that affirms their value and paints a clear picture of how they could contribute. **Examples:** - _“You are really great at making people feel welcome. You’d be awesome on our hospitality team.”_ - _“I’ve noticed you connect really well with new families—that could really help with our guest follow-up.”_ Leadership at its best isn’t about filling roles—it’s about calling people into motion with intention, affirmation, and clarity. --- ## 2nd Law: The Law of Acceleration – Focus Fuels Growth > “The acceleration of an object is directly proportional to the force applied and inversely proportional to its mass.” (F = ma) In leadership language? The growth of your team is tied to the clarity and energy you invest—and the obstacles you remove. The “force” we apply as leaders comes through vision, encouragement, training, and celebration. When we lead with intention, we empower volunteers to grow. But too often, that force is dampened by unnecessary weight—confusion, red tape, unclear roles, or even overcommitment. If you want your volunteers to thrive, think like an engineer: reduce the drag. Eliminate clutter. Simplify systems. Focus your team’s energy on what matters most. Here’s a practical way to apply this: 1. Identify 2–3 focused priorities that would make the biggest impact. 2. Ask your team how they could help bring clarity or movement to those goals. **Example:** _“How could we create a faster follow-up process for first-time guests at Van Dorn?”_ A team with clear purpose and room to move will always accelerate faster than a bloated one with no direction. --- ## 3rd Law: Action and Reaction – Culture Is Created by Every Interaction > “For every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction.” Every interaction you have as a leader sends a ripple. Encouragement leads to ownership. Clarity leads to confidence. But the opposite is also true. Criticism, disorganization, or silence? Those lead to hesitation, burnout, or drift. Culture doesn’t happen by accident. It happens when leaders consistently show up in a way that invites others to do the same. When volunteers know they’re appreciated, when they’re reminded why their contribution matters, and when they feel supported—they reflect that energy back. They smile more, serve longer, and give their best. Want a culture of energy and joy? Be joyful. Want a culture of reliability? Be reliable. Want volunteers who take initiative? Let them see you take it first. Leadership is not about controlling people—it’s about setting things in motion, creating an environment where positive reactions become the norm. --- ## Final Thought: You’re Leading More Than a Team—You’re Building a Movement What makes working with volunteers so incredible is that it’s never just about getting a job done. It’s about forming people, building community, and watching ordinary individuals become part of something extraordinary. Volunteers don’t just show up to fill a role. They show up to grow, to belong, and to make a difference. And as a leader, you get to guide that process. The universe of influence around you is wide open—but it doesn’t move on its own. It moves when you take action. It accelerates when you focus your energy. It reacts when you invest in others. So the next time you think about your team, don’t just ask “who do I need?” Ask, “what kind of motion do I want to create?” Because the universe of influence is waiting—and your leadership is the force that sets it in motion. [*Read Part 2 of this series*](/blog/universe-of-influence-church-leadership-part-2/), where we explore the three “black holes” of leadership—the hidden forces that drain your influence and stall momentum. --- ## Lead Us Not Into Temptation Canonical URL: https://jeremykuehn.com/blog/lead-us-not-into-temptation/ Published: March 25, 2025 Author: Jeremy Kuehn Topics: Prayer, Spiritual Growth, Temptation, Discipleship Reflections on the final lines of the Lord’s Prayer and how they shape our understanding of temptation, purpose, and the Spirit-led life. Recently, I preached a sermon on the final thoughts of the Lord’s Prayer. In Luke 11, Jesus teaches his disciples to pray with these words: > “Father, hallowed be your name, your kingdom come. > Give us each day our daily bread. > Forgive us our sins, for we also forgive everyone who sins against us. > And lead us not into temptation.” – Luke 11:2–4 (NIV) Of all the ideas I studied and reflected on, there’s one that seems to come up again and again in conversations with people: temptation. It’s the reality we live with. No matter your age or stage in your faith journey, temptation is never far away. Here are a few thoughts from that message that I believe are worth sitting with as we learn to pray, “Lead us not into temptation.” --- ## When You Don’t Know Exactly Where You’re Going… …it’s at least helpful to know where you *don’t* want to go. This part of the Lord’s Prayer is not accusing God of leading us into temptation. That would go against his character. Instead, this is a humble, honest request: “God, lead me away from it.” It’s a prayer for guidance, for spiritual clarity, and for strength to walk in the right direction. And when you look at the prayer as a whole, this request is simply the other side of the coin of “Your will be done.” If we want to follow God’s will, we’re also asking to avoid the detours that sin and temptation throw our way. --- ## Your Purpose and Your Pitfall A question I hear all the time is, *“What is my purpose?”* And it’s a good question. But part of discovering our purpose is also recognizing the things that could derail it. *What would be my downfall?* We don’t like to talk about that part. But it matters. Because temptation often works subtly. It doesn’t always show up in the big, obvious ways. Sometimes it’s just a small compromise that slowly reshapes our character. We often define people by what they *do*. I believe God sees us through the lens of who we could *become*. And temptation—if unchecked—can keep us from ever becoming that person. --- ## Temptation vs. Difficulty Now, hear me on this: don’t confuse temptation with difficulty. This prayer isn’t a plea for an easy life. It’s not a cry to avoid discomfort. Jesus never promised comfort; he promised significance. He didn’t die so we could coast through life—he died so we could be free, fully alive, and living for something that matters. Jesus prayed this over his disciples in John 17: > *“I’m not asking you to take them out of the world, but to keep them safe from the evil one.”