Follow Jesus. Lead the church. Change the world.
One of the highlights of our D.Min. program at Asbury Theological Seminary was taking a course called “Church for the Unchurched” by Dr. George Hunter. One of our favorite memories from the class was Dr. Hunter addressing the class as “Colleagues.” I have read some of Hunter’s books, including Church for the Unchurched, Radical Outreach, … Read more
Prior to General Conference 2012 (GC2012), I was hopeful that the conference would make a lot of headway toward helping local churches be more effective in making disciples of Jesus Christ for the transformation of the world. Sadly, that did not happen! Bishop Scott Jones tweeted a summary of General Conference: “death throes of a … Read more
Yesterday, the General Conference of The United Methodist Church voted to end so-called “guaranteed appointments” for ordained pastors. Read more in this article at ministrymatters.com. Guaranteed appointments for ordained pastors began more than fifty years ago to protect the appointments of women and minority pastors. Today, the concern about guaranteed appointments is that it limits … Read more
General Conference 2012 of The United Methodist Church began last Tuesday and ends next Friday. As I understand it, during the first week, individual committees prepare petitions for action on the main floor of the general conference. I have been following events from a distance via the internet, including Twitter, which, at times, offers play-by-play … Read more
General Conference 2012 of The United Methodist Church (UMC) started Tuesday and will continue for ten days. This afternoon, while reflecting on some of the conference that I’ve followed online, I thought about a line from John Wesley’s Covenant Prayer … Let me be employed for thee or laid aside for thee The covenant prayer … Read more
General Conference 2012, a gathering of nearly-1,000 delegates from around the world, which meets every four years, began yesterday in Tampa, Florida. This morning, Bishop Peter Weaver delivered the Episcopal Address on behalf of the Council of Bishops of The United Methodist Church. You can watch the video of the entire morning worship service here … Read more
I recently finished reading a great book on prayer called The Circle Maker, by Mark Batterson. I’ve written some posts on the book already (and plan one final post with some specific takeaways); see “The Circle Maker” 1.0, “The Circle Maker” 2.0, and “The Circle Maker” 3.0. Here are some of my favorite highlights from … Read more
I finally got around to reading Why Jesus? by Bishop William Willimon. I’ve had it for a while, but my excuse to read the book was using it as a resource for my sermon series during Lent. I always enjoy Bishop Willimon’s writings. I read Pastor for a Theology of Ministry class at Asbury (interestingly, … Read more
Nearly three years ago, as Joleen and I began our second year in Clearfield, I wrote a prayer in my journal. Last July, I updated it and posted it on the blog: A Transformational Leadership Prayer. As I said last year, this prayer has stuck with me and I pray it every now and then. … Read more
Jesus was once asked by his disciples, “Lord, teach us to pray” (Luke 11.1). It’s a great request, one we all should make. Another good request, particularly for preachers, is “Lord, teach us to preach!” That was a request I found myself making in prayer earlier today. I thought, I don’t simply want to communicate … Read more