Preaching

Ever wonder what you’re doing when you preach a sermon?  Ever pause, in awe, of the sheer magnitude such responsibility carries, yet then rest in the assurance of God’s sovereignty and grace?  Ever consider what role the sermon has in the life of Christ’s body, the Church?
The sermon is revelation not education, good news not [...]

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Low-Hanging Fruit (John 15, anyone?)

Yesterday Seth Godin put forth an interesting question I couldn’t ignore.  Here’s an excerpt from his post:
Imagine that half the cars in the US get 10 miles per gallon. And half get 40 miles per gallon. Further stipulate that all cars are driven the same number of miles per year.
Now, you get one wish. You [...]

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Leadership Lessons :: How Critical is the Environment for Leadership Development?

Later today I take my last final exam of my KU career.  The only thing left to accomplish is the writing of a Master’s Thesis–I’m planning on starting that project this summer and hope to bring it to completion this coming fall.  In other personal news, I saw Elvis Costello and The Police at the [...]

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Calling and Vision ::: The Need for Pastoral Leadership

God is calling people in to pastoral leadership, but it seems as though the call is going unheeded, at times, from those in our youngest generations. The UMC (as well as other denominations) has seen a drop in the number of clergy ages 35 and younger. I’ve written about the lack of young [...]

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Dream Teams and Collective Wisdom

For the past several years I have been part of a handful of different church ministries.  What I’m about to discuss here, however, reaches beyond ministerial leadership and into any type of endeavor.
I’ve been reflecting on James Surowiecki’s The Wisdom of Crowds: Why the Many Are Smarter than the Few and How Collective Wisdom Shapes [...]

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Hear, Hear!

The apostolic role within established churches and denominations requires the reinterpreting of the denomination’s foundational values in the light of the demands of its mission today.  The ultimate goal of these apostolic leaders is to call the denomination away from maintenance, back to mission.  The apostolic denominational leader needs to be a visionary, who can [...]

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Dan Kimball :: They Like Jesus But Not the Church

Last week I picked up Dan Kimball’s They Like Jesus But Not the Church: Insights from Emerging Generations.  You can find Dan Kimball’s blog here.  Dan Kimball is a pastor in Santa Cruz, California at Vintage Faith Church, and has published The Emerging Church and Emerging Worship.  He is also one of the contributors to [...]

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Myers ::: Organic Community

The Spirit of organic community is grace, not law; “edit-ability,” not accountability…This is how a good author-editor relationship works: The author submits a rough draft.  The editor makes suggestions, even disagrees at times with the author.  The author considers the editor’s suggestions, and will often make adjustments.  The author and editor continue to go back [...]

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Arcade Fire: Intervention

Intervention
Artist(Band):The Arcade Fire
The king’s taken back the throne
The useless seed is sown
When they say they’re cutting off the phone
I’ll tell ‘em you’re not home
No place to hide
You were fighting as a soldier on their side
You’re still a soldier in your mind
Though nothing’s on the line
You say it’s money that we need
As if we’re [...]

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Where are the Young People? Leadership Development and Going Forth

Over a month ago I happened upon an article concerning “young clergy” and the dire need to increase the percentage of young leaders within the United Methodist denomination.  You can read the article I happened upon here.
Since reading this article I have continued to reflect on this topic.  Upon following the link you’ll find an article [...]

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