On Friday, May 25, 2012, Ethan experienced his first graduation. He completed “studies” at the Clearfield Pre-School Center. It was a two-year program. Ethan now moves on to Kindergarten!… Continue Reading »
On Friday, May 25, 2012, Ethan experienced his first graduation. He completed “studies” at the Clearfield Pre-School Center. It was a two-year program. Ethan now moves on to Kindergarten!… Continue Reading »
Our local United Methodist churches sponsored a two-day confirmation bus trip, hitting some prominent regional sites and ministries within our tradition. Yesterday, I wrote about our visit to Strawbridge Shrine in Maryland. From Strawbridge Shrine, we visited the historic Lovely Lane United Methodist Church and Lovely Lane Museum in Baltimore. Lovely Lane UMC, listed on… Continue Reading »
Earlier this month, the Clearfield Cluster of United Methodist Churches (churches from the Clearfield area) conducted a two-day confirmation bus trip for youth who are either preparing for confirmation, or have been confirmed since the last bus trip a few years ago. The trip, with 30-something people, included stops in the Harrisburg area (the Pennsylvania… Continue Reading »
At the United Methodist Church’s recent General Conference in Tampa, Florida, one of the focuses of the first morning’s worship service was, “If it’s to be, it’s up to me.” While I did not watch the entire service, which was live-streamed (I saw only Bishop Weaver’s Episcopal Address, which I wrote about), this phrase came… Continue Reading »
Since General Conference 2012, I’ve been reflecting on what needs to happen for The United Methodist Church to experience transformation (see “The Recovery of a Contagious Methodist Movement”, a review of George Hunter’s book, and 4 Strategies to Transform The United Methodist Church). One thing that must happen is a recovery of Wesleyan theology! Over… Continue Reading »
Both in churches and in denominations, such as The United Methodist Church, in need of transformation and turnaround, it’s easy to focus on fixing the church. Our job is not to fix the church but simply to make ourselves available to God! We place too much emphasis on gifts, skills, and abilities, and not enough… Continue Reading »
I recently came across some writings by Adam Clarke, posted on Craig Adams’ blog, which included the following statement on preaching … Get a thorough knowledge of your subject: understand your text in all its connection and bearings, and then go into the pulpit depending on the Spirit of God to give you power to… Continue Reading »
I’ve written several posts about The Circle Maker by Mark Batterson over the last few months, including … The Circle Maker” 1.0 The Circle Maker” 2.0 The Circle Maker” 3.0 The Circle Maker” 4.0 Spiritual Priming and Shaping Culture Prayer Idiosyncrasies In this final post, I thought I’d share some takeaways from the book, practices… Continue Reading »
General Conference 2012 ended one week ago today. In the past week, I’ve read a number of post-conference reflections. I thought I’d list several of them here. These aren’t necessarily the best, or only ones, but they are some of the best ones I’ve read. United Methodist New Service: General Conference wrap-up (Richard Peck) A… Continue Reading »
In the days since General Conference 2012 ended last Friday, I’ve read a number of summaries and reflections. In one article, Elaine Robinson writes … … those of us who study the writings and practices of John Wesley can’t help but be reminded of those prophetic words near the end of his life: ‘I am… Continue Reading »