Journey
Have you heard the saying, “Christianity is one generation away from extinction”? My business travels took me to China frequently in the ’90s, mostly to Hong Kong and Shanghai. I opened an office in Shanghai, and hired a Shanghai-born Chinese man as my manager. I’ll call him Mr. Li,
Journey
Written in my journal on February 3, 2007, in Pasadena, California while sitting in the sunshine on the plaza of Paseo de Colorado -- Grace is indeed God's gift. A moment of clarity, a vision of that which has been before our eyes all the time. Grace is
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
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
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
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
Congregation
If you read my post, Don't Quit!, you know that I left the ministry for 13-years. Much of that time I spent trying to get back into the pastorate, and that was hard. But the really hard part was finding a church where we could worship and fellowship.
Community
(This is a great story I used as introduction to a DMin paper I wrote last year. Hope you enjoy it. -- Chuck) As Europe emerged from the Dark Ages, China was the undisputed master of the eastern world. Chinese culture was centuries ahead of European culture. While the library
Congregation
We host a Boys and Girls Club downstairs in our old fellowship hall. About 40 kids attend the club each afternoon, Monday through Friday. We started the club about a year ago, and it has grown steadily and is now seen as a community asset. Hosting this club was a
Congregation
Have you noticed that medical conditions are all referred to by an alphabetic code? Who ever heard of RLS ("restless leg syndrome") until a drug was invented to cure it. My wife calls RLS "dog leg," which she says I have, but I am not going
Community
I read a blog recently that was pessimistic about the small church. Let me rephrase that -- the blogger said, "There is no hope for the small church." He cited the following reasons: * He had read Good to Great by Jim Collins, and had applied Collins' business