Follow Jesus. Lead the church. Change the world.
If you’ve had a chance to read my post about the World Help Children’s Choir, whom we heard and experienced in Tennessee last November, you’ll understand why I was thrilled when the opportunity availed itself to bring a similar choir to West Side UMC. The Watoto Children’s Choir will perform a “Concert of Hope” at … Read more
At the Bishop’s Retreat last week, I was reminded about a particular verse that’s held an important place in my heart since the beginning of my Christ-following journey. When I was a junior in college, having just transferred to a Christian college to pursue training for my call to leadership in ministry, I remember the … Read more
Between November 23, 2007 and February 2, 2008 (a few days before we flew to Korea to get Ethan), I wrote a series of 6 posts reflecting on and dreaming about the kind of culture we wanted to shape in our home, once we welcomed Ethan into our lives. Nearly a year into our parenting … Read more
At the Bishop’s Retreat this week, Tex Sample talked about how we are formed by our practices (see other learnings here). Because of that, we need to choose good practices. I think this is one reason why habits, disciplines, systems and routines are important to me. It’s not just about finding an easier, faster way … Read more
At the beginning of this week, we arrived at the Bishop’s Retreat at the Willow Valley Resort in Lancaster, PA. While there, we witnessed the history-making inauguration as a group by way of the TV. And we also experienced some great teaching by Tex Sample, focusing on telling the Story. Here are some quotes and/or … Read more
Today is an important day in the history of the United States. It’s not about politics, Democrats, Republicans, or Independents (things we don’t generally blog about 🙂 ). But it’s about history. Today, we’re at the Bishop’s Retreat in Lancaster, PA, and we actually concluded the morning session a bit early so we could watch … Read more
After church services on Sunday, we ate lunch and hurriedly packed for our trip to the Willow Valley Resort, the location of the Bishop’s Retreat (an annual gathering for clergy families from our conference). This is our first time attending the Bishop’s Retreat. Tex Sample is the guest speaker this year; he was also the … Read more
Robert Schnase, bishop of the Missouri Conference of the UMC has written a book called Five Practices of Fruitful Congregations that’s making waves in the UMC. At Centre Grove UMC, our church council is beginning to work its way through the book and I’ll be blogging about the journey. The book focuses on five practices … Read more
While listening to music by FFH yesterday, I was especially struck by their song, “You Write the Words.” The song describes a songwriter’s struggle to write something new and fresh, something that would stand the test of time. The songwriter notes that songs like “Amazing Grace” and the “Hallelujah Chorus” have already been written. But … Read more
Yesterday, while Ethan and I were looking for some books in our personal library (too many are *still* in boxes!), I pulled out another book (a book by Kevin Lehman) that might be good to have on hand in the days to come. Fortunately, it’s not a book we’ve needed too much yet, but you … Read more