There's a new restaurant in our area with the rather clever name of Passion8 Bistro.Passionate.And I was asked recently, "what are you passionate about in ministry?" Behind that question was the wise observation that the church will tend to follow the lead of its...
On Saturday morning, I went to a seminar that our church hosted called Class Matters.Led by Paul Hanneman of the Urban Ministry Center and Wanda Anderson of Crisis Assistance Ministry, the seminar gave a framework for understanding the vastly different mindsets of...
I've often heard that Sugar Ray Leonard was pound for pound the best boxer of them all.Meaning that he wasn't the biggest or the strongest, but if you put his skills and his heart into to body of a heavyweight, no one could beat him.Maybe that's true.As we move into...
On most Sundays, I like to have one element that will make people do a double take.The kind of thing that will make them say to themselves, "I can't believe they're doing that in church!"For example, our Fight Of Your Life series started with the band playing...
I may be learning something in leadership.It's better to be wrong than indecisive.That's a tough idea to swallow, isn't it? But as I chew on it (hopefully, to swallow it), I believe it be more and more accurate.If I make a wrong decision, the people I lead on the...
In doing the early study for a Sunday message, I often encounter eureka moments.It could be something I read in a commentary. It could be something I scrawl on my notepad as I'm brainstorming around the passage or the subject. Or it could even be something that...
So my friend Chris Macedo was sick while trying to lead the music portion of our worship service yesterday. He had the remnants of the flu/bronchitis bug that has been ravaging Charlotte and Fort Mill recently.But he said the most interesting thing to the congregation...
As you probably know, sermon series are important to us at Good Shepherd.It's how we think and how we plan and how we pray.And we've done a lot of thinking and planning and praying over this new one: The Fight Of Your Life.The series is worthy of such effort because...
As I posted on Tuesday, I spent a little more than 24 hours in New York City in my unofficial role as "Vice President's Husband."The 24th Annual Great Sports Legends Dinner raised over $6.3 million towards the effort to locate a cure for paralysis. Sponsored by the...
Whenever I have taken those spiritual gift inventories, I score high on the gifts of teaching and healing.And low on the gift of hospitality. As in it is the opposite of a spiritual gift for me. It is a spiritual burden.So Monday, I led a meeting with five of our...