When I was a young preacher in Monroe, North Carolina, the ministry of Lenny Stadler at Weddington United Methodist Church almost defied belief.Throughout the decade of the 1990s, he led what had been a sleeply little country church into the kind of growth that made...

Here's one of the questions I recently asked each of our staff to consider:How can my schedule be as full of face-to-face interactions with people as it is full of nose-to-screen interactions with my computer?Answering that question well is one of the great challenges...

The position of District Superintendent (usually called "DS" by insiders) within the United Methodist Church is something to which I have never aspired and for which I am ill-qualified.And yet on Tuesday night that's exactly what I was.Here's how and here's why: ...

On most weekends in the fall, I spend at least some time watching football.College on Saturday and pro on Sunday.And this year, it has become crystal clear to me that I enjoy the Saturday experience much more than Sunday.  I'm sure that part of that bias is...

Over the last week, I traveled to northern Indiana for some continuing education with a group of North Carolina Methodists and my son Riley spent his fall break with some college friends in Charleston, SC.As a result, we communicated more than usual by text...

Who doesn't need a little Kenny Chesney on this Friday?Some people do change.But most people don't.How is it that we can apply Gospel power so that we're in the former but not the latter?Sunday.8:30.  10.  11:30.

Every once in awhile, I get a fresh reminder of how the division of the bible into chapters and verses can actually get in the way of our encounter with Scripture.Case in point: this week, as part of preparation for a Men's Life Group Bible Study I lead on Sunday...

In the tradition of Brown Sugar, Start Me Up, and One Hit To The Body, here's the Stones' new single, Doom And Gloom:http://youtu.be/rPFGWVKXxm0How in the world did they do that at 70?

One of my earliest memories -- say from when I was four or five years old -- is the awareness that I have a very unusual first name.And early on, I didn't like it.First, it was easy to make all kinds of vaguely insulting nicknames out of it.  TalBUTT was the...

Over the last few weeks, I've bought two CDs.The first one was the new release by Mumford & Sons, surely one of the few rock acts ever to use banjo, fiddle, and stand up bass and still look cool.The second purchase was of a new CD by Band Of Horses, a modern band...