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.
A commitment to look for the good. A time to focus on the positive. I don’t want to give a completely one-sided view of my General Conference experience. There is much grace and goodness here. I want to share some stories that I find very hopeful and inspirational. A woman […]
Do United Methodists listen to the words they sing in worship? We have some incredible hymns, sacred songs, praise songs, and spirituals. They paint a picture of true paradise. Songs of love, songs of hope, songs of kindness and mercy. Hymns of adoration and praise. Hymns of reconciliation and unity. […]
Oh, my. Seek first to understand. Our General Conference proposed Rule 44, a process for Christian conversation that allows everyone to be part of small group interaction to generate a multi-layered and multi-faceted response to key legislation. The United Methodist Church has painted itself into a corner by so poorly […]
Ah, here we go again. Yesterday, in the selection of legislative committee leadership, our true colors came out. A fair, open system for selecting the best leaders or a contrived process where various special interest groups manipulate the process to get “their” candidate elected? Guess. So far, manipulation, is the […]
A question United Methodists seem to love to hate is about our rules. Are our rules, mainly delineated for us in our Book of Discipline, made to be followed or to be broken? Are rules absolute and unquestionable or are our rules evolving and bendable? Why have rules if we […]
I wonder if this would go down easier if we called Rule 44 “Rule Hank Aaron”? This was Aaron’s number in baseball for 22 years, Naming it after a beloved American icon could help us all feel good about it. Right now, differing view points are using the group discernment […]
Having bogged down in a rather embarrassing debate over what rules to adopt to conduct our business, we are ready on Day Two to move forward. Or are we? What was depressing about our engagement was the nitpicking, posturing, petulant, occasionally disrespectful and unnecessarily contentious nature of the proceedings. If […]
I was asked an interesting question this morning at GC — one I am probably not qualified to answer, but one which I have an opinion, nonetheless. “Assess the systemic constraint that is holding the church locked in its current deadlock on issues of scriptural authority, moral values, and institutional racism.” […]
Through the decades, when Methodists/United Methodists gather together — especially in clergy gatherings — it is traditional to sing, And Are We Yet Alive? It is not a moot point or a forgone conclusion. The second verse is a challenge to this year’s General Conference: Preserved by power divine to […]
I am preparing for Portland and ten days of “reporting” from General Conference. I have intentionally not weighed in on so many of the topics generating dialogue, discussion and debate. I made a commitment to listen and observe in preparation. This gives me lots to talk about in the next […]
