Here's why I liked what we got to do yesterday: 1. We had a Campaign that had nothing to do with pledging money and everything to do with pledging prayer time; and 2. We rescued Psalm 46:10a from its Hallmark card safety and repositioned it dangerously into the...
Only Human, Week 6 — “Human Racing”
Inspired by Fred Craddock, involving an Operation Christmas Child Radical Impact Project, including a stellar sermon from my friend and colleague Devin Tharp, Only Human has been one of my favorite series. And now it culminates on Sunday with "Human Racing," a message...
Here I Raise Mine Ebenezer
The hymn Come Thou Fount Of Every Blessing has this puzzling line: “Here I raise mine Ebenezer, hither by thy help I’m come . . .” What in the world is an Ebenezer? And how do you raise it? An Ebenezer stone comes from I Samuel 7:12 where the prophet raises a large...
Top Five Tuesday — Top Five Things To Know About A 100 Year Old Mother
I spent this past weekend with my immediate and extended family in Austin, Texas, where we celebrated the 100th birthday of my mom, Betty X. Davis. An eclectic crew of over 100 family members, writers, tennis players, politicians, and neighborhood friends gathered in...
Guest Blogger: Devin Tharp’s “Super Human” Sermon Rewind
I spent the past weekend in Austin, Texas, celebrating my mother's 100th birthday. (More on that particular extravaganza on tomorrow's Top Five Tuesday.) So one of my favorite people on earth, Devin Tharp, our Pastor of Student and Family Ministries, delivered the...
A Calvinism Conundrum
Here's a question I recently thought of regarding conversion, Calvinism, and predestination. It's based partly on my early faith experience as a 17-year-old and then partly out of an Ephesians-based bible study. Here it is: Do Calvinist Christians (great people, great...
Everywhere I Went . . . There I Was
So this happened yesterday: What was all that about? Well, Laurel University is an intimate, picturesque, undergraduate institution with a distinctively Wesleyan approach to its theology and practice. After all, its name until 2011 was John Wesley College and many of...
Top Five Tuesday — Top Five Things That Happen When A ‘Think To Talker’ Has To ‘Talk To Think’
I have noted with many of you before the difference between people who "think to talk" and those who "talk to think." Think to talkers ponder, meditate, and plan what they are going to say before they ever say it. Talk to thinkers process their thoughts verbally. ...
Only Human, Week 4 — The “Human Being” Sermon Rewind
On a weekend in which we wrestled with sub-human acts across the globe, in the Good Shepherd Worship Center we focused on what it means to be a human being. Specifically, I tried to make a connection between the feel good generosity event known as Operation Christmas...
Will All You Human Beings Help Make An Operation Christmas Child Miracle?
So this is the Sunday. We receiving our Operation Christmas Child boxes. We gave them out two weeks ago, along with the reminder that you're touched locally so you can touch globally. And now, as human beings, you can do just that. If you weren't with us on November 1...