Follow Jesus. Lead the church. Change the world.
Life. Leadership. God’s Mission. Those are the areas we’ve chosen to write about on this blog. But those areas have developed over time. We started out simply posting the text of our sermons. Later, we began reflecting on, and writing about, leadership. Over the course of the past year, we’ve begun writing a lot more … Read more
Sometimes “tomorrow” is a bad word — “Instead of doing (fill-in-the-blank) today, I’ll do it tomorrow!” (i.e., procrastination). But, other times, tomorrow is an inspiring word. Tomorrow gives us the opportunity to dream, envision, and plan for the future. Tomorrow is an opportunity to take what we’ve learned yesterday and today and apply it on … Read more
Tired, sleep-deprived, and worn out. That’s an odd way to begin a post called “Re-energized!” But while annual conference is physically tiring (and not just annual conference, but annual conference with a baby for the first time), it is still very energizing, spiritually and missionally! Of course, while spending hours together with a community of … Read more
Following up on what I wrote in Circuit Riders 1.0, I think what challenges and inspires me to be an effective leader is the early circuit riders’ sense of mission — they simply went wherever the people were! Lovett H. Weems, Jr. describes the pioneering spirit of the early Methodists in his book, Leadership in … Read more
Ilove history, especially the history of great Christ-following leaders who’ve gone before us. While reading about the UMC’s itinerant system for the previous post, I was once again challenged by the character and the courage of the early “circuit riders.” The term “circuit riders” has stuck, even though it has evolved over time (e.g., the … Read more
Every year, Samaritan’s Purse conducts a wonderful outreach called “Operation Christmas Child.” We’ve been able to participate in this ministry for the last several years through some of the churches we serve. This week is the week shoe boxes are delivered to drop-off locations all across the country, which will then be delivered to larger … Read more
Friday night’s Twila Paris concert with the World Vision Korea Children’s Choir was a great experience! Twila Paris’ concert tour came to Huntingdon, PA last night. We enjoyed hearing her sing some of her classic songs, including, “The Warrior is a Child,” “We Bow down,” and “He is Exalted,” as well as a couple songs … Read more
Sponsoring a child is a great way to make a difference in someone’s life! For years we talked about sponsoring a child through one of the organizations that offers child sponsorship. We finally made the commitment to make a difference in the life of a child a few months ago by sponsoring a child through … Read more
One of the causes we support (see list of causes we support in the sidebar) is Nothing But Nets, an effort in which the United Methodist Church is one of 5 founding partners. I’ve written a couple posts before: here and here. As a follow-up to the event that Joleen spearheaded, Joleen was named an … Read more
Today is Earth Day 2007 so I’m thinking about the environment, the earth, and our responsibility to be good stewards of it. Conversation is heating up (pun intended) on the topic of global warming. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) has been releasing reports on global climate change that have been stirring things up. … Read more