In a NY Time article, written by someone who would not call themselves a Christian by any streach of the imagination we get a glimpse of Christianity in other parts of the world:
and excerpt:
Whether in China or Africa, the commitment of new converts is extraordinary. While I was interviewing villagers along the Zambezi River last [...]
We were…
- Baptist.
- PCA.
- PCUSA.
- Non-Denominational.
- Anglican.
- Seventh-Day Adventist.
- Methodist.
- Home Church.
- Episcopal
- Wesleyan
- and more…
We were from…
- Rural America.
- Urban America.
- Urban South Africa.
- Urban Dominican Republic
- Suburban America
- Universities.
- and more…
A group of pastors gathered together in central Maryland this week. We shared our lives. We told our stories…
There are very [...]
Fact is, criticism is pretty easy to give. Its also a fact that criticism isn’t easy to take.
Being a pastor and…well…a person who makes too many mistakes and misjudgments, I have received my fair share of criticism. Often times it has been legitimate. Other times it seemed like a gross misunderstanding. [...]
Then he called the crowd to him along with his disciples and said: “If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me and for the gospel will save it.”
Mark [...]
Coming upon Easter, reading this was a great reminder what this is all about…i think it might be safe to say that the resurrection plays a pretty big role in this too…perhaps Guder meant the whole event of the cross and that would include his resurrection. to me, its the resurreciton that gives the [...]
With our Neighborhood Group tonight, we spent the evening discussing the Crucifixion and reading John 19-20 together.
It was a great discussion on the story and…well, there is something really beautiful about reading scripture with your community…we all bring something a little different to the story. We were talking, and realized that before the [...]
If you don’t have a community of faith to spend Easter with, you’re welcome to join us at The Well…here is some info:
JOURNEY
WITH JESUS
Easter Weekend 2005
Weekend Schedule
Pain. [...]
The past few days (and months for that matter) have been quite a challenge for our family. I have been silent on my blog about this whole thing, but my wife’s cousin is Terri Schiavo (Melanie’s dad is Terri’s mom’s brother). I probably don’t need to say more as to why its been [...]
In a copy of The Gospel and our Culture Newsletter I recently received there is an article by Edwin Searcy (pastor of University Hill Congregation in Vancouver, BC) called “Mission or Mission.”
He tells how he has grown to understand the word mission in a different light in his journey as a pastor. [...]
There is very little question that we are called to be Spiritually Formed in Christ. There is very little question that we are called to fulfill the mission of the church as a communal witness to the story of Jesus and the Bible. This is why our two main focuses are on [...]
I’m doing some office work today at our building and a guy came in to see if we wanted to buy some property…we didn’t. As we spoke for a few minutes, he asked the obvious question of “what kind of church is this?”
I am still often stumped by how to answer this [...]
My wife and I have recently dubbed Monday night “Family Night.” With it still being cold outside, we end up spending this time walking around the local mall. Our son loves it because it give him a chance to get out and “balk” (read: walk). We live in a fairly small townhouse [...]
This is something I wrote a while back while I was preaching on Psalm 139…found on my computer and don’t remember if i ever posted these thoughts…I wrote it back in Feb of 2004Meditations on Psalm 139“Search me, O God, and know my heart;Test me and know my anxious thoughts.See if there is any offensive [...]
If you are reading this, you are invited to play a little fantasy basketball on Yahoo! with me and some of my friends….
In order to join the group, just go to the game front page and click on the “Sign Up” button to create a team. After completing registration, or if you already have a [...]
I am preaching this week on Matthew 8. I am trying to approach this passage in the context of community. That is, allowing different communities i belong to give me insight on this text as i study through it this week. I obviously have been and will be spending a lot of [...]
Found this blog post this evening…very provacative. Let me know what you think, or better yet, let the author know what you think…
I am curious about this question. What are you really living for?
I don’t mean, what do you say you live for, or what would you like to live for. But, ask yourself some hard questions and see what you find. What is driving the decisions you make in life? [...]
I’ve been in three or four really good conversations this week about the power structures of the modern church. Top down leadership from the “paid staff” where we (as the pastors) do most of the work, make most of the decisions, etc. This hurts the possibility for the community of faith to make [...]
i finally got a real about me page up and working on this site. i filled in most of it and have to add some more books to my reading list…
not sure if any of you care, but hey, its fun to pretend!
but now iAM found…
the epic tale of love and tragedy has ended happily ever after. The prodigal iPod has come home again. Kill the fatted calf, call all your close friends, serve the best wine and let’s rejoice it its homecoming….
God bless the nice Starbucks manager who found it and kept it [...]