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. ...
Arthur Ashe died twenty-five years ago TODAY -- February 6, 1993. I remember weeping when the news came over television. Ashe had contracted the virus that causes AIDS while undergoing open heart surgery in the days before they tested blood (late 70s), and revealed...
Yesterday's message concluded the Practicing The Presence series with an in-depth look at Psalm 13. It began with an acknowledgment: God is emotionally secure. He is so emotionally secure, in fact, that he inspires biblical texts that question his existence or...
There are times when you pray and it seems as if this is God's response: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eKmRkS1os7k Zip. Zero. Nada. What's going on? In matters both tragic and trivial, what is happening with all those unanswered prayers? How in the world can we...
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,...
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...
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...
Our Worship Arts Pastor Chris Macedo gave the message yesterday. Drawing on some relatively obscure Scriptures regarding the ark of the covenant, the tent of meeting, and the poles used to transport both, he reminded us that we are all presence carriers ... and yet...
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...
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...