I tucked my 2 favorite little people into bed tonight. I read Shawna the story about Abram telling the Egyptians that Sarai wasn’t his wife. We talked about lying; and about how God takes care of us, even when we’re afraid to do the right thing; and about not marrying your sibling. I told Elijah…
My annual staff review/evaluation is coming up on Tuesday. In past years, I’ve answered a questionnaire about how well I was doing according to my ministry (job) description. Things are different this year. Since we’re in a transition as a church, our interim lead pastor has asked us to answer questions like, “What’s your primary…
I wonder what would happen if I treated my family like a congregation? 1. We’d align our couch and chairs in rows whenever we watched T.V. 2. If my kids wanted to talk to me, they’d have to make an appointment. 3. I’d make special ‘visits’ to my wife. She’d make tea and we would…
Currently, I’ve got a couple of Eugene Peterson books on my reading list. The other day, while reading, The Contemplative Pastor: Returning to the art of spiritual direction, I was convicted. He writes: “But the word busy is the symptom not of commitment but of betrayal. It is not devotion but defection. The adjective busy set as…
I got a phone call at the church on Wednesday. An unfamiliar woman was looking for our congregational care pastor and was accidently redirected to my extension. She had an urgent prayer request for her daughter who was on her way to the hospital. She needed a miracle. The woman called me back at home…
Okay. I admit it. I’m obsessed with Dallas Willard. I read this tonight in his book, The Spirit of the Disciplines. “The secret of the easy yoke, then, is to learn from Christ how to live our total lives, how to invest all our time and our energies of mind and body as he did….
I want to empower people. Not delegate my unwanted tasks to them. In other news, click here for a great article on what the term ‘missional’ means
I’m getting ready for our coffeehouse gathering in Walkerton tonight. One of the discussion items is this clip from MLK. We’re going to be linking it back to Deuteronomy 34. It’s amazing what one courageous person can do when standing against injustice and inequality. Maybe I’ll see you at 7pm.
Some of my recent thoughts on measuring growth: “We need new ways of measuring church success. In a large church, Sunday morning attendance indicates an ability to attract people. We give them excellent music and dynamic preaching. And Christians come. Then, when we measure our effectiveness we ask, ‘are people coming to church?’ We rarely ask, ‘are those…
Since my spiritual formation class is so large (53 students) I’ve divided the class into groups so they can help each other. Each group will meet weekly at the end of class. All semester, they will blog about their faith journeys. I’m hoping students will challenge one another to practice what they learn in class, especially…