Here in Lake Junaluska, NC, surrounding by about 2,500 United Methodist friends . . . . . . .and in the middle of worshipping, networking, fanning, politicking, voting, reminiscing, and reconnecting, there's also a bit of time for . . . Head Scratchers celebrating....

In response to The Filter Factor (see here), a Good Shepherd friend sent me this note:   Talbot, Thank you for the message.  I used to watch the news in the morning and it just consumed me with anger.  And by the time I head to work I am already wound up and...

A couple of years ago, an internet commenter referred to me as a "formerly Methodist pastor." Then this past week, I read the regrettable story of a Kansas pastor who turned in his ordination credentials on the floor of Annual Conference when a contentious vote didn't...

United Methodist Churches rarely do series on what's called worldview.  We tend to leave those to the independents, the non-denominationals, the evangelicals. Yet that is what BrainWashing is -- a series focusing on the grid through which we look at the world and its...

  Guess what? I have loved the Brainwashing series. The people of Good Shepherd have been attentive, I have been energized, and I am seeing how people really are looking at the world through a new, Gospel-centered, grid. Sunday will have more of the same. Our...

In reading through the letters of Paul and Peter, I continue to be surprised by his emphasis on one of the least glamorous aspects of the Christian life: self-control. For example . . . ” … so that Satan will not tempt you because of your lack of self-control” (I...

  Next week, about 2,500 United Methodists from all across the western part of our state with gather in Lake Junaluska for the Western North Carolina Annual Conference meeting. And, thanks to one of my favorite people, Good Shepherd will be well represented....

So what in the world was happening thirty-one years ago today?   1.  The Boston Celtics and Los Angeles Lakers were in the middle of one of the most celebrated and acrimonious NBA Championship series ever.  Boston's signature play was Kevin McHale's clothesline...

When Every Silver Lining Has A REALLY Dark Cloud was, again, one of my favorite messages to deliver. It had a title I really liked, a noun-centric metaphor (a harp), and a closing section I was able to deliver with considerable conviction because I've been on the...

Here's the cliché:   But here's the reality:  many of us do a much better job of dwelling on the dark cloud than the silver lining surrounding it. Is that you? Because what interests me most this week is the correlation between our obsessive thoughts and our...