Patchwork Theology
When I was in high school, my math teachers made me show my work. When our class was given a test, we were given a sheet filled with problems and the best teachers would leave plenty of blank space on the test paper to work out the problems. Why? Because according to my teachers, knowing […]
Leading Without Thinking: The Silent Crisis in Church Leadership
One of the challenges of working in a local church, and from what I’m finding out about every level of leadership, is there is so much to do, no leader has the time to think about things. There’s no time to look at trends, numbers, and future opportunities and challenges. Every day is so crammed […]
Time to Let it Soak In
My mom used to tell me I couldn’t go swimming until I had let my lunch settle. According to her, it took exactly thirty minutes for my food to settle before I could get back into the water. If I got back into the water too fast, I would get sick, cramp up and die […]
From Farm to Table, From Pew to Pulpit
Local restaurants celebrate their “farm to table” practice of sourcing their food items from local farms. Sometimes, the restaurant will name the farmers in their menus. Dairy products are from this farm and eggs and chickens are from this farm. The restaurants are celebrating the absence of a middleman in the food preparation process. We […]
Teams that Don’t Draft Well
If you’re a sports fan like I am, you pay attention to every aspect of the game. You want to know about the offensive game plan and the defensive schemes concocted to stop the offense from moving the ball. You want to know the stats – down to the most obscure detail. The difference between […]
Great Teachers Love Eager Students
He would wait for me at the end of every service. With his Bible open, he would talk to me about the text I had just preached. He would point out subtle nuances of the Greek text and of course, he would talk to me about how he had preached this same passage. Every Sunday […]
Don’t Overestimate Your Congregation
Most pastors I know live for Sunday morning. They can’t wait until the congregation shows up and all the singing is done so they can stand up and share with the church all they’ve learned in preparing for the sermon. They want to tell the congregation about the uniqueness of the verbs used in this […]
How to Disagree with Your Pastor
A few weeks ago, a young pastor called me and asked if he could talk to me. We set a time to meet and as we sat down for coffee, he handed me an envelope. On the front of the envelope was this pastor’s name and his address at the church. There wasn’t anything else […]
New Year – What Will be Different in 2025?
As we approach the end of the year, most of us are going to be thinking about what we want to get done in the coming new year. We’ll find a quiet moment and begin to write down our hopes and dreams for 2025. This, of course, will begin the process of setting goals for […]
Prepare for His Arrival: Rediscovering the Meaning of Advent and the Call to Readiness
I didn’t grow up in a liturgical church and as a result, I was in seminary before I was introduced to the Christian year. The small Baptist churches I grew up in started preaching about Christmas the Sunday after Thanksgiving and we started with the birth of Jesus in Bethlehem. Imagine my confusion when I […]
