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.
My commentary on the research on evangelism and faith sharing in The United Methodist Church generated some interesting response — some defensive, some reflective, but no one really surprised by the conjecture that we’re not doing very much in the way of inviting people into relationship with Jesus Christ. I […]
Faith sharing and evangelism have fallen on hard times in The United Methodist Church. For the most part, we don’t do them — except with people who already believe what we do. As part of our research on spiritual practices, we asked 922 United Methodist lay people to share their […]
I sat through another United Methodist worship service — this time bombarded by thumping, lively praise music extolling how awesome, moist, and shiny Jesus is. (If you’ve experienced ‘contemporary’ praise music, you know what I mean…) The energy was high, it was the theology that was missing. Everything was simple and […]
Pleonexia — (Plē-ō-nĕx´-ia) — the insatiable desire for more; a condition of deep dissatisfaction with what one has; seeking fulfillment through the acquisition of possessions, prestige, or power. Besides being a great word that’s a lot of fun to say, pleonexia is an insightful description of much of modern culture […]
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 reminds us that faith without works is dead. Furthermore, it is not enough just to produce fruit because until it feeds somebody […]
There are a number of pastors who feel I am being too hard on the church, too critical of our ministries — and by extension, too critical of them. I apologize for that. I believe from the depths of my being that pastors and laity leaders are doing the best […]
Q: What is the number one complaint of seminary students when they serve in the local church? A: What they learn in class they can’t teach in the local church. It seems that the quest for knowledge ends for many at the church door. A significant number of American Christians […]
One of my best friends growing up played tennis once a month and could never understand why he didn’t get any better. He would compete against opponents who played four or five times a week, and it drove him crazy that he couldn’t beat them. The idea of practice and […]
Friedrich Schleiermacher offered an interesting, and at the time controversial, challenge to teachers and preachers of the Christian faith in 1811 when he proclaimed that “Christianity needs to be researched and taught.” His Brief Outline of Theology as a Field of Study, pointed out that much of what Christians believed […]
Notice the gun imagery in the title? Does this mean I believe in gun violence? Does this mean I am insensitive to the lives torn apart by firearms in this country? Do you think I support torture? In the past couple weeks, some survey information was shared that indicates that […]
United Methodeviations 