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Join the Asbury Church Fellowship Program

04 Wednesday Mar 2026

Posted by in Asbury Church, Class Meetings, Fellowship Program, Ministry, Underground Seminary, Wesley

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We are committed to raising up the next generation of leaders for the church at Asbury. We believe doing this well requires a significant investment of time and resources. One of the ways we have begun this work was by launching a Fellowship Program at Asbury Church last year.

Asbury Church Fellowships are two-year full-time paid positions, with benefits.

We are six months into the launch of the Fellowship Program and so far it has been a spectacular success! We hired Grace Hess and Caleb Starr as our inaugural Asbury Fellows and they’ve been great! We want to build on that success, so we are starting our search for the next round of Asbury Fellows. Please help us spread the word!  

What is the Asbury Church Fellowship Program?

The Asbury Church Fellowship Program is a two-year fellowship in Tulsa, Oklahoma, designed to prepare future church leaders for today’s cultural context. 

Fellows gain hands-on experience through rotational roles in:

  • Pastoral Ministry
  • Students/College/Young Adults
  • Business Administration
  • Outreach/Evangelism
  • Experience/Hospitality
  • Worship Arts
  • Communications
  • Asbury Classical School

Fellows will grow through mentoring and discipleship. (This is where I get to spend most of my time with the Fellows.) I meet with Fellows weekly for a Wesleyan class meeting experience, one-on-one check-ins, and a monthly book discussion. I love reading and engaging ideas and I want to introduce Fellows to the best books I’ve read on the Christian life, discipleship, the person and work of the Holy Spirit, big ideas about current issues, personal productivity, leadership, and more. The purpose of all of this will be to grow in Christ, ability to lead and disciple others, and be equipped to lead and minister in our changing cultural moment. (Some of the books we have read so far are: Dallas Willard’s The Divine Conspiracy, Aaron Renn’s Life in the Negative World, and Edwin Friedman’s A Failure of Nerve.)

Asbury Fellows will be present at all worship services (including Wednesday morning communion and Thursday evening), staff chapel, and Wednesday evening discipleship activities, with a “see a need, meet a need” attitude. 

Fellows will also observe leadership meetings, attend the monthly pastor’s Bible Study, assist with pastoral care and visitations, and other experiences that serve the Fellow’s growth and development as a ministry leader.

The program is ideal for ministry-minded individuals seeking accelerated spiritual and leadership growth within a growing, evangelical congregation with Wesleyan theological roots. Fellows will be in seminary or recent seminary graduates.

Why I Am So Excited about the Asbury Church Fellowship Program

I am best at inviting people to things I enthusiastically believe in and I enthusiastically believe in what Jesus is doing at Asbury Church! Asbury Church has remarkable leadership. And really fun things are happening here.

I believe the Fellowship Program is a crucial strategy in a time of uncertainty and significant change in American Christianity. The Fellowship Program is an intentional investment in in-person formation. The problems facing the church in our day will not be solved by applying more technology. We need to invest more fully in relationships in enfleshed spaces. The people I have seen really grow and thrive in their lives in Christ all have one thing in common: They are anchored within a family of faith that provides care, nurture, and discipline. And so, Asbury Fellows will move to Tulsa to be fully present here for two years.

This is a major investment in in-person formation in order to raise up the next generation of leaders for the church. I expect this program to grow over the coming years. And I am excited to see Fellows go from Asbury Church to lead in other churches and themselves raise up leaders for the church.

We are in a time of major change in the broader culture, the church, and the academy. One of the things this means is that approaches to raising up leaders for the church are changing in real time. Some of the things that were taken for granted for the past 50 years are no longer bearing fruit.

The Asbury Church Fellowship Program is our first step to proactively addressing the need for new leaders to be formed, strengthened, and released to lead in the church. I have become more convinced over the past decade that raising up leaders best happens within the church and not outside of it.

Who is Asbury Church?

Asbury Church is a conservative evangelical church from the Wesleyan theological heritage in Tulsa, Oklahoma. In 2026, Asbury has averaged nearly 2,900 people in-person in worship on average each week. (That is 13% growth compared to just last year!) We are passionate about figuring out how to do discipleship and evangelism with excellence in Negative World.[1] 

(The “Negative World” framework is integral to the Fellowship Program, so you will want to familiarize yourself with it if you don’t know about it and are trying to discern whether this is right for you.)

Asbury Church has the kinds of ministry opportunities you would expect of a church of this size: a pre-school, weekly small groups, kids and youth ministry, recovery ministry, and more. We lean into big events like Christmas Eve and Easter, as well as our own made-up holiday – Celebration Sunday! We are a Bible reading church, which is expressed through Bible reading guides and all church Bible Studies (which are roughly once a month during the school year). We also host a seminary extension site (Asbury Theological Seminary, a separate institution) on our property, which reflects our commitment to theological education and raising up the next generation of leaders for the church. Our commitment to education and formation is further seen in our launch of a Classical Christian School (Asbury Classical School) that is in its second year. And we are known in our community for our commitment to missions in and beyond our community.

Who is the Asbury Fellowship Program for?

The Asbury Fellowship Program is ideal for people who have at least one year of full-time seminary experience to recent seminary graduates, who intend to go into local church ministry as their first career. The Fellowship Program is for people who are hungry for more of Jesus, want to grow, desire a deeper understanding and experience of the person and work of the Holy Spirit, and sense a calling to the work of the church. 

Asbury Fellows will be people who love being around Jesus’s church, are excited by the prospect of being immersed in the life of a church for a season and are eager to serve and participate in the full worshipping life of Asbury Church. Fellows will not only be hungry for more of God, but they will come humble, ready to grow and learn, and be led for a season. 

The Asbury Fellowship Program will be a season of accelerated growth for Fellows in their preparation for leadership and administration of the local church. This Fellowship is for people who know they are called to the local church in some sense but may not be sure which part of the church they are called to. This is for people who know they don’t know everything and want to learn from a large and growing church that believes God has more for everyone and is passionate about pursuing joy individually and corporately. 

When will it start?

Applications are due by April 17, 2026, for a program start in August/September 2026.

Click here for full job listing and program details.

P.S. Don’t miss Underground Seminary with Asbury Theological Seminary’s President Dr. David Watson. He will discuss the book he and I wrote together that is hot off the press: Faith & Fire: Methodism as a Move of God. Click here for more details.

[1] We believe Aaron Renn’s diagnosis is accurate. The church in the United States is not in Positive World or Neutral World anymore. The dominant culture and elite taste makers overwhelmingly view the teachings of Scripture and those who unapologetically hold to them negatively. For more, see Aaron Renn, Life in the Negative World (Zondervan, 2024). For the article that led to the book, see Aaron Renn, “The Three Worlds of Evangelicalism” in First Things https://firstthings.com/the-three-worlds-of-evangelicalism/

Kevin M. Watson is a Pastor and the Senior Director of Christian Formation at Asbury Church in Tulsa, OK. He is also on the faculty at Asbury Theological Seminary, anchoring the Seminary’s Tulsa, OK Extension Site. His most recent book, Doctrine, Spirit, and Discipline describes the purpose of the Wesleyan tradition and the struggle to maintain its identity in the United States. Affiliate links, which help support my work, used in this post.

