Follow Jesus. Lead the church. Change the world.
I recently read a piece written by the President-elect of Asbury Theological Seminary in which Dr. Timothy C. Tennent reflected on the cultural changes that are impacting seminary education. Tennent writes (emphasis and paragraph breaks added for readability) … Jerusalem and Athens are symbolic of one of the key shifts in theological education today. Like … Read more
I recently heard that the United States is currently the fifth largest mission field in the world (third in the English speaking world), which is discussed in this article at umc.org. That’s an incredible statement! People in the U.S. have as much (or more) access to the gospel of Jesus Christ than in other nations … Read more
You’ve probably heard people talk about mentally/emotionally gearing up for the return to work near the end of their vacation. Maybe you’ve experienced it. I can’t speak for other professions or other types of work, but in ministry leadership, we don’t exactly get to lay down our call to ministry when we go on vacation. … Read more
Vacation isn’t just an opportunity to catch our breath, it’s also an important opportunity to recalibrate! When I think of recalibration, I think of recalibrating a battery (e.g., a laptop or cell phone battery) — occasionally, you need to fully drain it and then recharge it (at least, that’s how I understand it). Colors on … Read more
As Pentecost Sunday comes to a close, I’ll share one more thought about life in the Spirit (I previously wrote about Dynamite and Immersion). I’ve always understood the role of the Holy Spirit to be largely about empowerment. Moments before Jesus ascended to heaven, he told his followers … … you will receive power when … Read more
I remember hearing someone (Leonard Sweet?) once talk about Jesus’ primary tasks. And recently, while reviewing Missional Church (which I recently wrote about), I came across this quote: … three main tasks of Jesus before his crucifixion: preaching, teaching, and healing (133). Preaching. Teaching. And healing. I view preaching as proclaiming the good news of … 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
I have written about a couple books that we read awhile back in our D.Min. program at Asbury. I want to write about one more: Missional Church: A vision for the sending of the church in North America (Darrell Guder, editor). Ever since I read the book in 2004, I have been using the word … Read more
The Watoto Children’s Choir was in town last night for the Concert of Hope at West Side UMC (see Joleen’s preview post). It was a tremendous and inspiring experience! The group from Uganda (Africa), who is in the fifth month of their 6-month tour, arrived yesterday around 2:00 pm where Joleen and others from West … Read more
During one of the meals at the Bishop’s Retreat last week, each place setting included a 1-2-3-4 card which is intended to describe United Methodists. The folded card is designed “to provide talking points about our church and its mission,” states … We are the people of The United Methodist Church. We believe in— making … Read more