Community
Easter is the biggest day of the Christian year! It's the resurrection of Christ, the defeat of death, the victory over sin and the grave, the hope of humanity, and the promise of new life for people everywhere. And, people are more likely to go to church on
Community
Coming up next: A great idea for Easter Outreach -- stay tuned! Okay, I am going way out on a limb here because I am tired of the social gospel vs. evangelism debate. And I know the history -- the social gospel emerged at the turn of the twentieth century
Community
Several years ago my dad was a church library consultant for the Baptist Sunday School Board. One of his assignments was to conduct church library conferences at churches around the country. At one conference, he asked for reports about the status of the participants' church libraries. One dear lady
Congregation
If you read my January 11 post, Last Night We Crossed Over, you know that our church decided to invite the Boys and Girls Club kids that meet in our church to join our members for our regular Wednesday night fellowship meal. We would pay for about 40 kids to
Journey
I often take my preaching text from the revised common lectionary, especially from Advent through Pentecost.* Next Sunday's lectionary reading is Luke 9:28-36 -- the story of the transfiguration of Jesus, but the story has new meaning for me now. You know the story -- Jesus takes
Congregation
You've taken the survey, I'm sure. You know the one -- where you find out if your gifts in ministry put you in the apostle, prophet, poet, or pastor category. I always want to be the apostle. I can see it now, all my emails begin
Community
My friend Josh is pastor of a church in Monrovia, California. It's a new church, planted because of an encounter with God. Josh tells the story this way: "I was a youth pastor at a church near Monrovia. Each Wednesday I would spend the morning with my
Congregation
Our church is celebrating its 150th anniversary this year. Yep, we've been around since 1857. We're inviting former pastors (those still living of course) to speak. To kick off our celebration which began on the last Sunday in January, Dr. Rand Forder preached. Rand was pastor
Community
My good friend from high school days, Jim Stovall, is professor of journalism at the University of Tennessee. Peyton Manning, quarterback for Indianapolis Colts, is a former Tennessee Vol. Beginning to see a pattern here? So, Jim's students run a student news site, and they're up
Community
I can see stuff you can't. No, I don't mean I can see stuff like Haley Joel Osment -- "I see dead people." As my three-year-old grandson said about stuff like that -- "Too scawy." He meant scary. You had to be
Congregation
Rick Warren talks about preaching for "life change." Others speak of "transformational" preaching. The goal of every preacher I know is to bring an effective message, engaging the worshippers and leading them to a new encounter with God. It's the "how-to" part
Congregation
If you're keeping up, you know that our church is celebrating its 150th anniversary -- our sesquicentennial year. Try making that announcement on Sunday morning! Anyway, our committee is doing a wonderful job of inviting former pastors, musicians, and members, and gathering photos and other memorabilia for our