Join Dr. David Watson at Underground Seminary: Faith & Fire

27 Friday Feb 2026

Posted by in Christian Living, Church culture, Methodist History, Ministry, Underground Seminary

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Our next Underground Seminary is going to be our biggest yet! This is the first time that we will have a guest who travels in from out of state to be with us. And I am so pumped to introduce him to you.

This Underground Seminary is called Faith & Fire.

And it will feature Dr. David Watson, the President of Asbury Theological Seminary. 

Asbury Theological Seminary is one of the largest seminaries in the world and is the largest Wesleyan evangelical seminary in the United States. Asbury Seminary’s headquarters are in Wilmore, KY which is where the outpouring of the Holy Spirit happened on campus in February 2023. I love getting to be on the faculty and teach at Asbury!

Who this is for:

Underground Seminary is for people who are in ministry, interested in ministry, or considering ministry. It is for people who are hungry for more of God. It is for people who want to learn how to be more effective in work in the church. It is for people who want to grow in faith and holiness.

Underground Seminary is a place for candid and off the record discussion of ideas that matter, particularly for the church in the 21st century and might not fit in a typical seminary curriculum. Underground Seminary is non-academic, not for credit, and only in person.

And my favorite part: Underground Seminary gives people considering or getting started in ministry access to great leaders. This is one of my favorite parts of doing this. I have two decades of ministry experience in the church and academy, and I know firsthand that great leaders are also in demand and have full schedules. It excites me to be able to give people access to my favorite leaders.

Underground Seminary is serious and fun. 

It is inspiring and practical.

What this Underground Seminary is about: 

Faith & Fire

You will get to have a conversation with Dr. David Watson, President of Asbury Theological Seminary. He and I have written a book together called Faith & Fire: Methodism as a Move of God. This will be the first time I get to talk about this book. And it is going to be so much fun!

I am going to invite Dr. Watson to start by sharing what people in ministry need to not just survive, but to thrive in their work. How should people prepare for ministry and what maintenance should they do to continue to grow in their work? What do you need to do to bring faith & fire to your seminary education, maintain it throughout seminary and your entire ministry?

Then, Dr. Watson and I will talk about our new book. For more than a century, from John Wesley’s “heart warming experience” at Aldersgate Street through the dramatic growth of the Methodist Episcopal Church through the 1850s, Methodism was a powerful move of God. In our book, David and I share the keys for a Spirit-filled movement of God in our day. David will unpack this in ways that will be relevant and insightful for your ministry.

When is this?

March 26, 2026 from 12:00-2:30 pm.

Where is this?

This Underground Seminary will meet at Asbury Church in the CLC. Asbury Church is located at 6767 S. Mingo Road, Tulsa, OK 74133. The CLC is just to left when you come in the West Foyer. We will have hosts ready to greet you and point you in the right direction from any of the main entrances.

You need to register.

Register at this link. 

The cost for this Underground Seminary is $10. You will receive a copy of Faith & Fire and lunch is included. In case it isn’t obvious: We are not making any money here. The church will cover the additional cost for every person who attends. (If you have dietary restrictions, please email amiller@asburytulsa.org after you register.)

You need Faith & Fire! 

So does the church.

Are you ready for more? Come join us!

Kevin M. Watson is a Pastor and the Senior Director of Christian Formation at Asbury Church in Tulsa, OK. He is also on the faculty at Asbury Theological Seminary, anchoring the Seminary’s Tulsa, OK Extension Site. His most recent book, Doctrine, Spirit, and Discipline describes the purpose of the Wesleyan tradition and the struggle to maintain its identity in the United States. Affiliate links, which help support my work, used in this post.

“His words have the disadvantage of not being true.”

30 Friday Jan 2026

Posted by in Book Review, Christian Living

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A sentence I read in a book has had me thinking about something I think should be a strong value for pastors (and all Christians).

We should have a basic concern for the truth. 

We should not say things that obscure the truth.

I’ve been thinking about this as a result of reading Thomas G. Long’s Accompany Them with Singing: The Christian Funeral. 

(Though this post is focused on something that is largely tangential to this book, I want to say that this is a really good book. I recommend it for thinking about death, funerals, and memorial services.)

I chuckled when I read this sentence:

“If that is what he meant, his words have the disadvantage of not being true.”

Here is the broader context for this quote:

The pastor’s affirmation that the deceased would “never be forgotten,” though commonly said at funerals, is also ambiguous. Probably he meant to offer comfort by implying that, even though the deceased is now dead and gone, not all is lost, because the memory of his life and good works will live among us always. If that is what he meant, his words have the disadvantage of not being true. Cemeteries are full of the graves of people no one remembers any longer. If the deceased are of value only if we the living can keep their memory alive, then we are to be pitied. As the psalmist truly says, “As for mortals, their days are like grass; they flourish like a flower of the field; for the wind passes over it, and it is gone, and its place knows it no more” (Ps. 103:15-16). [p. 97]

Long points out the way in which the sentence is not true either practically or theologically. 

You don’t have to think very hard about the idea that someone who has just died will “never be forgotten” to realize it is untrue. People say it because they believe it will be comforting. But it isn’t true. And that is actually a big deal.

We should not try to comfort people by telling them things that are not true. 

Though doubtless well-intentioned, the statement is also theologically problematic. Long continues:

“The gospel does not place the burden on the living to keep alive the spiritual flame of memory. Rather, it affirms that the deceased is now raised to new life and sings in the great choir of the communion of saints standing in the presence of God. Only in this way, only in the life of God, is the deceased “never forgotten.” [p. 98]

One of the most important roles of a pastor is a persistent determination to tell the truth and point people away from confusion, deception, and outright lies.

This is easy when we catch someone telling a lie to hide the truth in an intentional way. Most people still know that is wrong.

The more pressing challenge is to think more carefully about what we are saying about reality and ask if it is really true.

Too often, the things that are said by Christian leaders sound nice and there is a syrupy and superficial promise of bringing comfort.

But they have the disadvantage of not being true.

Pastors should be more like medical doctors in this regard.

If your doctor discovers that you have a serious illness, they will tell you even though they know it will make you feel bad. They don’t do this because they like it. They do it because it is their job to tell you the truth about the reality of your health.

Too often, especially in mainline Protestant contexts, pastors have acted as if their highest calling was to make people feel better.

But, again, this has the disadvantage of not being true.

Kevin M. Watson is a Pastor and the Senior Director of Christian Formation at Asbury Church in Tulsa, OK. He is also on the faculty at Asbury Theological Seminary, anchoring the Seminary’s Tulsa, OK Extension Site. His most recent book, Doctrine, Spirit, and Discipline describes the purpose of the Wesleyan tradition and the struggle to maintain its identity in the United States.Affiliate links, which help support my work, used in this post.

The Best Book on How to Become a Disciple of Jesus

21 Wednesday Jan 2026

Posted by in Book Review, Christian Living

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When people come to my office, they often comment on the number of books I have.

