In honor of the upcoming Fourth Of July holiday, here are my five favorite songs with an "American" theme. Rock songs are rarely "pro-American" -- we've got Toby Keith for that -- but more often convey an ambiguity about the distance between American ideals and...
Yesterday's message ... Acknowledge a bible verse I don't like very much; Included a rare "please write these three things down" moment regarding leadership; Built to a poignant video that shows what Good Shepherd At Home is like during pandemic; Led to this bottom...
Our Communications Team is chronicling how the people of Good Shepherd have grown in their living relationship with Jesus Christ during pandemic. So today ... meet the Stoltenbergs: https://www.facebook.com/GoodShepherdCharlotte/videos/1161412037585639/
In speaking with a preacher friend recently, I mentioned that the early part of every sermon needs to surface a problem that needs to be solved or expose an itch that needs to be scratched. Really, then, sermon openings invariably involve predicaments. I want the...
Last Wednesday I had cataract surgery. Quick backstory: I have worn contact lenses since I was 16 ("You mean you're supposed to be able to SEE the individual leaves on trees? Who knew?!"). About six years ago, I began to need reading glasses for "close in" vision;...
Yesterday's message ... Coined a new song: "Insulting Grace." Trademark efforts to come; Offered reflections on Muddy Methodist Theology from a generation or so ago; Encouraged listeners to be out of step with current culture as long as they are in touch with...
This happened 40 years ago this week: It's from the finals of the 1980 Texas Sectionals Championship for Boys' 18-and-under at the McFarlin Tennis Center in San Antonio. I won the match and the tournament by beating Neil Adams 6-4, 6-2. As far as I can tell, I am...
I admit it: I obsess over bottom lines. Pointed points. Plain truths. The one point of one point sermons. However you label them, they are the currency of the preaching craft as I practice it. Once I sense that after study and prayer I have arrived at a bottom...
This Saturday, June 20, the city of Charlotte will have its annual ManUp Conference. Except the men won't be coming to church somewhere in town. Instead, in light of Covid-19, the conference will be coming to them. Here are five things to know about ManUp 2020 ......
Yesterday's message ... Was the first "prepared" one in three weeks; Imagined a conversation with Paul and Timothy in which the apostle tells his son in the faith that he's going to "win the New Testament!" Concluded with a precious photo from pandemic of a young Good...