TOP FIVE TUESDAY -- Top Five Reflections From A Carolina Cross Connection Inc. Student Mission Trip I spent last week at Camp Loy White in rural Cleveland County, NC as part of a Good Shepherd Church Student Mission Team who in turn joined the larger Carolina Cross...
One of my favorite of the classic Southern Gospel Camp Meetin' Songs is The Church In The Wildwood. Here ya go: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wpOeU28951g This Sunday, we won't necessarily be that church in the wildwood, but we will explore a wild story from...
Preaching is an intensely solitary activity. Preaching is a thoroughly social exercise. Which is it? Solitary or social? Yes. My own process of preparation is wholly wrapped in solitude. I study, I jot, I brainstorm, I fret, I pray, I get excited, I become...
The Western North Carolina Conference of the United Methodist Church (that's a mouthful, but that's where I have spent my professional life and that's the denominational entity of which Good Shepherd is a part) recently made and posted a video about our church. The...
If you've been to Good Shepherd more than once or twice, you have not doubt heard some form of this worship ritual: I have heard myself say that a lot. So I want to take a few moments today and discuss why we use that language and what are the benefits from...
A message with ... a title courtesy of Maurice Sendak; a nod to my own fondness for nostalgia; a time of appreciation for the ways Moses chooses God's reputation over his own vindication; a healthy dose of perspective from the recovery community; ... landed at this...
Many of you remember this book from childhood: The place where all those "wild things are" is a place you want to leave; an uncertainty you want to escape, a freedom you're willing to give up. Of course, Maurice Sendak had nothing on the children of Israel. They heard...
Here are some "bests" I've encountered in my time on earth. Best tennis player I ever played with: Rod Laver. If you're a tennis player, you know it's virtually impossible to have a better answer than that one. Laver, an Australian who won tennis' calendar year...
Most critics will tell you that great novels and films involve more than a little ambiguity. Characters are rounded, stories are open-ended, and the heroes and villains are indistinguishable, in large part because people are both at the same time. It's why in...
Some thoughts I shared about Wimbledon in the space before . . . Top Five Tuesday: Top Five Wimbledon Moments I have never been to Wimbledon. Something about sitting in a cold rain in early July doesn’t appeal to me. And for the last 24 years, I haven’t been...