Earlier this week a speaker opined that the Church should be known for hospitality and not hostility. Certainly. Agreed. And that is a problem because as the Church continues to live out its life in this alien world it often is moved toward hostility. We fight against this. We fight against that. We fight against outsiders. Sometimes, we fight against […]
We are thinking about planting a garden in our backyard. Gardening has never been my strong suit, but we might give it a try. We have talked about what to plant. While we have not decided what all we will plant, I know we will not plant any zucchini. Here is the problem with planting zucchini: if you plant zucchini, […]
Are you a news junkie? Do you like to read non-fiction books? Are you a fan of podcasts? There is a ton of information out there. How do you filter it? Do you filter it based on the source? “You know those Republicans.” “You know those Democrats.” “Well, that’s the CNN crowd.” “Well, what do you expect from the talking […]
From time to time people talk about picking up the tab for someone else as an expression of the Gospel. Maybe you leave a $20 bill in the drive through at Chick-fil A for the car behind you. You ask the waitress to put the cost of the bottle of wine for that young couple at the other table who […]
Through the course of ministry at times someone has come up to me and said, “Everyone thinks that this or that is a bad idea.” This report often comes from a self-appointed champion of the way “things ought to be done.” A good retort to such a report is, “Name one.” (The punch line is that normally the only one […]
Getting ready for vacation was an adventure with four kids, a boat and a dog. Groceries. Clothes. Toys. Don’t forget this. Make sure we pack that. Once all was stowed, everything was crammed into place, all were accounted for, a prayer of thanks offered up and the car was pulling out of the driveway, a little cheer would go up. […]
I am working through a book that has surprised me. It has me thinking more than I thought it would. Don’t you love books like that? The book is the Language and the Pursuit of Happiness by Chalmers Brothers. The author teases out the impact that language has on life. While it started out a little slow, the author worked […]
Business and organization guru Jim Collins writes about the genius of the AND instead of the tyranny of the OR. His point is that we often make false dichotomies, we can do this OR that, instead of seeing that the better position, the genius, is to do this AND that. Any of you who know me even a little know […]
Many of my pastor buddies use the phrase “think theologically.” It is a good phrase, as far as it goes. By that they mean that when we think through different issues or actions in life, we should consider them from a theological point of view. We should bring to bear theological perspectives into the situation, what does God’s word say […]
Years ago a long-time church leader encouraged me to “externalize the opinion.” By that he meant that I should seek someone from outside of our congregation to weigh in on how we were doing. For instance, instead of asking our members how friendly we were, I should have someone from outside of the congregation come, visit and report back on […]