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 seventeen 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.
We all have a very simple decision to make: will we build or will we destroy. Now, simply making this decision doesn’t guarantee anything — many who choose to build and create don’t actually accomplish much, but at least they try. But those who choose to destroy — or simply […]
What is the greatest threat to our United Methodist Church? Is it decline? Is it tolerance of sin? Is it judgmentalism? Is it hypocrisy? How about controversy and conflict? Nope. There is one, simple threat to our continued existence and that is US. Our church has been subverted by a […]
Praise God from whom all blessings flow… But who deserves such blessing? The poor? Immigrants (especially those illegal ones!)? The sick (who can’t afford health care)? Anyone who disagrees with me on any of my core beliefs? There is a weird paradox at work when it comes to our views […]
While this is fairly easy to find, people are constantly asking me for a “copy,” so I am posting it here again. People who know me know that I am very big on fruit: the outward and visible manifestations of the faith we profess. James says it all when he […]
I will make a prediction that isn’t much of a prediction. It is a conjecture based on our current state of indecision, cluelessness, and self-defeating choices. Within the next few months some well-intentioned, short-sighted “leader” in our denomination will present a proposal for the consolidation and/or elimination of the general […]
But the lesson which our blessed Lord inculcates here, and which he illustrates by this example, is that God is in all things, and that we are to see the Creator in the face of every creature; that we should use and look upon nothing as separate from God, which […]
Tools are only as helpful as the knowledge available to employ them. Give a child a bandsaw and he is as likely to do great damage as any good. If we don’t understand something, it is very unlikely we will use it well. Case in point, our cultural lack of […]
Scott Kline, a professional driver, managed to wreck a million-dollar prototype hybrid car when it was first being tested. When asked to explain what happened, Kline reported, I got so engrossed looking at all the dials and gauges and screens on the dashboard that I forgot to look where I […]
…excerpt from the recently discovered Gospel According to Bob (not a real gospel…) Chapter 6, vss. 1-41 One day, the disciples noted Jesus deep in prayer. On occasion, Jesus would open his eyes, draw figures in the sand, then return to prayer. His reflections lasted many minutes. Finally, Simon (also […]
At what point do we finally wake-up to the fact that there is no such thing as a lasting, transformative “quick-fix?” We have suffered through over 50 years of “church-in-box” programs that have produced poor results at best. Disciple Bible Study came closest to delivering transformation, but ultimately “popular” did […]
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