In Jr. High, one of my best friends developed a (thankfully temporary) pain in his knees because of how rapidly he was growing. And in a similar manner, our congregation has grown so rapidly since COVID that our “bones” need to catch up. ...
In a new book released last week, The Age of Grievance, American journalist Frank Bruni has offered an insightful examination of the ways in which grievance has come to define our culture (especially in politics, on both the right and left). Bruni documents how more and more of us are keeping a record of slights or pulling out the tape measure on our perceived misfortunes and blaming others for it. As Bruni would say, “The blame game has become the country’s most popular sport and victimhood its most fashionable garb.”...
First, I have to admit that the entire world of modern telecommunications still amazes me. I actually know why we say, “Hang up the phone!” because I grew up when a phone was attached by a cord to the wall, and to end a call, you had to “hang it” back up where it always stayed....
If you ever played hide-and-seek, did you ever really love being the one who was doing the seeking? I hated it. First, it meant that I had been caught first in the prior round when I had been hiding (so it felt like I had failed). Second, I always had a sinking feeling of dread, wondering inwardly, “What if I can’t find anyone?”...
Think about how you are the same, no matter what your age, as the day you were born. Just as an acorn grows from being a large nut to a sprig to a 200-year-old mammoth of a tree, you have gone from being an embryo to a fetus to a newborn baby to a toddler to whatever you are today....
The right tool fits the job. You wouldn’t try to drive in a nail with a tape measure. Even if you tried to do that, failed, and then complained, “This tape measure is no good!”...
If you’re reading this, my guess is that you are not a kid. So, I also suspect you understand basic anatomy and sexuality. ...
We asked, and you answered — thank you! Last month, our leaders asked me to communicate to you that we were behind on giving for 2023, and your response has been encouraging....
For many of you, you may not even know what a sabbatical is. Traditionally, it derived from the world of university professors who were granted a period of paid leave for study or travel. ...
Over the last few years, we’ve weathered COVID-19, profound social and political tensions, and behind it all, there has been a steady shift in what sexuality even is — let alone what is now considered sexually appropriate....
As I continue to work out the needs for the church to adjust to our contemporary audience, it’s from assessing how our cultural assumptions have changed in the last few decades. We’d be blind to not recognize our profound loss of influence and the resulting challenge that now face us....
Keep Reading If you read my email last week, this is a sort of part two to a clumsy start. I said that in content, we want to remain faithful, and in strategies, we want to be as creative as we possibly can be as long as we remain true to God’s Word. And don’t forget the Apostle Paul’s courage and creativity described in 1 Corinthians 9 to “become all things to all people, that...
Keep Reading Innovation implies change, and we’re the denomination who’s characterized by faithfulness. For instance, the PCUSA (out of which the PCA formed in 1972-73) changed from our long-held commitments to the Bible. That is a kind of change that is bad....
Keep Reading Likely you’ve seen the recent reports of snow in Los Angeles. There was even a measurable snowfall in Tampa in January of 1977… But a snowy winter is not the climate in L.A. or Tampa. Catch the vital distinction between an event and a climate — the difference between an exception and a norm. I want to ask you to assess your norms, exceptions, climate, and events....
Keep Reading What do you think is really happening at church? What do you believe goes on, not just visibly, but invisibly because of God’s Almighty power and working? Trusting Jesus for His work of redemption in my own heart and in the hearts of others, what would it look like to raise our gaze to look for God to work? Even at church?...
Keep Reading What would you do if your favorite teenager grew reluctant to bathe? Can you imagine the dialogue? “I’m fine. I feel fine....
Keep Reading “Culture eats strategy for lunch” — Peter Drucker (1909-2005). As a pioneering management consultant, educator, and author, Drucker was convinced that no matter how great your strategy is, a plan will fail without a company (or organizational) culture that encourages people to implement it....
Keep Reading This may seem odd or needless, but I want to invite you to church this Sunday. I believe it’s needful because the practice of attending an in-person worship service is dramatically in decline. After the COVID pandemic, national percentages of church attendance have plunged. ...
Keep Reading I do not know when you’ve seen it, but somewhere you likely have. A line of dominoes stacked on end start to tumble, and one domino hits another, and there’s no going back …...
Keep Reading What does it mean to be called? If your mom or dad called you to dinner when you were a kid, a person called out your name. And (hopefully) you responded. Or with your most recent phone call — likely you have caller ID, and again a person hoped to make contact with you for some reason....
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