Community
Thanks to Jim Tung for photographing our Chatham Arts Community Music School Recital last Saturday, May 12, 2007. Chatham Arts emerged from our partnership with Virginia Tech, local parents, and community leaders. About 30 students take voice, piano, violin, cello, and guitar from world-class instructors affiliated with the Renaissance Music
Congregation
I've been thinking about the title of this post for a long time. Primarily because it really does describe my church. We do not do any of the stuff that is hot, hip, or trendy now. Actually, we probably haven't been hot, hip, or trendy since
Journey
Read my fellow-blogger, Holly Dolezalek's post, And, some crankiness. Holly is a self-described agnostic who blogs for Outreach magazine, keeping us real with her take on all this church stuff we talk about so much. In her post, Holly responds to Lee Strobel's article, Short-changing the
Congregation
Another characteristic Israel Galindo identifies in his book, The Hidden Lives of Congregations is the spiritual style of a church. Last year a new family moved into our community and our members invited them to worship with us. Our church has a traditional worship service with grand piano, pipe organ,
Congregation
If you're reading this blog, chances are you are a pastor or member of a small-church -- meaning attendance under 300. But even in the 10-300 attendance range, Israel Galindo's book, The Hidden Lives of Congregations, identifies 3-types of churches based on size alone. Then, to
Congregation
The old Beach Boys' hit, Be True To Your School, has a lesson for pastors of small-churches, too. While the Beach Boys were singing about loyalty to your school, I'm talking about being true to your church's history, personality, and memory. I think one of
Resources
ChristianityToday.com has posted an excerpt from my message, Where is God? on their LeadershipJournal.net site. I preached this sermon on April 22, 2007, the Sunday after the Virginia Tech shootings. I posted the entire sermon on this blog. CT picked it up because our church's ministries
Congregation
The Tipping Point, by Malcom Gladwell, is a must-read book for church leaders. It's the book that started the viral marketing buzz, but The Tipping Point is far more than a marketing book. Chapter 5 is subtitled, The Magic Number 150. Here's a quick summary: * Human
Resources
Notice the new header? LifeWay Threads is now our sponsor, so Outreach mag's really great art director, Christi, did new headers for all the Outreach mag blogs. It's a long story about how we selected this header for Confessions of A Small-Church Pastor, but I like
Community
This past week was difficult for our community. I live in Chatham, Virginia, about 2-hours from Blacksburg and Virginia Tech, so we were obviously affected by that tragedy. But, on the Saturday before the VT tragedy, our town doctor died suddenly and unexpectedly. Dr. Thompson was a member of our
Community
I have tried several times this week to write about the tragedy at Virginia Tech, but I could not. Here is the sermon I am preaching tomorrow. My prayer is that it will help. Finding God in the Midst of Tragedy John 21:1-19 Suppose everything we thought and believed
Community
Our town of Chatham is located less than 2-hours from the campus of Virginia Tech. Last Friday and Saturday, I was on the VT campus attending a Rotary training event. Today, Monday, April 16, the tragedy of 33 people killed, and scores wounded, hangs over our state like a pall.