* – John 17:15 (NLT) That’s the heart of this prayer: not escape, but protection. --- ## Through the Temptation Some scholars suggest a different nuance to this line of the prayer. Rather than only “lead us *not* into temptation,” it can also be understood as “lead us *through* temptation.” In other words: *Let me not sin when I am tempted.* I came across a commentary that put it this way: > “Thou knowest, Father, how weak I am; let me not be tempted above that I am able.” That hit me. Because the truth is, no matter how long you’ve been following Jesus, temptations still come. Pretending they don’t—or pretending you’re immune—is a setup for failure. We don’t need to be afraid of being tempted. We just need to stay honest, stay humble, and stay close to the one who leads us *through* it. --- ## A Spirit-Led Life Life will always come with its share of challenges. And yes—temptations too. But when you pray, “Lead me not into temptation,” you’re really asking God to help you live a life that says *yes* to him, and *no* to the things that pull you away from who you’re called to be. A Spirit-led life isn’t about being perfect. It’s about consistently reorienting yourself toward Jesus—day by day, step by step. So don’t lose heart. Keep praying. Keep trusting. And when the road ahead feels uncertain, just remember: you may not know exactly where you’re going, but you can know where you *don’t* want to end up. --- ## Church, Change, and the Need for Stability Canonical URL: https://jeremykuehn.com/blog/church-change-stability/ Published: March 5, 2025 Author: Jeremy Kuehn Topics: Church Leadership, Change, Mission Navigating the tension between stability and change in the local church. When I was youth pastoring, I noticed something interesting with families who had immigrated to America within one generation. The parents would usually attend an ethnically based church or a service that spoke the language they had grown up around. Their kids, however, would quickly check out. To be clear, the parents were phenomenal and were working very hard to make a life for their kids, but the kids didn’t seem to connect. One day, I simply asked one of these kids what was up. His response has never left me, and later, I would see his insights play out time and again. Essentially, he remarked that his parents attended a service that closely resembled the way of life they had grown up with, but everything he now did was nothing like how his parents had grown up. I could feel his parents' discomfort and their desire for a weekly reprieve. Everything they now did was Americanized, which was very different from the nation they had grown up in. This change was more than they wanted to bear, so church became one place to find reprieve from the change. ## The Church as a Place of Stability I think this experience is closely mirrored in every church member’s life. We grow up with church a certain way, and as we age, the world around us changes at a rate that is at best uncomfortable and at worst makes us feel as if the world is completely falling apart. A pioneering pastor at their church attempts to make a change, and he encounters nothing but resistance. A couple of things have happened at this point, and we should unpack them. ### 1. The Mission Becomes Misplaced For many members, the **mission of the church** subtly shifts to being a place of reprieve from the world. The sameness of their church—the music, the traditions, the structure—becomes a reflection of what they believe to be the unyielding holiness of God. The way they do church is not just comfortable; it is the **right** way in their minds. ### 2. The World Feels Unrecognizable The reality is that the world has drastically and chaotically changed for that member. Even looking back just a few years, life can feel unrecognizable. **Perception is reality**, and so when a church leader suggests change, it can feel like one more thing being lost in an already shifting world. This presents a challenge: **How do we both navigate the needed change in a local church and bring members along for the journey?** To answer that, we should use two guiding questions: - **How can we honor people’s need for stability while embracing the change necessary to fulfill our mission?** - **What should remain constant, and what must evolve?** ## Stability vs. Change: Navigating the Tension It shouldn’t escape us that one of the characteristics of Yahweh is that **He is unchanging**. Because we are created in His image, I believe this creates an inherent friction to change at a soul level. However, **a local church is meant to be built on mission, not method**. A **method** is simply a developed pathway for accomplishing a task. For example, if our church’s method of outreach has been a **giving tree** for 30 years, that is a method. It’s a good method. It’s an effective method. But the **giving tree isn’t the purpose**. The mission is to fulfill a felt need in the community. To honor people’s need for stability, leaders must **connect them to the mission more than the method**. And when a method accomplishes the mission, we **must always connect the outcome back to the mission**. I frequently tell myself—and at times I’ve told those around me—**I would change everything tomorrow if we found a better way**. In truth, I would. In practice, that would be really difficult. ## Shrinking What Must Remain Constant Our **core beliefs of what should remain constant** should probably shrink. And they should probably shrink drastically. In fact, I would submit that **the only thing that must remain unchanged is the gospel itself**. Everything else—our methods, our preferences, our structures—**should be evaluated through the lens of mission**. ## The Aha Moment Circling back to those families I remember befriending, I invited some of those kids to our youth group. They became ingrained in the discipleship happening at the church, and eventually, even the parents started attending. The final **aha moment** happened when one of the fathers approached me and lovingly thanked me for including his son. He told me, **"All I really want is for my son to be following Jesus. It doesn’t matter what church it’s at."** That statement sums up the heart of the issue: **Mission over method always.**