Follow Jesus. Lead the church. Change the world.
Last month, the Centre Grove Church Council discussed Radical Hospitality, which included a thorough walk-through of the church facilities (trying to view them through the eyes of a newcomer). This month, as part of our ongoing discussion of Bishop Schnase’s Five Practices of Fruitful Congregations, we focused on two important areas related to our hospitality. … Read more
Everyone has limitations, which means that no one can do everything. But while everyone has limitations, not everyone knows their limitations. When you don’t know your limitations, you’re likely to spend too much time doing things you’re not gifted to do (of course, we all have to do things we’re not gifted to do occasionally, … Read more
This was our second Easter with Ethan. Last year, he had been with us a little over a month. As you can tell from the photos below (taken this weekend), Ethan has grown a lot in the past year! As you might imagine, Easter is a particularly busy time for a clergy family with two … Read more
A few days ago I said that I’d blog some reflections on our reading of Methodist history, some serious, some less serious. This is the less serious one. Today, the popular slogan of The United Methodist Church … Open hearts. Open minds. Open doors. That slogan came to mind when we read a statement that … Read more
John Wesley wrote a document (a letter) called A Plain Account of the People Called Methodists, written in 1748. In part of it, Wesley addresses various objections he faced at the time. One of the objections Wesley addresses relates to the classes he had recently developed. Wesley quotes the objector: There were no such meetings … Read more
In the last few weeks, Joleen and I have been hard at work (as I alluded to in recent posts) working on studies in United Methodist history and doctrine (we had completed the polity part awhile back). We finished yesterday and while our heads are still swirling (almost literally, we probably covered a semester’s, or … Read more
One of my favorite books on leadership is Next Generation Leader (by Andy Stanley), which I read several years ago. The book focuses on five key areas: competence, courage, clarity, coaching and character. On character, Stanley writes … Your talent and giftedness as a leader have the potential to take you farther than your character … Read more
As mentioned in the last post, we’re in a pretty intense season right now (and for at least a few more days), which is why our blogging has been light. To help us get through this season, though, Ethan spent a good part of two days (including one night) at Grammy and Pappy’s house. He … Read more
In the old days (the days before Ethan), there were times that we would go non-stop in our work (ministry and/or schoolwork). That might mean things like going from early in the morning till late at night or eating a meal on-the-go. We didn’t do that all the time, of course, only during seasons where … Read more
I grew up in a denomination that was pretty much King James Only (KJO). I don’t think we were as militant about it as some groups, the King James Version (KJV) was simply the preferred/accepted Bible translation. (Of course, many of the modern translations started being published around the time I left the denomination, although … Read more