Yesterday's message ... Used a "prop" of a ladder; Hinged on Psalm 63:0. Yes, verse 0; Did a sort of grammar test by inviting people to circle all the verbs in Psalm 63:1-8; Actually had three "write them down" suggestions near the end; Landed at this bottom line: ...
The heart of the new Practicing The Presence series include hands-on, practical tools for people to take their next step in the living relationship with Jesus Christ. If I preach a message letting people know that WHERE you start the day determines HOW you finish it,...
I spent Tuesday at the Pine Valley United Methodist Church in Wilmington, NC, leading a workshop I have designed called Sermons That Pop & Series That Stick. About 60 pastors and lay speakers attended. The group was engaged, complimentary, and, happily for...
That's the Wilmington in North Carolina, not the one in Delaware. I have lived in this state for almost 28 years and yet I have never been to its coast. Most of our beach trips in years gone by have been to the ones in South Carolina -- which, paradoxically, are...
Our Practicing The Presence series is inspired by Brother Lawrence's 17th century devotional classic, Practicing The Presence Of God. My goal is that people will learn and experience first hand how to have a union with God is that active and not static; living and...
While reading Jessica LaGrone's Set Apart, I came across this interesting factoid about prophetic garb: Which made me wonder: how is it today that clergy let you know what they do by how they dress? For sure, in the liturgical tradition, it's involves a collar,...
In the final chapter of the book of Judges, the ancient Israelites -- bereft of leadership and devoid of faith -- come up with a sickening solution to an unexpected problem. The problem? Not enough women of child bearing age in the tribe of Benjamin. The solution? ...
U2 released its 14th studio album, Songs Of Experience, in early December and so when my son asked me what I wanted for Christmas, I said, "you can get me that new U2 CD." Despite his objections that I should simply get it on Spotify (first, I'd have to get Spotify)...
When I was a kid, the week between Christmas and New Year's typically meant the Cotton Bowl. The tennis tournament, not the football game. Huh? That's right. Dallas was then and is now the host of a holiday-flavored, mostly-indoor tennis tournament. Back in the day,...
Considering that I am in the "business" of, um, public speaking, I find myself paying attention to how it is that people speak publicly. And in all that paying attention I have noticed how often we use "nonsense" words ... words that operate in speech much...