As the 00s come to a close, I've been thinking about the music that helped shape the decade.So here are some of my favorites from the last ten years. The songs go from 2000 to 2009, though not every year is represented.Everything Is Different Now (2000) by Don Henley....
I posted yesterday about how much better Sing To The King worked in our worship setting than did O Praise Him.But that got me thinking.Because when do Sing To The King -- or Marvelous Light, Glory To God, or Blessed Be Your Name -- I am into it. I sing. Tap a foot....
Our first service went well at 8:30 yesterday.But the band thought it could have gone better. Part of the praise set included O Praise Him, a richly textured song by David Crowder. Yet Crowder's stuff can be difficult to sing, and our church has just never gotten the...
Here's our promo for A Christmas Story Christmas.The series began last week with a look at what it means to have people telling you, "You'll shoot your eye out!"This week we move to another key scene in the movie: the Little Orphan Annie Decoder Ring. It will show us...
In recent months, certain athletes, politicians, and clergy have been in the headlines for all the wrong reasons.So what do we do around here to make sure the we don't get that kind of press?While no method is foolproof, there are a few boundaries we've drawn on staff...
That will be our staff today.Hopefully minus the track suits.It's our annual Christmas outing / gift extravaganza for the people who work here.Julie and I give each staffer a gift card to a local mall, and we trek there together.After a time of self-shopping, we meet...
Sometimes the eyes of an outsider can help you see things in an entirely new light.A couple of years ago, our District -- the Charlotte District of the Western North Carolina Conference of the United Methodist Church to be precise -- held a continuing education event...
. . . and that's unusual.And not because I don't like Wesley. I do. Very much. Thank God he believed in free will.But it's unusual because I find that most people coming into the church have no awareness of him or his influence.Even lifelong Methodists have only a...
So here we go.A Christmas Story Christmas.The iconic, irreverent, enduring movie that many people watch every year as a sacred rite of the season.So we're going to explore what it is about this film that makes it such an institution in so many homes.Why do people have...
There are two "one things" that I believe are vital to any effective preaching.The first "one thing" is exactly that: the message needs to center on one thing. One truth. One point. One purpose. The journey to get to that one thing can be full of whimsy or full of...