I received an interesting email from a pastor today who “followed my advice” and raised questions about expectations and accountability in the church. He asked the “what is the church?” and “what is the church for?” questions, and zeroed in on what our membership vows really mean. He was shocked […]
A pressing concern of many of our congregations is a lack of funds. I know you’re surprised, but money is a concern in many of our local churches. But, I’m going to let you in on a simple, yet very important secret. There is a simple, low-cost solution to most […]
I may get blasted on this. That’s okay. I am sharing almost twenty years of similar responses here, and I think we — especially clergy — need to listen. Laity across the United Methodist Church are sending four messages loud and clear: prayer, stewardship, evangelism and Bible are NOT being […]
Meeting with a group of clergy last Thursday, the conversation turned to prayer and the idea of teaching people to pray. There was general consensus that prayer is a good thing, but it became quickly evident that most in the group view prayer as something we “have” to do rather […]
Nine years after the tragic attacks on 9/11, what have we learned? Have we learned to folly of fanatical expressions of our religious faith? Have we learned that turning whole cultures of people into an enemy is short-sighted and stupid? Have we developed a deeper awareness of other faith’s, extending […]
Okay, here’s an easy one: “and they’ll know we are Christians by our —– love idiocy hate bigotry I want to choose #1, but in light of the current news about an evangelical whack-job in Florida who wants to commemorate September 11 with the burning of the Koran, I am […]
On the cusp of the Labor Day weekend, a memory came to me of an odd — crazy — man in my neighborhood growing up who vehemently believed holidays were evil and unChristian. Harold McKeever was one of those perennial “old men” — my mother remembered him being old when […]
This is a common question: who do you think you are? I get it all the time — probably more than most because I speak my mind and I speak with conviction. I have gotten three different “who do you think you are” emails this week. Here are excerpts from […]
United Methodeviations 