Follow Jesus. Lead the church. Change the world.
As I wrote last night, we are the Bishop’s Retreat in Lancaster, PA. Mike Slaughter has been our guest speaker in three sessions (last night, this morning, and this evening). I’ll do more in depth reflection later, but in the meantime, a few thoughts. This morning, Mike talked about a strategy for growing a missional … Read more
We are at the Bishop’s Clergy Retreat in Lancaster, PA. This year’s speaker is pastor of Ginghamsburg Church and author, Rev. Mike Slaughter. I’ve been looking forward to this week ever since we learned at last year’s retreat that Mike would be with us for this retreat. I’ve long been impacted by Mike. In fact, … Read more
Whenever I read through Isaiah, I always find his trash talk about idols somewhat humorous. Here’s a sampling of Isaiah’s attitude about idols … So to whom will you equate God; to what likeness will you compare him? An idol? A craftsman pours it, a metalworker covers it with gold, and fashions silver chains. The … Read more
As we began the new year, I started thinking about some keywords for the year. Here are some keywords that I hope will shape (and describe!) me this year … Passionate Hungry Disciplined Unsatisfied Teachable Obedient Tenacious Interestingly, these keywords are also forming the basis of the first sermon series of the new year at … Read more
A number of years ago, I read If You Want to Walk on Water, You’ve Got to Get Out of the Boat by John Ortberg. Ortberg is one of my favorite writers (and preachers), and his book titles are the best (e.g., Everybody’s Normal Till You Get to Know Them and When the Game Is … Read more
This is the final post in a series of posts on Resonate by Nancy Duarte. Previous posts include … Communicate for Change What I Like About the Book The Presentation Form Stories Transform Lives The Big Idea S.T.A.R. Moments StoryMapping Revisited Well, obviously, I love the book. I knew it was going to be a … Read more
As 2011 comes to an end, we are grateful for God’s unfailing love and faithfulness. We’re also grateful for our blessings, including our family! It’s been a little while since we’ve posted family photos, so here are several from the last couple of months, including some from our trip to visit family in Tennessee at … Read more
During the Advent season, one of the things that struck me this year was that the baby Jesus, who was revealed to shepherds, came to be a shepherd, himself. Once when Jesus “saw a large crowd, he had compassion on them because they were like sheep without a shepherd” (Mark 6.34, CEB). Interestingly, this phrase … Read more
This Advent season, I’ve been struck by the line in Luke’s gospel … (Mary) gave birth to her firstborn child, a son, wrapped him snugly, and laid him in a manger, because there was no place for them in the guestroom. (Luke 2.7, CEB) Mary gave birth to Jesus in a stable, placed the newborn … Read more
I’ve written about signing before (see Sign Language for Kids and Signing). But I just saw that Signing Time (we have a few of their DVDs) has posted a new PDF document summarizing research on signing. Dr. Claire Vallotton compiled the document which summarizes research findings on the impact of signing on preschool and school-age … Read more