Simplify The Message; Multiply The Impact Launches

This group of 16 preacher friends from Western North Carolina Methodism descended on Good Shepherd yesterday for the launch of an eight month workshop I am leading called Simplify The Message; Multiply The Impact.     Everyone who signed up showed up. ...

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#TBT — Highland Park High School Tennis Team, 1977

Here I am, second from the left on the front row, as a freshman on the Highland Park High School tennis team in January of 1977. Why the sad face?  Three reasons, at least: 1. I was a freshman. 2. The bangs. 3. The racket.  I was using a Spalding World Open and, well,...

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METHOD, Meet MATERIALS

Our upcoming One Sixty-Seven series (Feb. 11 to March 4) will take place at the intersection of method and materials. Method The method for the series and its supporting LifeGroup project is something called Grab, Gather, Grow or G3.  G3, which has been popularized by...

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Works Of Art & Wars Of Attrition

If you have spent any time on this page, or if you are a tennis friend of mine, you know that in recent years I have bemoaned the fact that modern men's tennis had become characterized by wars of attrition. By that I mean long matches, played exclusively from the...

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Sermon Starter Stuff

We preachers spend a lot of time crafting the opening moments of our sermons. Or, if we don’t, we should. Because it is in those moments that you either capture your listeners’ attention or lose it.  In the opening you either establish common ground with the...

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HAND WRITTEN NOTES IN A DIGITAL WORLD

I received this note from a new Good Shepherd Church friend recently. She hand wrote a note to thank me for ... a hand-written note. It's why we do the kinds of things we do at Good Shepherd. Massively small steps, each designed to make a large congregation feel like...

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