I was saddened to hear of the death of Adam West late last week at the age of 88. In the mid sixties, West had the TV role of Batman in the ironic, campy version of that superhero's story. Which leads me to this picture: I was so captivated by the TV Batman (and at...

The older I get, the more convinced I become that Christianity is not based on a philosophy; it's built on history. At the heart of our faith is not love thy neighbor or do unto others or even pray without ceasing. No, the heart of our faith is a decisive invasion of...

When it comes to music, the 80s seldom get much respect. Due to the influx of hair bands and the advent of MTV, many experts contend that the decade was rather long on style and short on substance.  The 80s are why Nirvana was such a revelation as its raw sonic boom...

I normally don't like to mix metaphors, but this time I did. In a series all about the metaphor of chiseling, sculpting, and stonework, I inserted a message revolving around acorns and oak trees. It used a really glorious section of Scripture -- Philippians 1:1-11...

Ok, it's in the books. We had a three day Vacation Bible Experience this week.  I served as a crew leader. Been there, done that. Or is there more to it than that? When kids have the freedom and feel the safety to ask "How do you know there's really a God?" is it...

This is the season of the year when many United Methodist pastors begin new assignments. I’ve only been through that kind of season twice — once in 1990 when I graduated from seminary and began serving Mt. Carmel & Midway Churches in Monroe and again in 1999 when...

I spent three days last week in Indianapolis for the 2017 meeting of the Indiana Annual Conference of the United Methodist Church. The Indiana chapter of the Confessing Movement invited me to give a couple of talks and then the good folks at Cokesbury arranged two...

As Chiseled moved into its second week, the message featured ... A bit of personal trivia involving the words "theocentric" and "anthrocentric"; The results of a Facebook survey asking the question 'how has God made your life better?' (if he has at all); A corporate...

Well, The Who may well have talked about their generation ... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qN5zw04WxCc   ... but we'll talk about yours. And those you're responsible for.  And the reasons God actually makes your life better (even if he has to make it harder to...

While looking at an old picture album, I came across this article from the July 24, 1994 edition of the Monroe (NC) Enquirer-Journal.   So much to look on with some nostalgia from this piece . . . The Mt. Carmel sanctuary.  We used an overhead projector to...