I got this note from someone on our staff: I just got a much-needed haircut at Great Clips. I enjoyed talking with (female name) as she worked on my hair. She moved here a week ago from Chicago. One thing led to another and I invited her to visit Good Shepherd this...
Top Five Tuesday — Top Five (Favorite) 21st Century Novels
The older I get, the more of an English major I become. Novels fill my time, shape my thinking, and inspire my sermons. And I feel privileged to be alive in these early years of the 21st Century, because this season is replete with fiction that is at the same time...
Love Handles, Week 3 — The “Bad Romance” Sermon Rewind
The sermon title came from a song I heard while watching the Super Bowl. The sermon text came from a biblical book and character I got to know well through the Crash Test Dummies series and book. The sermon bottom line is one I fervently believed based on both...
#TBT — Summer, 1971, at 3605 Rosedale, Dallas Texas
Here I am at 10 years old -- on my way to my first state ranking ever, #5 in Texas for Boys' 10-and-under -- practicing my serve in the driveway of our home in Dallas. I am serving towards our detached garage (I have noticed some subdivisions in Fort Mill, SC...
A Good Night At Good Shepherd
Tuesday ended up being a good night for me at Good Shepherd. And there are two reasons for that assertion -- one planned and one spontaneous. First as I walked to my car, I saw three young men in the Good Shepherd parking lot. As I drove near them, I noticed they...
Top Five Tuesday — Top Five Sermon Starters
We preachers spend a lot of time crafting the opening moments of our sermons. Or, if we don't, we should. Because it is in those moments that you either capture your listeners' attention or lose it. In the opening you either establish common ground with the...
Love Handles, Week 2 — The “No One Knows What Goes On Behind Closed Doors” Sermon Rewind
Yesterday's message featured ... A stand-alone door on wheels that was an indispensable prop; A slight window into how United Methodist preachers behave around authority; A title from a Charlie Rich (or was it Charlie Pride?) country music song; One of my strongest...