I think the most common question I am asked is:

Have you actually read all of these?

The answer is a definite no.

As many times as I’ve been asked that question, there is a question a pastor asked me once that I remember vividly, I think because the question was so wise:

Of all of these books, if you could only recommend I read one, which one would it be?

What a great question! It was simple and profound.

I also had a bit of a “All of my children are my favorite moment” before realizing that books are not at all children.

I was surprised at how hard this question was for me to answer. I probably sat and thought about it for a full minute (which is really a long time when someone is standing in front of you waiting on your answer).

My final answer was Dallas Willard’s The Divine Conspiracy: Rediscovering Our Hidden Life in God. That question was asked and answered about five years ago.

As part of the Asbury Fellows Program, I lead a discussion of a book with the Fellows each month. And this week we discussed Dallas Willard’s The Divine Conspiracy, which gave me the chance to reread it for the first time in many years.

I am so thankful that this book, which I first read when I was in college, did not let me down when I returned to it nearly thirty years after it was first published.

Willard diagnosed some basic places where the American church had lost its way and worked to bring her back to health and wholeness. 

I would say that The Divine Conspiracy is the best, and most demanding, book on discipleship to Jesus Christ I have ever read.

If you have not read this book, you should stop what you are doing and order it right now.

I may return to this book here over the coming weeks because there is so much here worthy of emphasis and reflection.

For now, I want to share one key piece that has stood out to me since reading it.

In the last third of the book, Willard describes something that really gets at the foundation of our faith. We really can’t move on, at least not in a productive and healthy way, until we really get this. Or, perhaps, we literally will not move forward until we do.

This a long quote, but it is so good:

There are many people who would like to be the constant student and co-laborer with Jesus in all the details of their lives. Many of these are professing Christians; some are not. But in either case, living as an apprentice with Jesus in The Kingdom Among Us is usually not something that seems accessible to them. No wonder, then, that practical, experimental steps seem to be lacking. They do not really understand what discipleship to him is, and it therefore remains only a distant, if beautiful, ideal.

It is now generally acknowledged, as we have noted, that one can be a professing Christian and a church member in good standing without being a disciple. There is, apparently, no real connection between being a Christian and being a disciple of Jesus. And this is bound to be rather confusing to a person who would like to be a disciple. For what exactly would one do who didn’t intend to go into “full-time Christian service” but still wanted to be a disciple in something like the sense just outlined?

I believe we can identify definite steps that will prove effective. But before discussing them we need to be quite clear about our preliminary objective. Because, as we have seen, a disciple of Jesus is one who is with Jesus, learning to be like him, what, we must ask, is the state of soul that would bring us to choose that condition? What would be the thinking, the convictions about reality, that would lead someone to choose discipleship to him?

Obviously one would feel great admiration and love, would really believe that Jesus is the most magnificent person who has ever lived. One would be quite sure that to belong to him, to be taken into what he is doing throughout this world so that what he is doing becomes your life, is the greatest opportunity one will ever have. (291-2)

                  In the next section, Willard points to two of Jesus’s parables that “illustrate the condition of soul that leads to becoming a disciple.” These are the parable of the treasure hidden in the field and the pearl of great price. They are found in Matthew 13:44 -46. Here they are:

                  The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field, which a man found and covered up. Then in his joy he goes and sells all that he has and buys that field.

                  Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant in search of fine pearls, who, on finding one pearl of great value, went and sold all that he had and bought it.

These two very short parables contain a foundational truth about Christian discipleship. If you miss it and move forward, you will most likely build a form of Pharisaic works-righteousness rather than the kind of relationship with Jesus that he himself desires.

And this is where Willard is just stunningly excellent. Read this slowly:

These little stories perfectly express the condition of soul in one who chooses life in the kingdom with Jesus. The sense of the goodness to be achieved by that choice, of the opportunity that may be missed, the love for the value discovered, the excitement and joy over it all, is exactly the same as it was for those who were drawn to Jesus in those long-ago days when he first walked among us. It is also the condition of soul from which discipleship can be effectively chosen today. (292)

Like the parables of the treasure in the field and the pearl of great price, the “deal” is so good you don’t even think about whether you want to take it. You immediately gather up everything you need to be sure you get the bargain.

It is that stunningly good.

It is entirely to your benefit.

It is a blessing.

It is a joy to receive.

It is like the most ridiculously good Christmas a child could ever imagine.

And the offer of life with Jesus is real!

And it is, indeed, entirely to our benefit.

If it seems otherwise, we have not yet fully understood, much less received, the full gospel. Jesus is not trying to pull one over on us. He is not trying to take good things from us that we must grit our teeth and give him anyway, because eternity is at stake.

Jesus offer us life and life abundant.

He is exceedingly good.

He is unimaginably generous.

This is wonderful news. But there is a tinge of sadness as I think about this. And that is because the good news of Jesus is so much better than many of his own followers have realized.

Kevin M. Watson is a Pastor and the Senior Director of Christian Formation at Asbury Church in Tulsa, OK. He is also on the faculty at Asbury Theological Seminary, anchoring the Seminary’s Tulsa, OK Extension Site. His most recent book, Doctrine, Spirit, and Discipline describes the purpose of the Wesleyan tradition and the struggle to maintain its identity in the United States.Affiliate links, which help support my work, used in this post.

Upcoming Events at Asbury: What to Know

09 Friday Jan 2026

Posted by in Class Meetings, Ministry, Teaching, Underground Seminary

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Happy New Year!

This Spring is going to be awesome here in Tulsa at Asbury. 

At Asbury Church we have just started our Year Through the Bible, using The One Year Bible. And we are off to a great start! Throughout Advent, we gave away 11,500 Bibles and completely ran out. We ordered 4,000 more in mid-December and they just arrived yesterday.

Among other things, we have created a website to help specifically to help people read through the Bible in 2026. I am consistently impressed with the great work Asbury’s staff is able to do on these kinds of things! Check out yearthroughthebible.com.

Today is January 9th. You can still join us! In fact, even if you aren’t in Tulsa, you can download the Life Bible App and set the start date to January 1, 2026, and read along with us for free. (Click the Life Bible App button at yearthroughthebible.com and there is a video that shows you how to sync the app up with the beginning of the year so you are on the correct reading for January 9th. Unfortunately, you cannot do this on YouVersion.)

We had more than 8,000 people attend Christmas Eve services in person at Asbury this year. It was so fun to see so many people in worship, especially extended families. 

After Covid and 2020, I will never take for granted worshipping in person with people again.

This past Sunday, we had 3,074 people in person for worship at Asbury, more than we’ve had in worship the first Sunday of the year since 2014. (Though we live stream our worship service and publish sermons online, we do not count online views in our worship attendance numbers. We literally count noses in the sanctuary or chapel.)

My favorite part of life at Asbury has been getting to know individual people and seeing them take steps forward in their faith. I am in a small group with 8 people, and we are linking arms and committing to read through the entire Bible together in 2026. We met for the first time last night and I feel so excited and hopeful for what the Lord is going to do this year.

