I'm 52.(Now when my own father was 52, I was two. Several times over the last couple of years I have thanked God that Davis Family history did not repeat itself.)But at 52, I have twenty-four years of full-time ministry in and can anticipate fifteen or so to...
One of the things that first strikes newcomers to Good Shepherd is the amount of hand raising that happens during praise and worship. Occasionally people even tell us how, um, un-Methodist it seems.Not everybody and not all the time, mind you, but certain...
Suddenly, they're everywhere.President Obama. Ellen DeGeneres. Kim Kardashian. Anyone who has ever had anything to do with the Kardashians.I'm talking about selfies.As it turns out, we really are our own favorite subject.This Sunday, we'll dig...
Last night we had over 100 people show up for James-Michael Smith's class The Bible & Science: Friends Or Foes?Here's what it looked like:One of our core values as we invite all people into a living relationship with Jesus Christ is to engage the mind and the...
One of my favorite patterns in all of Scripture is this one from I & II Kings:I Kings 22:41-44 -- Jehoshaphat41 Jehoshaphat son of Asa became king of Judah in the fourth year of Ahab king of Israel. 42 Jehoshaphat was thirty-five years old when he...
Many times in ministry, I have seen leadership and pastoring as competing forces within my psyche. The skills called for in leading a large gathering of people toward a shared goal and a better future seem so at odds with what it takes to sit at a bedside...
All week long, I felt that the Brainwashing sermon had some real importance.That's because I believe it's essential for people who follow Christ to understand that paradox is to govern the way they think.Paradox as in "the foolishness of the cross is wiser than men's...
Week 2 of the Wash Me ! series is called Brainwashing.I'm really looking forward to it.Primarily because it's not going where you might think it's going.And also because it's much more relevant than you think.Sunday.8:30. 10. 11:30.
I rehearse a lot of "I told you so" speeches in my mind.The targets of the mental diatribes tend to be folks who have disagreed with my vision for church or questioned my competence as a leader. Or both.And in my unspoken speeches, I pile statistics on top of...
As many of you know, part of Good Shepherd's ministry takes place at the Zoar Road Outreach Center (ZROC for short!). You can read how Good Shepherd adopted the ZROC here.The ZROC is a unique expression of the multi-site church in that we don't have Sunday...