I have been thinking about how my understanding of my specific role as a pastor has changed through the years.Twenty years ago, in a small rural parish, my role was to provide comfort and counsel to people through the ministry of visitation. The first words my first...
Though I grew up in Texas and have lived on the East Coast throughout my adult life, California has always had a hold on my imagination.As I posted yesterday, 3/4 of my little family and I are here on a combination wedding trip / vacation.So what does California...
I missed church yesterday because Julie, Riley, and I are in the California desert.After I officiated at a wedding in Mission Viejo on Sunday, we trekked a couple of hours east to Palm Desert that evening.That lands us today in Indian Wells, home of the BNP Paribas...
On a hill far away . . .So begins one of the best-loved hymns of the faith, The Old Rugged Cross.Yet have we considered what it really means that the central symbol of the Christian faith is an instrument of execution?Can you imagine if church steeples were topped...
It is very tempting in ministry to focus so much on the goal that you neglect the goal beyond the goal.For example, I'm part of a team that puts a great deal of thought and effort into Sunday morning worship experiences. We want the Sunday gathering to be powerful,...
I'm quite sure it's not original with me, but recently I have been praying that what God does to me he would then do through me.So that if he fills me with joy, that same joy would then flow through me to others.If he drenches me with the Holy Spirit, that same Spirit...
Whether or not you attend Good Shepherd, there are certain things you can do that will ensure you have a bad experience in Sunday worship:Assume the worst. Be wary of the smiles of the people sitting next to you in the pew. Question the preacher's motives. And of...
We showed this yesterday as a way of capturing how people catch and then spread the WE Virus at Good Shepherd:carolyn update from Andy Weibley on Vimeo.I'm grateful as always for the ways God harnesses all the talented people here to impact people's lives in...
The Methodist blogosphere (yes, it exists) is abuzz about the recent series of posts from Craig Groeschel of LifeChurch.tv.You can read them in succession here. Click on the link, and scroll down to the posts from February 22 - February 27.Groeschel started ministry...
I went to sleep last night asking God to give me a word or Scripture for use in a meeting today.I woke up at about 2 a.m. and 2 Timothy 1:7 was planted firmly in my mind:"For God did not give us a spirit of timidity, but a spirit of power, of love and of...