If you live in the Tulsa area, you should come and be a part of what God is doing at Asbury. 

If you don’t live in the Tulsa area, I want to invite you to be part of some things that are worth coming to Tulsa for at the Asbury Theological Seminary Tulsa Extension Site.

I know this can be confusing to folks, so let me clarify that there are two Asburys. (Asburies?) Asbury Church and Asbury Theological Seminary. I get to work at both. The Church is in Tulsa, OK. Asbury Theological Seminary is in Wilmore, KY, with several extension campuses including one in Tulsa. Asbury Church hosts the Asbury Theological Seminary Tulsa, OK Extension Site. 

Despite the potential for confusion, I like that the church and seminary I’m at both share the same theological heritage and intentionally express that by being named after Francis Asbury, the Father of American Methodism.

Francis Asbury statue at Asbury Church in Tulsa, OK

Now, back to exciting upcoming events in Tulsa at the Asbury Seminary Tulsa Site:

I am teaching two hybrid classes this Spring semester. A hybrid class is part online and part in person. This means you can complete the entire class online with a 3 day in-person intensive in Tulsa. (To state the obvious, this means you do not have to live in Tulsa to be able to take a class with me.)

These intensives are SO FUN!

I am teaching TH501: Basic Christian Doctrine. The in-person intensive is March 5-7, 2026

I am teaching TH650/SF650: Wesleyan Discipleship. The in-person intensive is March 26-28, 2026.

You should take both classes, of course.

But, if you can only take one, I am especially excited about Wesleyan Discipleship. This is my favorite class to teach. It is an historical introduction to the basics of discipleship in the Wesleyan tradition that also offers very practical guidance on how to implement the essentials of following Jesus with a Wesleyan accent. Students will learn about the theology and practice of the Wesleyan class meeting and band meeting and receive hands-on training in implementing these groups.

This will be my fourth time teaching this class. I’ve received amazing feedback from students each time about how it has changed their own faith and equipped them to lead in their own churches.

I cannot wait to teach this class!

I am also excited about this version of this particular class because Asbury Theological Seminary’s President, Dr. David Watson, is coming to Tulsa! (People always want to know if we are related. We are not.) 

I was thrilled to learn of Dr. Watson’s appointment to serve as President of Asbury Seminary and am looking forward to having him be with us here in Tulsa. This is a big deal.

President Watson is going to do 3 things I want to invite you to attend:

1. He will lead our next Underground Seminary, where he will discuss the brand-new book we wrote together: Faith and Fire: Methodism as a Move of God. (More on this book in a future post.) This event will be here in Tulsa on March 26, 2026, from 12:00-2:30pm. More on this Underground Seminary here soon. 

2. Dr. Watson will preach at Asbury Seminary’s chapel service for my hybrid class. That chapel service will be on Friday March 27, 2026, at 11 am in the Asbury Church Development Center chapel. This service is for the Asbury Theological Seminary community. If you are considering seminary, this would be an ideal time to come check us out. You can sit in on my class before chapel, then hear from the President of Asbury Seminary, and stick around for lunch with current students. If you’re interested reach out to penny.hammond@asburyseminary.edu.

3. Dr. Watson will be preaching at our Sunday morning worship services at Asbury Church on Palm Sunday (March 29th). Sundays at Asbury are so fun. I always encourage students to stick around for worship on Sunday if they are able. Sundays are really fun and it is a great chance for students to get a sense of how things work at a different church than their own.

It is not too late to enroll for class at Asbury Seminary this Spring! I know of a student who started the admissions process on a Sunday and received word that he was admitted by Thursday. But time is running out. You should start the application process today and then enroll in my class!

Like I said, this Spring is going to be awesome here in Tulsa at Asbury.

Kevin M. Watson is a Pastor and the Senior Director of Christian Formation at Asbury Church in Tulsa, OK. He is also on the faculty at Asbury Theological Seminary, anchoring the Seminary’s Tulsa, OK Extension Site. His most recent book, Doctrine, Spirit, and Discipline describes the purpose of the Wesleyan tradition and the struggle to maintain its identity in the United States.Affiliate links, which help support my work, used in this post.

How to Achieve the Goal of Reading the Bible in One Year

10 Wednesday Dec 2025

Posted by in Bible, Christian Living

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Last week, I shared my thoughts on developing a habit, specifically the habit of daily Bible reading. Knowing how to do it is not hard.

Doing it is the hard part.

In this post, I want to talk about the difference between a habit and a goal. 

My daughter received a bike for Christmas last year. And we decided to set a goal to ride our bikes 1,000 miles in 2025.

At the point that we decided to do this, neither of us were really riding bikes much at all. So, for us, this was a pretty bold goal.

I gave serious thought to this particular goal before suggesting it to my daughter. I wanted it to be hard. I wanted it to be something that would require us to put in consistent work and effort over the course of the entire year. I also wanted it to be realistic. 

I knew there would be times we would ride more and times when we would ride less (like when it seemed to rain every day for two weeks, or when I was out of town). It wouldn’t be a very satisfying goal to accomplish if we hit the target in mid-March of 2025. And we would almost certainly quit if it required extreme commitment and near perfection every single day for 365 days. 

1,000 miles in 365 is about 2.74 miles per day. That means we could do a short ride every day, or longer rides several days a week.

At one level, we have worked to develop a habit of riding bikes together. But it was not exactly a daily bike riding habit. We don’t really care if we ride every day. We care that we accomplish the goal of riding 1,000 miles. We win when we color in the last box on our chart. 

With three weeks left in 2025, we have riden 960.73 miles. We are on track and the finish line is coming into view.

When we color in the last box, my daughter will feel a tremendous sense of accomplishment that comes from not only doing something difficult, but doing something difficult that requires consistent effort over a long period of time.

Riding bikes in 2025 with my daughter while preparing for the Year Through the Bible has made me think about the difference between a daily habit and a big picture goal. We are actually after both with our One Year Bibles.

The first priority is developing and strengthening a robust daily Bible reading habit. I wrote about this in depth here.

But a very close secondary priority for everyone who starts with us in January is reading the entire Bible in one year. 

By way of reminder, here is a short summary of how to develop a habit of reading the Bible every day:

1. Decide what to eliminate so you have margin to do something new.

2. Decide when you are going to do it.

3. Decide where you are going to do it.

4. Decide where the things you need to do it will be.

5. Do it with other people.

Some quick thoughts on habits vs goals

I think one of the challenges of leading a church through reading the Bible in a year is that you are combining two things. 

First, you are using a year as a long ramp to help people really build a habit of daily Bible reading. A habit is something that becomes an action that you do regularly and consistently over a period of time. Developing a habit of daily Bible reading is a top priority for anyone who wants to be a disciple of Jesus Christ. It will literally change your life.

Second, reading through the Bible in a year is not only working towards building a habit, it is a goal. Goals are concrete and measurable. They start and they end. Reading through the Bible in a year, then, is also a goal that is finite and has a completion date.

