A few weeks ago, a friend directed me to a priceless sentence from the "How It Works" section of Alcoholics Anonymous' "Big Book":Our stories disclose in a general way what we used to be like,what happened,and what we are like now.That's how...
The Methodist blogosphere is roiling these days with a bishop receiving reprimand, pastors standing trial, and opinions going viral.So given the headiness and heaviness of this week, I couldn't resist taking a step back from all the maneuvering and posturing to let...
Here's our current Radical Impact Project: we want to fill this truck with Operation Christmas Child shoe boxes.In 2012, our goal was 2,000 shoe boxes. The people of Good Shepherd brought back 2,800. So much for goals.So this year, we want to go...
You too?The natural tendency to worry makes Jesus' command "Do not worry" all that much more infuriating. How dare he forbid us from doing this thing at which most of us excel?Dealing with that dilemma is why I'm looking forward to this Sunday so much.We'll have...
We sent this notice to the people of Good Shepherd yesterday:Dear Good Shepherd Family,I have a staff announcement for you today that defines the very term "bittersweet." After more than eight years on our team, John Pavlovitz has accepted a position on the...
If you've spent any time at all in church, you know we usually conclude our prayers with:InJesusNameAmenAs if it is really just all one . . . long . . . word.But what does it actually mean to pray "in Jesus' name"?Is it merely a formula to distinguish Christian...
At church this past Sunday, I saw a high school senior in our congregation who had a Rush book bag. I thought maybe it was a different "Rush" (Limbaugh, maybe?) or that it was a joke.So I asked her about it. Sure enough, she's a fan. Someone born in...
Here's a sense of what happened this weekend at Good Shepherd: OCC">http://vimeo.com/53020722">OCC TIMELAPSE PROMOfrom GSUMChttp://vimeo.com/gsumc">GSUMC> on Vimeo.https://vimeo.com">Vimeo.>While that time lapse was from our 2012 emphasis, the...
Throughout the Not A Fan series, we've tried to give the people of the church some concrete, tangible ways to follow up on the Sunday morning conversations.That's why we offered the Reveal class. People are now pursuing Jesus by digging into his Word.It's why we...
Many of you are familiar with the books of the bible known as the prophets.Located in the Old Testament, these texts are a mix of what we call the major prophets -- Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, and Daniel -- and the minor prophets -- Amos, Micah, Joel, Habbakkuk...