Follow Jesus. Lead the church. Change the world.
On Monday evening at the Bishop’s Retreat, Randy led a time of prayer and reflection, looking at 1 Kings 19.1-9a. He asked “What are you running from?” and “What are you running to?” On Tuesday evening, I concluded our look at Elijah with 1 Kings 19.9b-15a, which begins with Elijah in a cave where he … Read more
Today, Rev. Adam Hamilton, pastor of The United Methodist Church of the Resurrection in Leawood, Kansas, delivered the sermon at the Inaugural prayer Service at the National Cathedral in Washington D.C. President Barack Obama, and other national leaders, gathered in this traditional service that dates back to George Washington. You can read the transcript of … Read more
Last night, at the end of the first session of our Bishop’s Retreat, I led our clergy family in a time of prayer and reflection. Here’s the gist of what I said. Leadership and ministry often involves a lot of running. Unfortunately, too much running makes it hard to have a healthy soul! And, a … Read more
Bishop William Willimon is coming to the Susquehanna Conference next week as a guest speaker at the Bishop’s Retreat for our clergy family. Bishop Willimon recently retired from serving as bishop of the North Alabama Conference. He has since returned to Duke, where he taught for twenty years before being elected bishop in 2004. He … Read more
The church needs compassion! I’m writing a series of prayers for the Church, offering a prayer on a different topic each week. So far, I’ve prayed for awakening, transformational leaders, urgency, hope, and health. Yesterday, I wrote, God, Break Our Hearts! Asking God to break our hearts for what breaks God’s heart is a prayer … Read more
I’ve always loved the description of Jesus’ ministry in Matthew 9.35-38 … 35 Jesus traveled among all the cities and villages, teaching in their synagogues, announcing the good news of the kingdom, and healing every disease and every sickness. 36 Now when Jesus saw the crowds, he had compassion for them because they were troubled … Read more
Life isn’t easy. We need a guide, a compass, a way to live. Last summer, I was reading through the Psalms, and a verse from Psalm 86 jumped out at me. Teach me your way, Lord, so that I can walk in your truth. Make my heart focused only on honoring your name. (Psalm 86.11, … Read more
Today marks 110 years since the first Korean immigrants arrived in the U.S. (see keia.org). In 2005, the U.S. House and Senate named January 13 Korean American Day. Here’s the resolution (S. RES. 283) by the 109TH CONGRESS on December 16, 2005 … Recognizing the contributions of Korean Americans to the United States and encouraging … Read more
The church needs to be healthy! I’m in the midst of writing a series of prayers for the Church. Each week, I’m praying about a different topic. So far, I’ve prayed for awakening, transformational leaders, urgency, and hope. Too often, churches are spiritually unhealthy. Some are even toxic. Certainly, the church should attract unhealthy people—the … Read more
Recently, I started blogging on my iPad. I quickly determined I needed a good writing app. I don’t care for the WordPress app. Writing in the WordPress editor in a mobile web browser is better, but still isn’t ideal. On the iPad, I use Pages to sync docs with Pages on my laptop. It’s what … Read more