As you can tell from looking at the "Books I Like" column to the right, I recently read Doris Kearns Goodwin's No Ordinary Time: Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt & The Home Front In World War II.The book fascinates on many levels, but most especially in its...

That's me, signing a contract with Abingdon Press to publish a book of mine to be called Head Scratchers.Huh?I'm sort of scratching my head at all this myself.Here's the backstory.  For a couple of years, I have had several people in my life telling me that some...

I was away from Charlotte from early Thursday morning until Sunday after church.Which meant, of course, a Sunday away from the people and the pulpit (except it's really a table, but table wouldn't alliterate with "people") of Good Shepherd.So here are some pros and...

This Sunday at Good Shepherd . . .Celebration Choir leads us in worship;That same choir does a hero medley you have to see to believe;1980s pop culture references galore -- you might even see a moonwalk;Discovery of what it means to have someone in your corner and to...

For the next couple of days, Good Shepherd will be hosting the Leading Edge Children's Ministry Conference.What is the Leading Edge? It's the collection of the 100 largest United Methodist churches in the country in terms of worship attendance.  (I think Good...

Not too long ago, I received a message from my friend and colleague Dennis Sult that a couple in our church had suffered a miscarriage.The grief was multiplied by the fact that the loss of the baby occurred relatively late in the pregnancy.Mom and Dad asked if someone...

I mentioned in Sunday's message that among those things about which I have no doubt said "I love that" is my car: a navy blue 2009 Nissan Maxima.I think it's good-looking, and I know it's roomy, reliable, and quick.  It's for sure the best car I've ever had.But...

From the time I arrived at church (7:10 a.m.) until the time the first service began (8:30), I was a petulant brat.I had misplaced a couple of my props (see first paragraph below).  I didn't actually need them as we could have simply projected pictures of...

The bible is full of Anti-Heroes:  Pharoah, Nebudchanezzar, Cyrus, Pilate and my favorite, Demas.First, there's the name.  Alter the pronunciation just a little and presto! you've got some profanity in church.  Especially in the plural.I promise to be...

Here I am at four and a half years old, sporting both my Batman costume and my cast for my broken left arm. If you look closely, you can see the picture was taken on May 29, 1966.The Adam West Batman show had just come on TV, he became my instant hero, and so my...