Today is Aldersgate Day, and it marks 275 years since John Wesley recorded these words in his journal … In the evening I went very unwillingly to a society in Aldersgate Street, where one was reading Luther’s Preface to the Epistle to the Romans. About a quarter before nine, while he was describing the change… Continue Reading »
I really enjoyed preparing a message for Pentecost Sunday this past week. In fact, it struck me that without Christmas and Easter, there would be no Christianity, but without Pentecost, Christianity would have no power or ability to last! Pentecost was so important that Jesus’ final instructions to his followers were to wait in Jerusalem… Continue Reading »
I finally got around to reading Training Camp: What the Best Do Better Than Everyone Else by Jon Gordon, which I’ve been interested in for a while. The book is a fictional story that shares lessons on pursuing greatness. The story follows Martin Jones, an undrafted rookie trying to make it in the NFL. During… Continue Reading »
Yesterday’s free, 4-hour online preaching conference, Preach Better Sermons, was great. It will take some time to process it all, but here are five things that resonated with me … 1. Find your own voice and be who are. It was great to see different styles among the presenters. At least two communicators (Mark Batterson… Continue Reading »
Preaching is hard work. It’s not just the act of preaching that’s hard, but all of the prep that goes into it during the days (and sometimes weeks) leading up to the preaching event. Preaching requires a lifetime of investment! Recently, I heard Bill Hybels quoted as saying … Preaching has been the single most… Continue Reading »
In the last two days, I read three mini-ebooks by Laura Vanderkam. The books are from her series, What the Most Successful People Do. The books are good because they are short, practical, and include lots of personal stories and application. What the Most Successful People Do Before Breakfast is about early morning routines and… Continue Reading »
I’ve always loved the book of Psalms. I am often reading through the psalms. In fact, in the earlier days of my journey, I followed what I heard was Billy Graham’s system for reading Psalms and Proverbs (5 psalms and 1 chapter of Proverbs per day, reading through each book once a month). I want… Continue Reading »
For Earth Day, Ethan’s Kindergarten class put on a special Earth Day program. The class, which spent weeks preparing, did a great job. And, we are very proud of Ethan! The one-hour program included a few songs, some readings, a “video book” (an edited video of each child reading a page from a book), planting… Continue Reading »
Both of the churches we serve participate in the Sierra Leone Initiative, which allows us to partner with United Methodist churches in Sierra Leone. Two guests from Sierra Leone are currently touring churches in our conference, reporting on the work in their country. We met both of them this past weekend, and one of them,… Continue Reading »
In recent months, I’ve been trying to improve my sleep. I just read an article by Tony Schwartz, Sleep is More Important Than Food, which is challenging me to be even more intentional. For most of my life, I’ve taken sleep for granted. When I was a kid, I thought sleep was a waste of… Continue Reading »