Follow Jesus. Lead the church. Change the world.
At around 4:00 p.m. today, we wrapped up annual conference with the ordination service. The ordination service is always one of the highlights of annual conference. In fact, one of my favorite parts of the service is at the end when the Bishop invites people from the congregation who sense that God may be calling … Read more
Home. That’s a word that Ethan has been saying over the course of the last 24 hours or so. Ethan is ready to go home. Being in an unfamiliar place in a sea of mostly unfamiliar people is pretty daunting, especially for a soon-to-be two-year-old who is getting a lot of attention! Today’s session of … Read more
We are at the annual conference of the Central Pennsylvania Conference this week taking place at Messiah College. We arrived yesterday to settle into our room and to attend a dinner with the Board of Ordained Ministry for those who are in the commissioning process along with their mentors. Annual Conference began this morning with … Read more
Self-care is important for all of us. It’s certainly important for leaders — people who influence and model life for others! If we don’t care for ourselves — body, mind, and soul — we will have less to give to and for others. Businesses and organizations are discovering this reality, partly in response to the … Read more
Before Ethan, we use to do a decent bit of hiking and biking on trails. We haven’t done much of either in the past year and a half. But recently, we did get out on a trail at Parker Dam. Since it was our first time out in a while, we chose an “easy” trail, … 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
Tomorrow is Pentecost Sunday. I recently reflected on the word Dynamite. I’m also thinking about the word immersion. Immersion is one of the forms or methods of water baptism (along with sprinkling or pouring). The United Methodist Church recognizes/practices all three forms. But when it comes to being baptized in the Holy Spirit, immersion is … Read more
This Sunday is Pentecost Sunday. It’s a particularly meaningful day because of the first Pentecost following the resurrection of Jesus Christ. Days earlier, Jesus informed his followers … … you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you. And you will be my witnesses, telling people about me everywhere … (Acts 1.8) I’ve … Read more
Earlier this month, on Mother’s Day actually, we announced that we are adopting again. We learned today that our paperwork was mailed to Korea yesterday. Now the wait for a referral begins (which will be our next major announcement)! Last time around, we received the referral of Ethan about two months after our paperwork went … 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