One of the reasons the daily Bible reading habit is the first priority is because many people will join Asbury mid-year and we will encourage them to begin where we are, which means they will not read the entire Scripture in that calendar year, but they will establish a habit of daily Bible reading. Regardless of when you join in with us, you can work on developing a robust daily Bible reading habit. And that is a foundational habit in the life of everyone who is a disciple of Jesus Christ.

That is the win!

I also get really excited by the idea of thousands of Christians reading the entire Bible cover-to-cover over the course of a year. Maybe it is just because I personally love these kinds of goals.

I want to share a few thoughts about the goal of reading the entire Bible in one year.

This is so obvious, but the first thing is to follow the steps above for building a daily Bible reading habit.

The obvious question, however, if you want to read the entire Bible in one year using the One Year Bible is: What do I do if I miss a day?

If you don’t read the Bible one day and the goal is building a habit, the most important thing is to literally do whatever it takes to read the Bible the next day. (This is why it matters that you pre-decide when and where to do it. If you miss a day, just follow the plan the next day.) The problem with building a habit is not missing one day. The problem is that one day tends to become two days, which tends to become three, and then three weeks.

So, if you are working on building a habit and you miss a day there is only one thing that matters – Do it the next day!

And if you have a goal to read the entire Bible in a year, it turns out that the solution is the exact same if you miss a day: Do it the next day!

But here is one important difference between a goal and a habit: 

You cannot make up ground on a habit. You either read the Bible yesterday or you didn’t. And that either helped you have a habit of daily Bible reading or it helped you have a habit of not reading the Bible daily. There is no way to make up for missed days in building a habit.

You can make up ground on some goals. If the goal is to read the entire Bible in one year, I can still do that if I didn’t read the Bible yesterday. But it means I must read more on at least one other day than normal.

Here is another important difference between a habit and a goal:

The idea of a habit is that it does not have an expiration date. Habits are not designed to end. Think about the habit of exercise or of going to bed on time. There are seasons and stages of life and reasons you start new habits. But the idea of a good habit is a thing that you are trying to install in your life that becomes automatic and continual.

Goals do have an end that you are working towards the entire time. I often set a goal to read 100 books in a year. When the calendar turns over to a new year, I have either done it or I haven’t. And there is a sense of accomplishment and completion that comes with accomplishing goals.

I think every disciple of Jesus Christ needs to both develop a habit of reading the Bible daily and they need to read through the entire Bible.

I think habits and goals actually reinforce each other. You are more likely to develop a daily Bible reading habit if you have a goal in mind you are working towards that is specific and measurable. And this is exactly why it is common for churches to lead a congregation wide effort to read through the entire Bible in one year.

Ok, so for both building a habit and pursuing a goal, here is what you should do if you miss a day:

Do it the next day!

Keep going!

That will both help you move forward again on your habit. And it will help you make progress on your goal.

Here is one practical step that applies only to the goal of reading the entire Bible in a year even if you are not perfect in your daily habit:

Add a time block once a week that is for catching up.

This is not the same time as your daily Bible reading habit. It needs to be a different time. To establish the habit of daily Bible reading, you need a plan to do the same thing every day.

I would suggest planning for one-hour. Remember step one for building a habit. This will require eliminating another hour of something else you do. 

I would recommend scheduling this one-hour block during a time that usually feels more relaxed in your week so you are more likely to use it when needed.

If you build an additional hour into your week to read the Bible, you will be able to make up significant ground if you fall behind. And if you schedule that into your weekly calendar, you also get a reward for being on pace – a free hour to do whatever you like!

If you follow these steps, I am sure you will both develop a daily habit of reading the Bible. And you will read the entire Bible cover to cover in one year.

This is essential for Christian discipleship. If you don’t yet have a habit of daily Bible reading, you can! Why not start now? You can work through these steps right now.

P.S. I have not been perfect in reading the Bible daily. But I can say it has become a habit in my life. And not once have I regretted spending time reading the Bible. You won’t either. 

P.P.S. You should join us in reading through the Bible in 2026. We are reading The One Year Bible (ESV). You can grab a physical copy here. Or, you can read along in YouVersion by downloading the app and searching “The One Year Bible” in plans. (Be sure to include “The” and it will be the first search result. It is the one with a green leaf at the bottom left of the cover.) If you start the YouVersion plan on January 1, you’ll be on pace with us all year.

Kevin M. Watson is a Pastor and the Senior Director of Christian Formation at Asbury Church in Tulsa, OK. He is also on the faculty at Asbury Theological Seminary, anchoring the Seminary’s Tulsa, OK Extension Site. His most recent book, Doctrine, Spirit, and Discipline describes the purpose of the Wesleyan tradition and the struggle to maintain its identity in the United States.Affiliate links, which help support my work, used in this post.

5 Steps to Develop Daily Bible Reading Habit

04 Thursday Dec 2025

Posted by in Bible, Christian Living, Ministry

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How do you start a habit? Or, better, how do you become disciplined in doing something specific over and over again so that doing it becomes second nature?

Starting a habit is easy. Or, maybe better, starting a habit is not a habit. 

Developing and sustaining a habit is difficult and requires discipline over weeks, months, and years.

Everyone knows that good habits (like daily exercise) are important and will make your life better. And everyone knows that bad habits (like eating a gallon of ice cream before bed every night) need to be avoided, or they will make your life worse.

But how do you actually do this?

I want to share my thoughts on building a habit in one specific area I’m working on for my work at Asbury Church. (The graphic below is for a workshop I’m doing this month.) The ideas here can be used more broadly to develop and sustain a habit in any area of your life.

Asbury Church is a Bible reading church. We say this all the time at Asbury!

And we mean exactly what the words say. We literally read the Bible at Asbury.

It can be easy to give lip service to the idea of reading the Bible but not actually do it. We read the Bible in our worship services. We read the Bible in our Monday morning staff chapel. We read the Bible in our midweek communion service. You get the idea.

And we work hard to lead our people to read the Bible in private daily.

We have often done this by preaching through one book of the Bible at a time. Our senior pastor, Andrew Forrest, creates Bible reading guides that we give out that have the entire text of the book we are reading through divided up into short daily readings. Andrew will offer a short commentary to help people better understand what they are reading. Andrew frequently says, “The commentary is not the point. The Bible is the point.” 

You can see the Bible reading guides Andrew has written here.

In 2026, we are leaning into reading the Bible even more. We are asking our people to read the Bible in a more disciplined way.

2026 is Year Through the Bible at Asbury Church.

We are going to read through the entire Scripture over the course of the year. It is going to be hard. And it is going to change the lives of everyone who joins us!

Our number one discipleship priority for Year Through the Bible is simple: We want to see people develop a robust daily habit of reading the Bible. People who do not have a habit of daily Bible reading will develop one. And people who already have a daily Bible reading habit will strengthen it.

Given this, the most basic question in my work is this:

How can I help people actually develop the habit of daily Bible reading? 

I am sure that anyone who does what I am suggesting here will develop a habit of daily Bible reading.

This will work if you do it.

The hard part, as we all know, is doing, not knowing what to do.

Here is how to install the habit of daily Bible reading into your life.

