Blogger, pastor, and statistical analyzer Len Wilson has compiled a list of the 25 fastest growing large (over 1,000 per Sunday) United Methodist Churches in the USA. You might recognize #19. And since our 2014 attendance jumped to 1,974, our five year growth rate...
On Sunday evening, I received the following text message from my 22 year old son Riley, a college senior at UNC-Chapel Hill. I knew he was on his way to a spring break trip in northern Florida. (Now, before you read what's below, imagine all the messages a college...
Here are the preachers from yesterday at Good Shepherd: That's Eleanor Barley, Bryant Pressley, and Shekinah Carpenter. All three gave encouraging words about just who had invited them into a living relationship with Jesus Christ. And in each case it...
Lord knows . . . I love my routines. And just getting back from India makes me eager to step back in to them For example, did you know that I have not had a Nutrageous since February 22? So I had one for breakfast this morning. No, make that two. Anyway, my love for...
For the last couple of months, I have been reading Edmund Morris' biographical trilogy of Theodore Roosevelt: The Rise Of Theodore Roosevelt, Theodore Rex, and Colonel Roosevelt. I have never paid much attention to our 26th president but once I got started on these...
I am in India. Kashmir is in India. Ergo -- Led Zeppelin on xylophone. You're welcome. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JYuOZnAqQCY#t=132
This is one of my favorite "old" tennis pictures of them all. It was October of 1979, this event was in San Antonio, Texas, I am wearing all adidas clothes, and I won the whole tournament. I don't know who took the photo, but I remember feeling on top of the world...
As you read this, my friend James-Michael Smith and I are in Bhubaneswar, India, preparing to work with two different pastoral networks. Here are some reflections about "waking up in India" that I summarized on my second trip here back in 2012. One of our hosts here...
As you look at this post, I am with my friend and colleague James-Michael Smith in Odisha State, India, preparing to work with two different networks of indigenous pastors here. While in India, we won't see the Taj Mahal. We won't see the Sisters Of Mercy mission in...
To say yesterday's sermon was a departure from the norm is an understatement. First: it was not a one-pointer. It was a three-objectioner. Second: it hopped around the bible instead of digging into one particular passage. Third: we did a responsive reading of...