The year 2012 at Good Shepherd has been highlighted by a number of Sunday mornings in which we used the sermon time to give plain proclamation of what it means to be saved by grace and then used the response time to give a clear invitation for people to enter into...
Making 2,000 Boxes Re-Appear
On November 5, I shared with you how our church was able to make 2,000 Operation Christmas Child Shoe Boxes disappear. You can read about it here and then watch it here: OCC TIMELAPSE PROMO from GSUMC on Vimeo.Well, this Sunday as we celebrate Gospel Decision,...
Asbury Seminary, The Methodist Church, And The Myth Of Liberal Tolerance
In the fall of 1987, in my first semester of my first year at Asbury Seminary, I met with two ordination representatives from what would ultimately become my annual conference in the United Methodist Church. At the end of the interview, one of them pulled me aside and...
Fun Facts About The Number 51
It's the number worn by Dick Butkus, maybe the meanest middle linebacker of them all.It's the number of the confessional Psalm written by King David after his affair with Bathsheba and subsequent murder-by-military-sacrifice of her husband Uriah was...
Top Five Tuesday — Top Five College Football Upsets
My heart grew strangely warmed on Saturday when Texas A&M, led by its phenomenal freshman quarterback Johnny Manziel, upset big, bad, undefeated Alabama 29-24, hopefully ruining any shot the Crimson Tide had at a national championship.But my warm heart...
How A Preacher Spends A Sunday Off
Yesterday came at the tail end of a vacation week for me, and so offered the rarest of opportunities: a Sunday morning in which I was both off work and in town.So how did I spend it? I went to church. Twice. At two very different...
Gospel Prayer
I'm so grateful for what has happened in prayer at Good Shepherd this year.We've opened a Prayer Room.We've had more opportunities for shared prayer on Sunday mornings.We've had more of you submit prayer requests on your Connection Cards.We're hearing more...
Some Things I’ll Can’t Quite Figure Out
There are some realities of life in 2012 that no matter how hard I try, I just will never understand.Such as . . .Why pro wrestling has such enduring popularity.Why people of all ages wear ball caps sideways.Why people snow ski. It's wet. It's cold. ...
After The Dust Settles
So it's over now.If your candidate won, does that mean your life will suddenly get better?If your candidate lost, does that mean your life will suddenly get worse?Is your contentment determined by forces beyond your control?Or does satisfaction and purpose have...
Top Five Tuesday — Top Five Television Viewing Choices TONIGHT
Since tonight's television viewing choices seem to be unusually limited, I thought I'd save you some channel surfing and give you a number high quality, prime-time viewing suggestions. Because there's not anything else going on, is there?1. 8:00 PM --...