Follow Jesus. Lead the church. Change the world.
The 2016 General Conference of the United Methodist Church takes place May 10-20, 2016 in Portland, Oregon. General Conference, which takes place every four years, is the top policy-making body in the UMC and is the only church entity that has authority to speak for the entire denomination. General Conference meets every four years to … Read more
Thom Rainer’s book, “Autopsy of a Deceased Church” (2014), grew out of a popular blog post he wrote in 2013. In the book, Rainer looks at ten common traits of dying churches based on his research of deceased churches. Rainer estimates, “As many as 100,000 churches in America are showing signs of decline toward death” … Read more
I’m not a fan of Facebook’s News Feed and Pages Feed, which have their own ways of delivering content to you. I prefer to see the content I want to see and I want to see it chronologically! So, I set up lists. To set up Friends Lists … Go to facebook.com/bookmarks/lists to set up … Read more
Bill Hybels’ book, Simplify, offers “ten practices to unclutter your soul,” in the following titles … From exhausted to energized From overscheduled to organized From overwhelmed to in control From restless to fulfilled From wounded to whole From anxious to peaceful From isolated to connected From drifting to focused From stuck to moving on From … Read more
We recently attended our fifth Global Leadership Summit in a row. They’ve all been great. This year was no exception! Here are some of my key takeaways … 1. Develop grit! As usual, the talk which impacted me most was the opening session by Bill Hybels, who talked about the intangibles of leadership, inspired by … Read more
I’m impressed with the attitude and non-self-promotional behavior of Jesus in his ministry! I was especially struck by Jesus’ attitude as I started reading through Mark’s gospel again recently. Mark begins by telling how Jesus was introduced by John the Baptist; he didn’t even introduce himself! In the opening chapters of Mark’s gospel, Jesus “sternly” … Read more
Say Goodbye to Whining, Complaining, and Bad Attitudes … in You and Your Kids is the best book on parenting I’ve ever read! The authors, Scott Turansky and Joanne Miller, propose an honor-based approach to parenting (which is actually applicable to other areas of life, as well)! In families, it’s easy to focus on behavior, … Read more
I’ve said before, Leaders are Pot-Stirrers. I’ve also listed 3 Ways Leaders Stir the Pot. First-century church leaders were clearly pot-stirrers. In Acts 16-17, there’s a story that describes how Paul and Silas were pot-stirrers. “These people are causing an uproar in our city” (Acts 16.20, CEB) … “These people who have been disturbing the … Read more
When I pray some or all of our Core Prayers at Centre Grove, I often add the challenge to stay humble, stay hungry, and stay in tune with God! I’ve written about the need to stay humble and stay hungry before. We must stay humble, knowing that we can do nothing apart from God. We … Read more
Some churches have a Core Purpose. Some have Core Values. Perhaps churches should also have Core Prayers! After writing my post on (personal) Core Prayers awhile back, it struck me that Centre Grove UMC has (community) Core Prayers. I included them in that post, but here they are again … God, give us hearts like … Read more