I am the Assistant to the Bishop in the Wisconsin Conference of The United Methodist Church, husband of my beautiful wife, Barbara, dad to my fantastic son, Josh, step-dad to my phenomenal son, Greg, author of fourteen 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.
It is striking to me that the very healthiest congregations I visit all have a unique, compelling, and descriptive metaphor at the heart of their sense of identity and purpose. One describes itself as an orchard where seeds of faith are planted and nurtured to produce fruit that feeds and […]
April Fool’s Day inspired me to dig out a list of goofs, gaffs, and giggles from church signs, bulletins, newsletters, banners, cookbooks, and emails. This is just for fun… or not. From a church cookbook recipe for “Southwestern Stew” — 1 small child, dried, ground to a fine powder. From […]
War is a horrible thing, especially an unnecessary and meaningless war. One such terrible and tragic conflict exists between science and religion. The popular media loves the whole idea — physics vs. metaphysics, secular vs. spiritual, rational vs. emotional, fact vs. fiction — and always portrays the issue in stark […]
The results are in on my study on destructive forces in the church. Beginning in 2005 and continuing to the present, I have been analyzing the negative, destructive, damaging, unhelpful, hostile, and hurtful practices at work in our communities of “open hearts, open minds, and open doors.” A whopping 86% […]
I have long made the differentiation between “good” and “important” books. In my experience, all good books are important, but there are many important books that are anything but good. The Shack is an important book, (but in few ways good) as are The Prayer of Jabez, The Secret, The […]
This week’s Best Book is Philip Jenkins’, The New Faces of Christianity: Believing the Bible in the Global South. Jenkins presents a thoroughly-researched, well thought-out, and highly provocative prediction of the future of global Christianity in the 21st century. This is a book every pastor and laity leader will find […]
Jesus loves me, this I know For the Bible tells me so, But Jesus does not love you, Because of all the crap you do. (scribbled on a church bathroom wall) There is a perverse logic at work in the Christian church. Recent polls of regular church goers indicate that […]
Within the past week I have received four different emails regarding William Young’s, The Shack. The attention this book receives is interesting to me, and I posted a review in May 2008 that voices a minority opinion — while I observe a widespread, gushing adoration for the book, I found […]
A few people responded to my “Oh We, Of Little Faith” post — addressing the the doom-and-gloom predictions of the end of the UMC in the next forty years or so — by asking what kind of future I do envision for the good old UMC? Looking at trends and […]
You might think that people who do something repeatedly over a period of years would come to know its practice and meaning intimately. In the case of the celebration of Holy Communion, you would be wrong. Each month (the preferred schedule for the institution of the Lord’s Supper in United […]
