I never, never, NEVER tell "what-happened-to-the-preacher-on-the-plane" stories.    Just the fact that we're able to jet off to conferences & preaching engagements seems so . . . pretentious.  And some of my clergy brethren and sistren (what did you want,...

Have you noticed it has been hot this summer in the Carolinas? This year's heat reminds me of my very first summer in Monroe, NC -- 1990, that was -- and of the times I'd look out my small office window and see red clay patches in the parsonage lawn. And when the heat...

When I was a little boy, we had some Arch Bible Books around our house. The one I remember most vividly was called Samson's Secret. What is interesting to me now as an adult and as a pastor is the enormous gap between the Samson of Samson's Secret and the Samson of...

Here's what's coming up over the next 72 hours:   Tonght:  5 p.m. Wedding Rehearsal 6 p.m. Rehearsal Dinner Hosting 9 p.m. Sibling Reunioning Tomorrow:  3:00  Wedding Photos 5:00 Wedding 6:30ish Reception Why so involved in a wedding? Because our son Riley...

Last night, at Good Shepherd's Annual Soccer Clinic at the Twin Lakes neighborhood . . . . . . I spoke to a member of the GSUMC family from Romania . . . . . . who joined a team of Anglos, African-Americans, and Latinos in delivering a futbol clinic . . . . . . to...

While trying to help someone navigate some particularly difficult terrain in life this week, the following truth occurred to me: Provision follows obedience. The provision of God generally follows obedience to God. Usually, we want it to happen the other way around....

I spent last week in Wilkes County, North Carolina, part of Good Shepherd's student mission team with the Carolina Cross Connection. CCC is a United Methodist-inspired mission organization that has this rather glorious mission statement: Carolina Cross Connection...

Yesterday Chris Thayer and I traded places. Meaning: he was the "live" preacher at 8:30, 10, and 11:30 on Moss Road while I was the "host" pastor at the Zoar Road Campus. It was a chance for me to meet a good number of people who had previously only known me in two...

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...

One Sunday a few weeks ago, one of my best preacher friends was in the worship crowd at Good Shepherd. He had recently retired but had not yet moved to the city that will be his home in retirement. So I badgered him into attending Good Shepherd before the move. Now...