1. Decide what you are going to eliminate. 

I assume your life is already full. Few people have tons of margin they are just waiting to fill with good habits. The challenge is you already feel like you have 30 hours of stuff to do in 24. 

Therefore, the first thing you need to do is eliminate something you do every day that tends to be about 30 minutes. If I had to guess, I would bet that for at least 90% of people, this would be mindlessly watching television or doom scrolling social media before bed.

Is the content you are consuming making you more hopeful? Is it energizing? Is it helping you become the kind of person you want to be? 

Probably not.

Reading the Bible will.

If you are serious about building a habit of reading the Bible every day, you will make the hard choice to eliminate something so you will have margin to add a new habit.

2. Decide when you are going to read the Bible every day. (This is where most people start talking about habits, but I think the previous step is important.)

I know you already know this. Again, it is the doing that is hard, not the knowing.

The first thing you need to do to “win” in developing a daily Bible reading habit is to decide when you are going to do it. You need to literally develop a concrete specific plan. 

When are you going to read the Bible? 

If you do not pre-decide this, you won’t do it. It is that simple.

Short cut: For almost everyone, the short cut to developing a daily Bible reading habit will be to do it first. Get up, grab your coffee, and spend the first 30 minutes of your day reading Scripture and talking with the Lord.

Let me ask you right now: Can you tell me when you read the Bible every day? If you can, congratulations! You have a daily Bible reading habit. If you cannot, you almost definitely do not read the Bible every day.

Advanced Tactic: Try to think about the difference between your consistent routines and times when the routine is disrupted. Is there a way you can frame when you read the Bible that accounts for those differences? As I mentioned in the short cut, first is what works best for me. I plan to read the Bible first thing in the morning and so I get up in time to do that first before I do anything else. And when I fail to read the Bible on a given day, it is almost always because I did not have a plan to read the Bible first.

3. Decide where you are going to read the Bible every day.

It is important that this be consistent. Is the place you read the Bible on weekday mornings overrun with children watching cartoons on Saturday morning? Then, you need somewhere else to read the Bible. Think about your environment in as much detail as you can. Where can you consistently read the Bible at the time you are planning to read it without be interrupted or distracted?

4. Decide where your Bible and anything else you need will be. Keep your Bible in the same place. You will not develop a habit of reading the Bible daily if you can’t find it! Ideally, your Bible will be where you are planning to read the Bible. If you are going to sit in the same chair every morning, then leave the Bible on the table next to the chair. This may have the bonus of being a topic of conversation with family or friends who see it in a conspicuous place. And, if you slip up and forget early on in implementing this habit, you will have a visible reminder which will give you a chance to pick it back up.

5. Do it with other people.

Join a small group to hold each other accountable and to discuss what you are learning and places you have questions.

Community is helpful in forming any habit. This is a basic part of the success of Weight Watchers (dieting) and CrossFit (exercise) to name just two examples.

At Asbury Church, we are launching new small groups that will form for the purpose of helping people read through the Bible together in 2026.

If you do these five things, you will develop a habit of reading the Bible daily. And you can apply this to any habit you want to build.

1. Decide what to eliminate so you have margin to do it.

2. Decide when you are going to do it.

3. Decide where you are going to do it.

4. Decide where the things you need to do it will be.

5. Do it with other people.

P.S. You should join us in reading through the Bible in 2026. We are reading The One Year Bible (ESV). You can grab a physical copy here. Or, you can read along in YouVersion by downloading the app and searching “The One Year Bible” in plans. (Be sure to include “The” and it will be the first search result. It is the one with a green leaf at the bottom left of the cover.) If you start the YouVersion plan on January 1, you’ll be on pace with us all year.

Kevin M. Watson is a Pastor and the Senior Director of Christian Formation at Asbury Church in Tulsa, OK. He is also on the faculty at Asbury Theological Seminary, anchoring the Seminary’s Tulsa, OK Extension Site. His most recent book, Doctrine, Spirit, and Discipline describes the purpose of the Wesleyan tradition and the struggle to maintain its identity in the United States.Affiliate links, which help support my work, used in this post.

Facing Spiritual Opposition in Ministry and What to Do about It

12 Wednesday Nov 2025

Posted by in Christian Living, Life, Ministry, Teaching

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When you are on the right track, you will often experience harassment, discouragement, or other opposition.

How do you know that this is happening?

When this happens, what should you do?

I want to answer these questions by sharing about my experience teaching the Church History One hybrid, which is the 8th in-person intensive I’ve taught since moving to Tulsa and joining the faculty at Asbury Theological Seminary. This is the in-person part of a hybrid class, where students come to Tulsa for part of 3 days. They are so great. But, can I be honest with you?

Going into this hybrid, I was dragging. I was tired. My energy was low.

In previous posts, I have shared about how hard I work to try to create the right culture in the classes that I teach. I have found that this is by far the most important thing that I do. My work is to be as proactive as I can be to set the right culture, be attentive to it as the class unfolds, and be obedient to what I think the Spirit is wanting to do.

I have shared about this in some detail in this post and especially this post. The latter includes student experience, so don’t miss that.

(By the way, I share about this work here because it is relevant for far more than seminary teaching. Culture is everything.)

I noticed something I hadn’t noticed before after teaching this class. (It came through the wise counsel of a friend.) I often feel opposition going into the intensives when students are on site. On the one hand, there is a lot that goes into these hybrid classes. And I end up teaching for 20 hours at the end of the week during time that I’m usually not working. On the other hand, I think what I experienced last week wasn’t just fatigue or stress.

I believe I experienced harassment and opposition from the enemy.

How do I know? 

First, the way I felt was abnormal. It was not the same feeling as being tired. It was not the same feeling as being upset because something wasn’t going well, or I’d made a mistake. It was not the same feeling as feeling unprepared. It was more chaotic internally than these are for me. It is hard for me to describe this more precisely, but spiritual opposition is chaotic and confused. It can be helpful to zoom out and ask if the words you are using to name the experience are actually how you feel with the experience you are naming.

Second, it was changed by prayer. 

I reached out to a handful of people and asked for prayer on Thursday morning, the day the hybrid began. And the Lord broke through in a wonderful way through these prayers. One of the most effective ways to combat spiritual oppression or harassment is prayer.

Third, I was fasting. I invite students to fast before our class meets. This is spiritually potent. But it also seems to nearly always connect with increased spiritual warfare. This makes sense to me because fasting is intentionally leveling up one’s focus on the things of the Spirit and denying the flesh. The enemy hates this.

Fourth, the Lord moved during my class. This is something that is seen retrospectively, but I think you can notice patterns and be prepared going forward. I have seen the Holy Spirit move in powerful ways at every hybrid I’ve taught. It is not surprising, then, that I would experience some harassment before these classes.

To provide some context, I’d like to share, with their permission, three unsolicited testimonies from students in last week’s hybrid. 

I wanted to let you know of the fruit that has already ripened in my life over the weekend and during the intensive. Thursday you presented us with the words: healing, freedom, and joy. At first I did not know how those words applied to me. Thursday night I felt very joyful taking communion. Friday I shared how God has been bringing up aspects of my life to hand over to Him. This summer there has been tension between sin, little moments in my life, spiritual disciplines, and handing everything over to God. I found that time of prayer over classmates and being able to talk about our walk beneficial. 

