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.
Various recent studies and articles note an upswing in the practice of prayer in American culture. Must be a good thing, right? More prayer, more devotion to God? More prayer, more kindness and compassion in the world? More prayer, more attention to God’s will? Not so much. The increase in prayer […]
I got a heartbreaking email today. I know it is sincere. I know it is well meant. I know it is representative of a large group of today’s United Methodist believers. What I believe… let me reiterate, it is my belief… is that it is an opinion grounded in fear […]
In college, I learned an incredibly important lesson about problem solving and planning. It involved errors, and four main types of errors we make but are often unaware of. A Type I error involves applying a good solution to the right problem, not getting the expected result, and abandoning the […]
I often wonder who reads this blog. There are a handful of diehards that have become kind of a cyber-family — I’m disappointed when they don’t leave a comment and I really enjoy the give and take around different issues. In an overwhelming number of cases, the feedback I get […]
When I wrote l the book Vital Signs, I shared that there was no magic formula for vitality, and that I have yet to find the perfect church — a church that is healthy and vital in every way. I also stated that there was no single prescription for vitality. […]
bipolar — characterized by opposite extremes, as two conflicting political philosophies When I began doing congregational consulting in the late 1980s, I made a distinction between two core strategies of healthy churches: growth or mission. A growth strategy pursues more — more people, more programs, more money, more building, more […]
How long does radical transformation take? What is a reasonable time frame for the development, first of competency, then of mastery? Put another way, how long would it take you to become Michael Jordan or Tiger Woods? Think you could reach mastery by attending a weekend retreat or a one […]
This is for any and all of us who think we can’t make a difference… and often don’t even try.
Some comments at the School of Congregational Development highlight an incredibly important distinction. “We’ve heard all this before. The problem is putting it into practice.” “You don’t have to talk me into thinking this is important, tell me ways to make it happen.” “Doing this stuff is a lot harder […]
I was speaking to a pastor from Chicago who lamented the appearance of street preachers who claimed the corner outside his church to read scripture aloud, preach, and pray with passersby. I asked if the men (they were all male) were disruptive or aggressive? No. I asked if they accosted […]
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