I am the lead pastor at People's United Methodist Church in the Wisconsin Conference of The United Methodist Church, husband of my beautiful wife, Barbara, dad to my fantastic son, Josh and his wife Caroline, step-dad to my phenomenal son, Greg, his wife Hannah and our fabulous/glorious/perfect granddaughter Evie, author of seventeed books on spirituality, stewardship, congregational development, research, and spiritual gifts discovery, and an advocate for a more loving, inclusive church for the 21st century and beyond.
One of the things I love about the church is that you never know what kind of impact you’re going to make on the lives of those around you. At a very simple level, the church offers an opportunity to do good and, at the very least, do no harm. […]
I always feel that I am serving some purpose when I blog and it turns out that I tick off everyone. By “weighing in” on all the talk of splitting the church (officially) I have “taken sides.” However, which side is a bit confusing and hard to determine. Consider these […]
While this is a response to a comment left on my “Weighing In” post, I want to reflect more broadly and not make this a purely personal explanation. That said, I need to go point by point here. This comment illustrates so much of what I find indefensible in the […]
For the past month I have been working on a couple other projects and have been listening to other conversations. However, dozens of people have been emailing about my “position” on the current schism debate. I thought I would take this opportunity to weigh in. Let me be clear upfront: […]
I am a reader, and proud of it. I rarely spend less than 3 hours each day reading, and I mean books, not just emails, articles, blogs, letters, ads, magazines, Post-It® Notes, etc. On days off, I read more like 6-7 hours. I am an eclectic reader. There are few […]
While working for the General Board of Discipleship, I developed a resource that was never published called “Your New Appointment: The First Hundred Days.” Not a flashy title, but very descriptive. It was rejected because “it wasn’t practical.” I will outline it here and let you decide. It was predicated […]
Slowly, but surely, I am plowing through old files in a feeble attempt to clean and organize my office. This process is entering its third year, so success is a remote hope. However, I do come across some interesting artifacts as I dig through each new (old) layer. Just this […]
Okay, here it is — the answer to all our problems in The United Methodist Church. It is so simple, you probably won’t believe/accept it. It comes in two parts — the first part is fundamental conventional wisdom, the second part, not so much. It answers the question: “what is […]
On occasion, I catch the late-night ads for “Miracle Ear” — a hearing enhancement device that sounds (no pun intended) too good to be true. I finally met someone who actually purchased and uses a Miracle Ear, and he is delighted with it. His testimonial is simple, “I am no […]
What is it about we human animals and our tendency to climb the ladder of inference and leap blindly into a steaming pile of assumptions? Each and every day we create chaos, confusion and pain for ourselves by ascribing intention, assuming motives, projecting values and jumping to conclusions. Compounding this […]
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