Sunday I had an experience where my heart was greatly warmed. I feel the assurance of my sanctification as strongly as I do my salvation. I now realize that healing took place first, which allowed me to experience freedom and joy—joy which I shared with others that day.

Sometimes we plant seeds and do not always get to reap the harvest, so I wanted to share what has been done this weekend. I believe the hybrid did play a hand due to you opening up the room for what the Spirit had to offer. 

My heart is so full, I can barely express my gratitude for the wonderful time of study and fellowship we experienced during the in-person gathering. I learned so much about church history and a lot about myself too. Thank you for providing an atmosphere of worship and prayer. Each element of the weekend satisfied a longing in my spirit to be closer to the Lord and to his people.

Once again thank you for being obedient to the Lord during this fantastic learning and worship experience.

I just wanted to say “thank you” for creating that space for spiritual breakthrough today. I needed it. I’ve come to expect big things in my heart at these, but today was particularly meaningful. Thanks for making these more than simply academic.

These are a blessing to me to read because I know the people who wrote them and I got to see the Lord work in a piece of their story. I am especially touched by the kindness of these students to share with me things I would not have known otherwise (as the second student said so well, “Sometimes we plant seeds and do not always get to reap the harvest”). So generous!

Ok, last indicator that we might be experiencing spiritual warfare: I think it is an indication of spiritual warfare when there is ease in the moment, but there opposition before the moment arrives. I think this is related to anointing. When you are operating in a particular anointing you have, it is typically an easy yoke. You will notice an abnormal impact with ease. I have a friend who uses a phrase I love: It is like falling off a log.

Ok, so there is a description of what I experienced that can help you think about your own experience with more discernment.

The key question is: When this happens, what should you do?

I think the answer is pretty straightforward, actually.

If you are doing something that the Lord consistently blesses and you are experiencing harassment or opposition to it by the enemy, the right thing to do is obvious.

Keep going!

Going into my next hybrid, I am going to have a calm expectation that I will face opposition. I will pretty much do the same things I’ve been doing. They work. 

But I am going to try to do them in the way you prepare to do a hard thing you’ve done before. Knowing it is coming will help me know the rest of what is coming. And contending to see the kinds of testimonies I’ve seen from students preparing to lead in Christ’s church is worth it!

So, when you experience discouragement, opposition, or various trials and tribulations when you are doing the Lord’s work and there is consistently fruit, do not quit. 

Keep going. 

One step at a time.

P.S. I am teaching two classes at Asbury Seminary in Tulsa this coming Spring. Both classes are hybrid classes, which means you only have to be on-site in Tulsa for three days for the entire class (the rest is online). I am teaching a class on Basic Christian Doctrine March 5-7, 2026. And I am teaching a class on Wesleyan Discipleship March 26-28, 2026. They are worth taking in their own rite. But they also meet ordination requirements for various denominations, including the Global Methodist Church’s new ordination requirement for a class in Wesleyan Discipleship. I love getting to teach from my research and publishing on Wesleyan small groups like the class and band meeting. And this class is not only about the ideas but equipping to do them. It is so fun! Don’t miss it. (For more information, click here, scroll down, and shoot me an email.)

P.P.S. The Wesleyan Discipleship class is going to be especially fun because Asbury Theological Seminary’s President, Dr. David Watson, is going to be preaching for our chapel service during class. We’re also working on an Underground Seminary with President Watson. We wrote a book together. I can’t wait to share more about this!

Kevin M. Watson is a Pastor and the Senior Director of Christian Formation at Asbury Church in Tulsa, OK. He is also on the faculty at Asbury Theological Seminary, anchoring the Seminary’s Tulsa, OK Extension Site. His most recent book, Doctrine, Spirit, and Discipline describes the purpose of the Wesleyan tradition and the struggle to maintain its identity in the United States. Affiliate links, which help support my work, used in this post.

The Role of Pastors: Honesty and Emotional Intelligence

05 Wednesday Nov 2025

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A quick update this week and a short thought I wanted to share:

My CH501 Church History One Hybrid Is Meeting in Tulsa This Week!

Francis Asbury statue at Asbury Church in Tulsa, OK

This week is my favorite week of the semester. The students for my CH501 Church History One class are coming to Tulsa for our in-person intensive. We will have 20 hours of class time together over 2.5 days. (We will also have an Underground Seminary event with Rev. Andrew Forrest, Asbury Church’s Senior Pastor, this Thursday right before class begins. This is going to be such a blessing to students! Details here.)

I work hard to set a healthy culture that is open to the person and work of the Holy Spirit. I wrote about exactly what I do for that here. I think this work has been the most significant growth I’ve experienced during my time in Tulsa so far. Culture is everything!

Much of the work that I am doing is to enable the class together to be open to what God wants to do in our midst while we are together. Because I have seen the Lord do cool things in these hybrids, I carry a sense of anticipation and expectation for these classes when they meet. I also experience a tension when I hold space for the Lord to move. I often have a sense of what the Lord wants to do and also a profound awareness that I am not in control of what the Holy Spirit does or whether people are open to responding. By the way, I think holding this tension is one of the hardest and most important things you do in ministry. 

All this is to say, I would be grateful for your prayers for this class. Please ask the Lord to enable me to think clearly, teach faithfully, hear what the Lord wants to do, and respond accordingly. Please pray for students to have safe and smooth travel to Tulsa. And pray for all of us to be fully present to Jesus during our time together. Thank you!

A Thought I often Have about the Difference between Pastors and Physicians

I am interested in the different ways various generations experience the world. This would quickly become a different post, but one way I have been marked through the culture, church, and leadership around me that I experienced is a hunger for leaders in the church who tell the truth with conviction and appropriate emotional intelligence.

I am not talking about saying a hard truth to someone in a way that is callous and hurtful for no good reason. And I am not encouraging saying something with the intention of hurting them or giving offense. That is not what I mean here.

I’d like to share an image I often use in teaching to illustrate what I’m talking about: the difference between pastors and physicians.

Let’s start with physicians:

If I go to the doctor and a test returns very bad news, what happens?

The doctor will tell me the truth in a straightforward and clear way, every single time. 

In fact, if the doctor hid a diagnosis to protect my feelings, they could be sued for malpractice.

I am not a medical doctor. But I imagine that having to tell someone that they have inoperable cancer is very difficult. The response the patient has to receiving the news is hard to watch. And though the doctor has not caused the diagnosis, they are the one who is making it known.

But doctors tell the truth, whether they like the truth they have to share or not.

Now, consider pastors:

If a pastor is engaging with someone who is in denial about the impact their beliefs or behavior is having on their life, what do they do?

Well, it seems to me this varies quite a bit.

There are so many different areas of this we could explore. Pastoral care is subjective in a way that a cancer diagnosis or lab result is not, for example. I want to lay the ambiguity aside for the moment. I want to talk about when a pastor knows in their gut something about the person in front of them.

