Throughout most of the 20th Century and now into the 21st, charismatic and Methodist Christians have had very little to do with each other. Charismatics, who trace their modern origins to the Azusa Street Revival in 1906, define themselves by expressive worship,...

I spent this past weekend in Austin, Texas where I had the twin delights of presiding at a wedding involving a family I've known during my entire tenure at Good Shepherd AND staying with my mother, 103-year-old Betty Davis. So Wayne Hobson started the new series off...

Jesus had an effect on people. Many of them flocked to him.  Others fell down before him.  Still others gave their desperation to him. And then others avoided him.  Or sought to trap him.  Or plotted to kill him.  Or betrayed him. He was...

Here I am on the far left, in the hat, alongside Brad Stoffel and Jeff Turpin as we pose for a newspaper photo in July of 1974. The occasion was the National Boys' 12 and Boys' 14 and under Hardcourt Championships, played at our home tennis center in Dallas, the T Bar...

At Good Shepherd, we began 2019 with a message series about anger called Up In Arms. And the first message in that series concluded by asking congregants to ask themselves three sobering questions regarding their own anger. Although almost three months have passed...

Last Friday, Julie and I had seventh row seats at John Mellencamp’s concert at Ovens Auditorium. We had seen him back in 1999 at Blockbuster, er Verizon, er PNC Music Pavilion in north Charlotte.  We thoroughly enjoyed that show and then saw him again in 2015 in...

Yesterday's message ... Used a Seinfeld clip to make a point about grace.Revolved around a quote BY JESUS not found in any of the Gospels but re-tweeted by Paul during a speech in Acts to the church at Ephesus. Got all that?Culminated our Radical Impact Project with...

My first grade class with Mrs. Dobbs at the University Park Elementary School, 1968-69. Can you figure out which one is me? Or which one is the object of my unrequited first grade love?

WHAT IS A RADICAL IMPACT PROJECT? A Radical Impact Project is a long-time feature of Good Shepherd’s congregational life.  It’s when we attempt something big and bold on behalf of the most vulnerable among us. Our Radical Impact Projects have focused primarily on...

Roger Federer lost a big match in Indian Wells, California this past Sunday and for once, I wasn't too upset. Why? Because the guy who beat him, Austrian Dominic Thiem, has a glorious one-handed backhand. For the uninitiated, most players today hit their backhands...