Ministry is like most occupations: there are times when, in the immortal words of Johnny Paycheck, when you want to take this job and shove it. So what do you do when you're a pastor and Mr. Paycheck is singing to you? For you? Well, as a survivor of a few of those...
I'm not going to lie. I liked yesterday's message a lot. I liked the set up for the sermon -- a song by Don Henley & Trish Yearwood called Words Can Break Your Heart. Don and Trisha weren't with us in person, mind you, but their roles were filled more than...
Anyone ever gotten in trouble because of something you said? Yeah, me too. That's why I think this week's Preventology message is one of the most important in the series. The book of Proverbs, our guide to preventing crises rather than managing them, has a lot to say...
Through the years, there have been some high profile athletes sporting #32 on their jersey. First there was Jim Brown: Then, OJ. You know, before: My favorite football 32 was not so well known . . . unless you grew up in Dallas and loved the Cowboys:...
Do you remember those scenes in old Western movies in which a stagecoach raced across the American plain? While we are grateful for the modern system of interstate highways, the stagecoach's image is nevertheless one of romance, energy, and alignment. All that...
Maybe it's because my own 32nd anniversary is coming up on Thursday. Maybe it's because I have a spate of weddings over the next few months. Maybe it's because that spate includes that of my own son & his fiance. But I've been thinking about what makes a good...
I had a few things I wanted to accomplish with Week 4 of Preventology: Let people know that no national economic collapse happens without a lot of individual collapses preceding it; Let them know that they are not victims of forces beyond their control; Let them know...
So is this what our future looks like? Is it inevitable? Will it be impact everyone? Or . . . will it be Donald's fault? Hillary's? Or the Libertarian candidate's? Or is there a completely different way to approach money, resources, and national crises? I...
If you Google the words “Shouting Methodist,” you’ll discover that the phrase is not an oxymoron. Instead, you’ll read these words in the first article: One name commonly applied to early nineteenth century Methodists was “shouting Methodists” – a name Methodists were...
Few sayings strike more fear into or evoke more apologies out of 21st Century evangelicals than the ubiquitous: I'm spiritual, not religious. We hear it from skeptical family members, from tweed-jacketed professors, from latte-slurping millennials, and we fall all...