How to make a sermon on fasting interesting? Or relevant? Or fun? Well, I'm not sure I accomplished any of the above, but I did make it practical. We distributed a very clear Call To Action at the conclusion: a church-wide fast on Monday, February 6, complete with...
It's Super Bowl Sunday. It's Scouting For Food Sunday. ( See below.) And yet it's the Sunday we wind up Creatures Of Habit with a message called "The Not Eating Habit"? What in the world is that about? Sunday. 8:30, 10, 11:30 on Moss Road. 10, 11:30 on Zoar Road....
When I am walking in the flesh — meaning, not rigorously & consistently connected to the Holy Spirit — I can fall into a trap. The trap that says all my thoughts needs to be verbalized. As if I’ll lose it if I don’t say it. Sarcastic thoughts. Condescending...
Here's Psalm 2:11 Serve the Lord with fear and celebrate his rule with trembling. Yikes. I sense that few people celebrate the Lord's rule. More object to it. Still more re-fashion it to suit their own agenda. Even more simply ignore it. And yet the call to...
In the eight years I've had this blog, I have often devoted my Top Five Tuesday space to countdowns of favorite rock acts. Top Five Led Zeppelin songs? Here. Top Five Steely Dan songs? Here. Top Five Rolling Stones songs? Here. Top Five songs I've heard the most in...
So . . . how do three pastors in two languages preach variations on the same sermon while on different campuses? Very carefully is the expected answer; I pray that Very boldly was the real one. Here was yesterday's situation: Chris Thayer, the site pastor of our Zoar...
As I mentioned in yesterday's post, I've had a couple of funerals this week. And in the funeral I led yesterday -- you can read the obituary here -- the man we celebrated had been an accountant. And a pastor. Now: vocationally, he was an accountant. That's how he'll...
People who are in grief want to talk about the person who has died. The want to speak the person’s name. They want to share memories. They want to laugh about the funny things the person said and did and believed. In pastoral ministry, one of the most important things...
So this past Sunday, Julie and I left Charlotte immediately after the third service at Good Shepherd and drove down to Atlanta for a Don Henley concert. Wha-what? It was my Christmas present -- maybe my best one ever. Henley, former drummer & vocalist of the...
What I have below is an approximation of what was preached at Good Shepherd yesterday. That's because what is below is better in written form that what the talk looked like on Sunday. Why? Because the metaphor in many ways became the message. The metaphor of an...