A few years ago, I went through a season where I read Paul's letter to the Colossians every morning.    Since the New Testament epistles were designed to be heard/read/experienced in one sitting, I thought we'd give it try that way. It proves to be much more fruitful...

I have a confession:  earlier in my ministerial career I treated any conversation about church mission statements with the dreaded eye roll. “Not again,” I thought.  “There goes someone pontificating about mission and vision, which if you ask me is just a lot of talk...

Yesterday's message ... Dealt with Bezalel and Oholiab, two of the bible's movers & shakers who no one has ever heard of; Gave the analogy that the tabernacle is to the temple as a food truck is to a restaurant (original!); Had the people in the sound & AV...

Yesterday's post included some thoughts on my bromance with Aaron Mansfield, pastor of Morehead UMC in Morehead, Kentucky. It also linked to our recent podcast, which you can access at the bottom of this post as well. A good chunk of our conversation was devoted to...

Yes, you read that post title correctly. Social media has significantly improved my life. Now: many people lament the effects of social media on the body politic, reporting how Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and the rest accentuate our differences and polarize our...

Several years ago, Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal played an exhibition match called "The Battle Of The Surfaces" in which half the court was grass and the other half was clay. The arrangement made me think of the line from Hotel California:  "this could be heaven or...

Yesterday's message ... Hinged on the fact that in Exodus 1, the Hebrew midwives are named while the all powerful Pharoah is anonymous.  A tiny detail with an enormous impact. Noted some parallels between Pharoah's attempts to erase a generation and the culture wars...

Where do we find today's biggest movers and shakers? On Wall Street?  Washington DC?  The Silicon Valley? These are the ones who shape our lives, what we believe, and how we spend our time. But who influences the next generation? Is it YouTube?  Hollywood?  The Video...

Bill Simmons, who is a Boston-bred, Ringer-based author and columnist, has written the definitive history of the NBA with his The Book Of Basketball. In this, the quickest 800 page read of my life, Simmons is in turn unfiltered, poignant, statistical, profane,...

In yesterday's post, I had the nerve to ask whether a degree from Princeton University (or any other "elite" school for that matter) is more of a burden than a blessing. In case you're curious, here I am as a college sophomore in backhand mode playing a match against...