Here's a window into November at Good Shepherd: we are calling the sermon series that month The Trust Factor and it will spend four weeks plumbing the depths of two bible verses. Huh? When those two verses are Proverbs 3:5-6, you see why so few words are worthy of so...
As a lot of you know, I write a sermon manuscript virtually every week. I am able to work several weeks ahead, so while I write one almost every week, it's not the one I'll deliver that coming Sunday. That one, of course, has been written several weeks earlier. But...
Yesterday's message ... Talked about Jack & Rose on the Titanic, Johnny & Maria in West Side Story, and me and Brooke Shields in college. Really.Gave this bit of free advice: some people ask questions not because they want answers but because they want an...
I have lived through seasons of life where Jesus was an occupation. I read the bible only to search for sermon material. I prayed because that's what preachers are supposed to do. I served so that others in the church could see me serving. ...
Two weeks ago, in the middle of the workday, I received a call from Brad Stoffel's mother, Evelyn, conveying the sad news that Brad had died of natural causes at the age of 57. Who was Brad Stoffel and why did the news of his death make me so melancholy? Well, as I...
This past Sunday evening something unprecedented happened in the life of Good Shepherd: 400 leaders gathered together to eat, play, laugh, sing (in English and Spanish), pray, listen, and weep as we unveiled a new seven year focus for our church. Here's what the...
Yesterday's message ... Was closely connected to the Leader Gathering talk I gave later on Sunday afternoon;Used a principle from Jesus' teaching about discipleship and applied it to marriage;Got the most raised eyebrows when I declared that "people don't have...
Did you know that marriage is the first institution that God created? Before he created synagogue, before he established government, before he ordained church, God created marriage. Apparently, he regards it as an enormously big deal. Yet can there be any doubt that...
This is a repost of an essay from 2016 that generated quite a bit of ... conversation! ... when it first appeared in Ministry Matters, United Methodism's largest online conversation platform. With a hint of nostalgia, here it is again: I’m spiritual, not religious. We...
Yes, a sermon rewind post on Wednesday, not Monday. I took Labor Day off. Not that I am believing my own headlines, mind you. Because Sunday's sermon was about the dangers of doing exactly that. It touched on why prosperity is so much more dangerous than adversity....