I know myself the temptation to not tell the truth about what I see because I am worried about their feelings. They won’t like what I say. Or, they won’t like me because I made them feel bad.

One common image used to describe pastoral work in the previous eras is “the cure of souls.” If pastors are unwilling to tell the truth to people they are pastoring, their work to cure souls is certain to fail.

This is hard work. I am not saying it is easy. But it is essential for the future health of the church.

I am asking the Lord to raise up a generation of leaders for the church who are so desperate to see people healed and made well through faith in Christ that they become more like physicians.

May the Lord give his shepherds strength and courage to call people to repentance when it is needed, so they can turn around, fight against sin and Satan, and find fresh victory in Jesus.

Kevin M. Watson is a Pastor and the Senior Director of Christian Formation at Asbury Church in Tulsa, OK. He is also on the faculty at Asbury Theological Seminary, anchoring the Seminary’s Tulsa, OK Extension Site. His most recent book, Doctrine, Spirit, and Discipline describes the purpose of the Wesleyan tradition and the struggle to maintain its identity in the United States. Affiliate links, which help support my work, used in this post.

Cultivating Culture: Doing Common Things Uncommonly Well

29 Wednesday Oct 2025

Posted by in Christian Living, Church culture, Ministry, Underground Seminary

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One of the things I have really appreciated about my time in Tulsa has been learning about the importance of culture in an organization. I knew quite a bit in theory about this before coming to Asbury Church. But I did not have firsthand experience of an organization intentionally working on setting a healthy culture with excellence and experiencing breakthrough like I have here.


I’ve experienced this in a handful of ways. One of my favorites is the way Andrew Forrest, Asbury’s Senior Pastor, and Rodney Adams, Asbury’s Executive Director, develop and use punchy short phrases over and over again that point to and motivate desired outcomes within the staff and the Church. I’ll share some of these here from time to time because I think they will be helpful to you. Here is the first one:

“At Asbury, we do the common uncommonly well.”

This is a great phrase for so many reasons. Here are a few:

1. It changes the way we think about the things we commonly do.

There is a tendency to think that because something is common, we already know how to do it with excellence. But that is not the case. In fact, the common is often done exceptionally poorly. And that is a disaster for the culture of any organization!

Can I give you an example? 

Since moving to Tulsa, I occasionally lead the first part of our worship service. When I do this, my job is to kickstart the service with appropriate tone and confidence. 

If you have been to any worship service, they all have this in common. There is some moment that starts the worship service. And most of the time there is not much forethought given to that moment.

But it sets the tone for the entire service! It is crazy to not practice, rehearse, and prepare with uncommon effort for this moment.

And so, I have practiced over and over and over again in my office, in front of the mirror, and in front of colleagues. And I still have room to get better.

Boy has this been humbling. 

As I’ve tried to do the common welcome and greeting uncommonly well, I have made mistakes. I once showed our staff a recording of a welcome and greeting at our Thursday evening service when I forgot to introduce myself, take off my name tag, and empty my pockets. I then showed the recording of the 11am Sunday service where I had ironed out these mistakes to illustrate the difference practice makes.

Working to do the common welcome and greeting to a worship service uncommonly well has been difficult and challenging.

And it has been SO FUN! I have really enjoyed being part of a culture of excellence and seeing myself improve in a basic skill for pastoral ministry. Growth is fun.

2. This phrase makes it obvious that we are a place that expects hard work, consistent effort, and commitment to improve. 

Doing basic things with excellence takes work. It takes effort. It takes hunger and commitment to grow. It requires a willingness to receive feedback and be coached up.

And, guess what? 

These are also all qualities we want to see embedded in the culture at Asbury Church. 

3. Doing the common uncommonly well gives everyone the opportunity to focus on doing their work with excellence.

In church work, the Sunday morning worship service is the most important part of the week. It’s true. But this can also lead people to thinking excellence is only required at the most public facing and visible thing happening on Sunday morning, such as the music and the sermon. 

Emphasizing doing the common uncommonly well helps everyone be engaged in doing their work with excellence. 

Am I currently working to do the basic functions of my job with excellence? Even asking that question almost always surfaces areas where I can grow as a leader. 

4. This phrase creates a disincentive to join the team at Asbury, or remain on it, if someone does not want to work with excellence.

I love the way doing the common uncommonly well puts the focus on a positive target. And so this last one may initially seem negative or off-putting to you. However, another thing we often say at Asbury is, “clarity is kindness.” We are pursuing excellence. We expect everyone on our staff to do the common uncommonly well. Therefore, I see it as a kindness to folks considering joining our team to make this expectation clear.

One of the reasons working on the culture of an organization matters is because different places have different cultures. I love being at Asbury Church! But Asbury may not be someone else’s cup of tea. 

That is ok!

It just means Asbury won’t be the right place for them to work.

I am thankful for the ways Andrew and Rodney are intentionally bringing clarity to the staff at Asbury Church here in Tulsa, OK.

And I have found it energizing to think intentionally about the ways I can do the common uncommonly well in my work. Growth and improvement are fun. And I always have room for more of both in my work. 

Next Step: What is one area in your current work where deciding to do basic work with greater intentionality and excellence would make a significant impact? Start with a basic and simple step and build from there. 

Here is an example of a next step from Asbury: 

The first practical step toward doing the common uncommonly well here was a focus on email, especially subject lines. Andrew took time in several monthly staff meetings to explain this emphasis and then walk through how to improve use of email, especially writing subject lines that provide clear communication to the sender, especially when they are for internal work at the church. Immediately after that meeting, I started thinking about the purpose of an email subject line differently, and working on writing them with greater intentionality. 

P.S. Have you registered for our Underground Seminary event yet? The deadline to register is October 30th. This is an opportunity to hear Asbury Church’s Senior Pastor, Rev. Andrew Forrest, talk about his new book Love Goes First. This is one of the best books I’ve read in the past decade. If you are in the area, you don’t want to miss this. Register now before time runs out. Details here.

P.P.S. I am teaching two classes at Asbury Seminary in Tulsa this coming Spring. Both classes are hybrid classes, which means you only have to be on-site in Tulsa for three days for the entire class (the rest is online). I am teaching a class on Basic Christian Doctrine March 5-7, 2026. And I am teaching a class on Wesleyan Discipleship March 26-28, 2026. They are worth taking in their own rite. But they also meet ordination requirements for various denominations, including the Global Methodist Church’s new ordination requirement for a class in Wesleyan Discipleship. I love getting to teach from my research and publishing on Wesleyan small groups like the class and band meeting. And this class is not only about the ideas but equipping to do them. It is so fun! Don’t miss it. (For more information, click here, scroll down, and shoot me an email.)

Kevin M. Watson is a Pastor and the Senior Director of Christian Formation at Asbury Church in Tulsa, OK. He is also on the faculty at Asbury Theological Seminary, anchoring the Seminary’s Tulsa, OK Extension Site. His most recent book, Doctrine, Spirit, and Discipline describes the purpose of the Wesleyan tradition and the struggle to maintain its identity in the United States. Affiliate links, which help support my work, used in this post.