Follow Jesus. Lead the church. Change the world.
We have gotten to do some different recreational activities in recent days, including mini-golfing with the West Side and Centre Grove youth groups, biking with Skip and Nancy Koerber on the local rails-to-trails, and feeding the ducks with Dick and Joann McCrum where the river runs through Clearfield. As we head into the colder months, … Read more
Back in July 2008 I wrote about my task management journey, my search for systems to help me be more and more productive. I stated my believe that “there’s always a better way!” I also discussed my latest attempt at using an online application, Remember the Milk. While I like the (free) service, I have … Read more
On Sunday, Joleen, Ethan, and I attended our district’s first (of what may become an annual event) “local pastor sabbath.” It was intended to be an opportunity for Local Pastors (and Student Pastors and Appointed Lay Speakers) to share a day off together. We gathered at Gethsemane United Methodist Church in Allport (located across the … Read more
Today is Blog Action Day. Thousands of bloggers are focusing on the issue of poverty from many different angles perspectives. In this post, I want to highlight a few words from the Scriptures that indicate that helping the poor was a core value in the first century church (the decades following the death and resurrection … Read more
Today was a special day in the Willis household. We traveled to the Cumberland County Courthouse in Carlisle and Ethan’s adoption was finalized. It was kind of a last minute thing. The lawyer’s office called Monday and said they could squeeze us in at the end of several other adoption finalization hearings if we could … Read more
When we were in Kansas City last week for the Leadership Institute at the United Methodist Church of the Resurrection, we received a 7 Days of Prayer prayer guide. Many churches are using this prayer guide to join together in prayer for the renewal and transformation of our churches. Here it is … Seven Days … Read more
Tonight, as I rushed out of COR’s sanctuary at the conclusion of Leadership Institute, I found myself having a familiar conversation with God … I want to change the world! That conversation was reawakened in me at a Chris Tomlin concert last year in State College. Well, since it’s late and we have to get … Read more
From today’s marathon day, three concepts stood out from today’s sessions, which all come out of a desire to impact non-religious or nominally-religious people. Adam Hamilton, in some of his final thoughts, talked about his approach to preaching. While many of us were taught in seminary to follow something like this: Start with Bible Exegete … Read more
Yesterday, we spent nearly 12 hours getting from Clearfield, PA to our destination in the greater Kansas City area. While our two flights were short (45 minutes to Dulles, then 2 hours to Kansas City), we had a long 4 hour layover in DC. After our State College District group rented 2 large SUVs, we … Read more
A few months ago, we wrote about attending Leadership Institute, a 2-day conference hosted by The United Methodist Church of the Resurrection (COR). Well, the has come for this event. Tomorrow, we travel to Kansas City (we’ll return Saturday). We’re excited about attending this event with a group of pastors from four districts in our … Read more