By the way, sometimes it’s okay to start change small. Doing something completely new can be daunting. It can be scary. Well, for most people. There are those among us that love to blaze the trails; we call them trailblazers–we’re so creative. For most of us, however, trying anything new is feels like feeding Gizmo after midnight. But if you’re not willing to move to the new, you’re bound to get held back. So, instead…..
“The church is a business.” How many times have I heard that?! Of course, when you’re dealing with hundreds of people, at times the church should embrace business-like modes of action. But I’ve spent my ministry learning that church cannot be thought of as a business. Business has a bottom line. You could say that the church has one, too. For a business, that bottom line is profit. For the church, one could make the…..
Do you consider yourself normal? If you’re like most normal people, you’ll normally say you’re not. C’mon, it’s fun telling people you’re not normal, you little jokester. Who wants to be normal? We want to be above normal, post normal or even para normal. Actually, normal isn’t a bad thing–as long as the normal is a good normal and not a bad normal. Now I’ve spelled the word normal so much it looks wrong and…..
The big, scary monster that was Election 2016 is no more! You just Amen-ed, didn’t you? This past Sunday our church observed All Saints Sunday. One of the readings for that service was from Daniel 7, his dream of the four beasts. Of the dream, Daniel says, “my spirit was troubled within me, and the visions of my head terrified me.” Seeing how this was the Sunday before Election Tuesday, I noticed how easy it was for…..
This weekend I preached from Luke’s passage when Jesus sends the disciples out with power and authority. They were told to take nothing with them. All they would have would be the power, authority and mission Christ gave them. The sermon was a chance to emphasize the role of service in our Christian faith. If we’re not serving, what are we doing? Probably taking care of ourselves, but I won’t preach that sermon today. Instead, I…..
