Playing tourist

Now and then we must take time to break from our routine and stop to smell the roses… or the salty ocean breezes in my case.

I love you, but I hate your body

If you said those words to your spouse, your marriage would be in serious trouble. In an intimate relationship, our love and affection for one another is most often expressed in various forms of bodily contact. So why do so many people who claim to love Jesus reject contact with his body, the church? Yes, … Read more

Some uncomfortable lessons of Pastoral leadership

Serving as a Pastor is an ongoing education. Some days are filled with delightful discoveries, others with doubts, disappointments and despair. Here are a few random thoughts about what I have learned, and am learning: Friends are Friends forever is mostly a song title. Those people who are your close friends? The ones who called … Read more

The Easter Message problem for Pastors

Okay, all you pastors who might read this: fess up. If you have been at this for a while, you’ve seen a bunch of Easters come and go, and you’ve told the Resurrection story each year as best you can. Maybe it’s just me, but, Easter and Christmas always cause sermon writer’s block.  I read … Read more

Needing a network

This week I was contacted by a man who briefly attended my church when he was living in the area. He moved away, and — inspired by his positive experience with us — returned to church in the denomination of his youth (not the same as mine.) He was sorely disappointed and dropped out again. … Read more

The Davao video of meeting Felma

 Joel Campos and Kristy Martin ( http://studioredinc.com/redblog/ ) did a masterful job of giving voice and heart to the poor children of Davao, Mindinao, the Philippines in this beautifully shot and edited video for Compassion International. I was blessed to be one of the pastors featured in the video, as they documented my life-changing visit … Read more

The church says to the world…

Our American churches are, for the most part, well-filled on Sundays, and we measure success by how many we can attract and keep.  I believe God’s measure of a great, successful church is not how many we keep, but how many we send.  How much longer will we tell the lost world, “Please wait here … Read more

Grafitti

In a discussion among friends on Facebook, we have applauded the skills and artistic expression of urban artists, while decrying the invasive, illegal intrusion of spray-painted art on public and private property. I just stumbled upon this coming-soon WiiSpray video.    Kind of an interesting solution; an outlet for artists that is very creative, non-invasive, … Read more