Did you know that marriage is the first institution that God created? Before he created synagogue, before he established government, before he ordained church, God created marriage. Apparently, he regards it as an enormously big deal. Yet can there be any doubt that...
This is a repost of an essay from 2016 that generated quite a bit of ... conversation! ... when it first appeared in Ministry Matters, United Methodism's largest online conversation platform. With a hint of nostalgia, here it is again: I’m spiritual, not religious. We...
Yes, a sermon rewind post on Wednesday, not Monday. I took Labor Day off. Not that I am believing my own headlines, mind you. Because Sunday's sermon was about the dangers of doing exactly that. It touched on why prosperity is so much more dangerous than adversity....
This Sunday, Sept. 8, we have a Leader Gathering from 5 p.m. to 6:30 p.m. Why should you come? Here's five reasons: It's not a Leadership Gathering but a Leader Gathering because leadership is a principle and leaders are people. If you are reading this, you are a...
The ReGroup series concludes with a close look at the closing scenes of Josiah's life from 2 Kings 23. Josiah has an incredible list of accomplishments. He's a Rock Star. His name is in lights. He's on top of the world a looking down on creation. And he begins to...
A friend and I have been reading the book of Ephesians together. For over a year. We go down a lot of rabbit trails during our time together, but when we zero in on Ephesians, the rewards are rich indeed. Spending that much time on that short a book, however, also...
Many times in speaking or in writing people try to reinforce the strength of their points by adding the words clear and obvious. As in, "it's obvious from the context that John 3:16 means . . . " Or: "this is clearly the direction our church needs to follow . ....
How's that for a title? Five songs sung by artists for whom I have no special, enduring fondness. Yet songs which, no matter when I hear them, I listen all the way through as if they were from the Eagles themselves. So there they are. Five songs of random greatness:...
Yesterday's worship gathering at Good Shepherd led to a LifeGroup Launch event on Sunday morning. In previous years, we have held these events on either a Monday or Tuesday night. That was even my tentative plan for ReGroup. But then several staffers came up with a...
During a recent address in Dallas, Texas, Dr. Jason Byassee, professor of homiletics at Vancouver School of Theology and a clergy member of the Western North Carolina Conference of the United Methodist Church, shared this thought: In the mainline we have pushed...