Former U.S. Senator Ben Sasse is dying from stage four pancreatic cancer, yet one of his final public messages is not about politics, power, or elections. It is about neighbors. That alone should make us stop and listen. In a recent interview highlighted by the Washington Examiner , Sasse argued that Americans have confused their political tribe with their true community. He warned that we have elevated national partisan identity above the relationships that actually sustain human life. Sasse said: “I think your fundamental political community is your neighborhood.” That sentence cuts against almost everything modern American culture teaches us. Today many people know more about political commentators in Washington than the names of the people living three doors down. We can explain the latest outrage on cable news but cannot explain the story of the elderly widow on our block. We know who our enemies are online, but not who needs help nearby. Sasse argues this inversion is dange...

  Neighborhood Mission Trips for Everyday Christians , reimagines the mission trip not as a distant excursion but as a walk across the street. It’s a book for ordinary Christians who want to live missionally, starting in their neighborhood.  This book is a practical, devotional-style guide that empowers Christians to see their own neighborhood as a meaningful mission field. Written for individuals, small groups, and churches seeking to reimagine outreach, this book brings the structure of a short-term mission trip into everyday life—without passports or plane tickets. Combining Scripture, personal stories, devotionals, and practical guides, this book equips individuals and churches to cultivate deeper relationships, overcome social isolation, and love their literal neighbors in tangible ways. This is not a theological treatise or a feel-good collection of ideas. It’s a blueprint. Readers are walked through a week-long neighborhood mission trip complete with daily themes, ...

In our age of relentless self-focus — self-care, self-expression, self-improvement — George MacDonald’s words cut through with a clarifying force: “Love of our neighbor is the only door out of the dungeon of self.” The metaphor is stark and deliberate.  The self, left unchecked, is not a palace of freedom or enlightenment. It’s a dungeon — isolating, dark, and constrictive. And the only escape? Love turned outward. Modern culture often sells the idea that the key to happiness lies within — in discovering and mastering the self. We’re urged to look inward for peace, to build our “best lives” with curated experiences and personal growth. But if we spend too long peering into our own reflection, we risk becoming prisoners of it.  Obsession with the self narrows our view until the needs and lives of others become hazy, peripheral at best. MacDonald, a 19th-century Scottish writer and theologian, saw clearly what many of us miss: that real liberation begins when we turn our attenti...

G.K. Chesterton once said, “We make our friends; we make our enemies; but God makes our next door neighbour.” It’s a quote that stings a little, especially when you think about that neighbor—the loud one, the grumpy one, the one who never waves back, or always parks too close. Unlike our friends, we don’t get to curate our neighbors. But according to Chesterton, we’re not supposed to. The people who live right next to us, behind us, across the street—they’re not there by accident. As Christians, we believe in providence. That means we believe that God has a purpose not just for our lives, but for the people placed in our lives, even if those people are awkward, difficult, or just very different. We love talking about “mission fields.” Sometimes we even fly across the world to serve strangers. But often, we ignore the mission field that shares our fence line. The truth is, the most powerful witness many of us will ever have isn’t a sermon—it’s a conversation in the driveway, a shared me...

In a world where moral ideals are often universalized, the concept of “loving your neighbor” can lose its practical edge. We say “everyone is my neighbor” and feel that this satisfies the command to love others. But what if that’s actually a loophole—a way to diffuse responsibility so broadly that we never have to act meaningfully? What if the point of the command is not abstraction, but proximity? What if it’s not about loving humanity in general, but about loving the people who share your fence, your street, or your apartment wall?   There’s something unsettling about how easily we substitute vague goodwill for concrete action. Loving “everyone” is noble in theory, but impossible in practice. No one can engage deeply with all 8 billion people on the planet. That’s not a moral goal—it’s an escape hatch. By saying everyone is our neighbor, we sometimes give ourselves permission to love no one in particular. We avoid the awkwardness of knocking on a door. We sidestep the effort of l...

“I hope this doesn’t offend you, but…” If you’ve ever heard that phrase, you know exactly what’s coming: something that absolutely will offend you . And if you’ve ever said it, well, join the club.  We live in an age where offense is currency. Social media thrives on outrage, and entire relationships—especially with neighbors—can unravel over barking dogs, property lines, or the nerve of someone painting their fence that color. But what if the biggest barrier to loving our neighbors isn’t them —it’s us ? Author Brant Hansen explores that idea in his powerful book Unoffendable . His core argument is both simple and countercultural: we should give up our “right” to be offended. Why? Because holding on to offense—real or imagined—poisons our relationships and robs us of peace. Think about your neighborhood.  Is there someone who parks too close to your driveway? Leaves their trash can out too long? Walks their dog past your house like they own the block? Our natural res...

  In the 2024 "State of Neighboring" survey of Missourians that I conducted, the final survey question sought open-ended responses to this question: “What does it mean to love your neighbor?” Of the 2,000 people surveyed, 12% did not answer this optional question and 8% answered with expletives and comments about hating their neighbors and wanting to be left alone. But the remaining 80% did respond with various answers. This is my analysis of the main themes and categories identified in the responses. Principle Themes Kindness and Respect: A dominant theme is the emphasis on kindness and respect towards neighbors. Many respondents equate loving your neighbor with treating them kindly and showing respect for their privacy, property, and individuality. Empathy and Assistance: Respondents frequently highlighted the importance of being empathetic and providing assistance. This includes checking on neighbors in times of need, offering help without being asked, and providing supp...

  The longest Super Bowl game in history will also be remembered the most-watched program in U.S. television history. According to Nielsen and Adobe Analytics, Kansas City's 25-22 overtime victory over San Francisco on Sunday night averaged 123.7 million viewers across television and streaming platforms. For this Super Bowl, CBS sold 30-second television spots for $7 million (or $133,000 per second). That does not include production and talent costs, of course. You may look at your checking account and think $7 million is a lot. But advertisers consider it a way to reach a large audience for about half a penny per person! Plus, Super Bowl commercials have become a phenomenon in their own right, creating social media buzz and gaining views on YouTube. A 2020 survey revealed that 79 percent of viewers see the commercials as entertainment. After the 2019 Super Bowl, consumers spent 641 thousand hours watching Super Bowl ads on YouTube! The Super Bowl is one of the biggest events on th...

  Does God need a public relations agency or media campaign? After the "He Gets Us" media campaign ran $20 million worth of television ads during the 2023 Super Bowl, I asked that question . I'll give you a hint about my conclusion: why would God need a media campaign if He had millions of Christians loving their literal neighbors? What if Christians focused on a theology of place and used front-yard ministry to get to know and love their immediate neighbors? Instead of $20 million for 160 minutes of air-time, could we mobilize millions of American believers to build relationships with their next-door neighbors? Could we build relationships on understanding, compassion, and loving our neighbors no matter their response? If we did, imagine what a movement of change that could bring to our neighborhoods, cities, and even our own lives! The Servant Foundation is funding the He Gets Us media campaign. They have a $100 million budget and some big supporters, like the Green Fam...