Follow Jesus. Lead the church. Change the world.
A little over a year ago, I wrote about our conference’s Matthew 28 Initiative. I wrote that post on the eve of our consultation weekend in September 2011, and I recently realized I haven’t written anything about it since then! The consultation, which was conducted by Rev. Roz Mason (Consultant), Rev. Rich Morris (Coach), and … Read more
One book I just started reading is Tell It Slant by Eugene Peterson (I’ve always loved Peterson; his book, The Contemplative Pastor, had a huge impact on me early on when I was in seminary, preparing for ministry). The subtitle of Tell It Slant is, “a conversation on the language of Jesus in his stories … Read more
In 2006, Pastor Wayne Cordeiro gave a talk at the Willow Creek Association Global Leadership Summit called, Dead Leader Running. The talk struck a chord with me, at the time, and Cordeiro’s experience has stuck with me. In fact, when my ordeal began 19 weeks ago, it was one of the first things I thought … Read more
Recently, I reviewed one of Bill Hybels’ talks from the 2011 Willow Creek Association Global Leadership Summit. In the talk, Hybels mentions the “discipline of replenishment.” Because of where I’m at right now, the phrase struck a chord. Hybels says every leader needs to practice the discipline of replenishment. Otherwise, you’ll burn out. While this … Read more
Three years ago, Joleen and I were in Seoul, Korea to pick up Sarah (see the day we met Sarah and first hours with Sarah). It’s one of the real highlights of our lives, a blessing for which we are eternally grateful! Today, we celebrated Sarah’s third gotcha day by going to Fun Central, a … Read more
I was just reflecting on some of the unexpected blessings I’ve experienced because of blogging. At first, it was a place to post sermon notes. Then it became more of a resource for ministry and leadership, as well as a way for friends and family to keep up with what’s going on in our lives. … Read more
In recent months, I’ve been using iAnnotate in my sermon prep. iAnnotate is an iPad app that reads and marks up PDFs. Before this app, I printed out the scriptures I planned to use in my sermon. As I read over the text, I’d mark it up with a highlighter, marking keywords and phrases, and … Read more
In June, I wrote about 3 Steps I’m Taking to Manage Stress Better. One step was to call a heath coach. I called a health coach (available through our health insurance) several weeks ago, and specifically discussed techniques to relax and lower stress levels. Here are some of the things we talked about … Exercise … Read more
I recently finished reading Secrets From the Treadmill by Pete Briscoe and Patricia Hickman. The book spent several years on my reading pile (I picked it up during my D.Min. days at Asbury), but I decided to finally get to it when I realized I needed to manage stress better. I took it with me … Read more
Next Thursday, September 13, the West Side UMC morning Bible study will begin a new study, “James: Putting Faith to Work.” Following our study time at the church at 10:00-11:00 a.m., I’ll post a summary and a question or two so that those who cannot be with us in person may connect with us and … Read more