There is a difference between "hands-off" ministry and "hand off" ministry.A "hands off" approach to ministry suggests that the pastor or leader doesn't touch the ministry area. He can't get his hands dirty or his mind involved. It's almost beneath him.A "hand off"...
Down on the bottom button bar of my computer there is a small green x.It's always before me. And I'm glad of that.That x reminds me that there are some people I love dearly at this church who will receive a weekly report of any questionable places I visit on the...
How does someone raised in Texas who spends most of their adult life in North Carolina end up a Bruce Springsteen fan?Well, those seven years living in New Jersey didn't hurt. After all, many people in that place still want "Born To Run" to be the official state song....
Julie and I spent this past weekend in Dallas celebrating my nephew's wedding. As a lot of you know, I was born and raised there, living in the same house from birth until I went away to college at 18.Anyway, while we tooled around town visiting a lot of familiar...
So we're moving on with Elements.People have been stretched, challenged, comforted, and educated through our exploration of why we do what we do in church on Sundays.I expect more of the same on Sunday.And experiential look at the roles of "notes" in our worship...
. . . Jesus Christ.That's how most of us in the evangelical world have grown accustomed to completing that sentence. In many ways, that phrase has become synonymous with modern American evangelical Christianity.Yet I wonder if that notion of a living relationship with...
I run into a lot of people who long simply to be "happy." Satisfied. Content.And they devise all kinds of ways of reaching their goal: new relationships, new possessions, new appearance, new location.But you know what happens, right? Those efforts inevitably fail to...
I admit it: I've got some weird idiosyncracies when it comes to food.Some of these have been in place a long time, while others I've had to adopt in recent years as my allergies to gluten & wheat products have emerged.In any event, here goes: my Top Five Food Rules.1....
Yesterday was a different experience for me at Good Shepherd.For one, I wore a jacket and tie. The most frequently asked question was "what's the deal with the tie?" A few people even suspected that my Methodist "boss" would be in the service -- perhaps having heard...
We've eaten bread.We've been immersed in water.Now it's time for words.Why do we use words in worship? What do we actually believe God does with them? Our vocal chords work, air emerges, words get sounded out, and that's supposed to change the world?We'll...