If anyone has e-mailed me at my @thewellpa.com e-mail address in the past week or few days, I am having some issues with them. So, if you are waiting for a response from me there is a 100% chance I didn’t get the e-mail. You can e-mail me through my contact form if you want to try and resend it.
Archive for November, 2007
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November 30, 2007
E-Mail issues
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November 29, 2007
Jesus Wept. A Funeral Sermon.
Tonight I stood in front of 300 people, about 290 of whom I had never met before and did my best to deal with the reality that their 26 year old brother, son, nephew, friend took his own life. This was perhaps one of the most overwhelming experiences of my entire life. Its a pretty good bet that most of them aren’t regular church goers and I realized that tonight I had the opportunity to introduce (perhaps not for the first time but at least in a fresh way) them to my God and my friend Jesus. This is where the rubber meets the road is it not? This is where you find out if your theology really does speak of “Good news.” Wednesday night...Read More →
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November 28, 2007
Not the Way its Supposed to Be.
Some things aren’t appropriate to blog about in detail. But, tomorrow night (Thursday) I will be leading a memorial service for a 26 year old young man named Phil who committed suicide early Tuesday morning. I did not know Phil or most of his family. But, his brother and his brother’s wife went to our church for a while so that is where we have our connection. If you think of it, please pray for the family as they deal with and process this tragedy. Also, pray for me and our those in our church who are doing our best to care for this family. Someone recently asked me how we can believe in a God who lets this kind of thing happen. My response...Read More →
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November 27, 2007
Are You Plugged-In?
Often churches (like mine) talk about making sure that people can “assimilate” or get “plugged-in” (i hate that second phrase – its so mechanical) to the community. I have always had a love-hate relationship with these ideas. I haven’t really been able to put words around why the idea didn’t sit well with me. Now, don’t get me wrong, I very much want people to connect with our community when they visit. I pray that our church can be a very, very hospitable group of people who love all people no matter what walk of life they are from. That’s something we try to do. Sometimes we are pretty good at it and sometimes we miss the mark. This I think, is true of almost...Read More →
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November 26, 2007
Why Some Church Programs Don’t Work
I’ve got two traits that often work against each other when it comes to pastoral ministry. First, I’m highly creative. I love being creative. This is a good quality. But, I’ve also got a bad habit of being all about and needing instant gratification. So, when you combine those two things, what you get is a leader who is always coming up with ideas and trying to implement that as quickly as possible. This isn’t necessarily the best thing ever. My co-pastor Gary has done a great job of encouraging me still be creative while doing so more effectively and and slowing down a bit. The truth is, almost no program or idea is so important that it can’t wait to be implemented or said...Read More →
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November 26, 2007
I’m Still in Love with Devin Hester
And I am even more so after the John Chandler’s Broncos decided to be manly and kick the ball to him. If you didn’t see the game last night, you missed quite a game. On Hester’s second return for a TD I woke my poor son up because I was yelling too loud. Whoops. For some reason, I really get into the Bears games even though they have been fairly inconstant this year. I don’t get to see many games on TV out here in Philly so yesterday was a treat. Here’s a link to his First TD which was a punt return Here’s a link to video of his second TD which was a kickoff. Seriously, why do teams still kick to him. Don’t...Read More →
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November 21, 2007
Unplugging
We are headed up to the Wisconsin Dells to go to our family’s timeshare. This means I won’t have internet access till Friday. I’m actually looking forward to it. Should be some good time with my family.
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November 20, 2007
Look at how Great I am
Bruce Reyes-Chow has a great post worth checking out about how we always feel the need to make sure people know how great we are. Good stuff. While this is a huge pet peeve of mine, I still catch myself doing it all the time.
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November 20, 2007
Travel Day from Philadelphia
So, this morning Melanie and I woke up the kids and got out of the house by around 6:50 for a 9:15 flight out of Philadelphia. It took us 1 hour and 45 minutes to get to the airport (usually takes about 1 hour that time of day). In addition to missing our flight and having to wait around till 12:30pm to fly out here is a list of what else when “wrong”: Most of the trouble started when Cole had to go to the bathroom while we were sitting in traffic on Byberry Road. There were no bathrooms around. We tried stopping at an old folks home but it was locked. So, well, we did what we had to do. We peed on the...Read More →
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November 19, 2007
Daddy Survey
Wanna be a better dad? I know I do. My Friend LT pointed me to this survey by his friend Tony, creator of the healthcare blog, hospitalimpact.org needs your help to help superdads everywhere with savvy daddy. First he’s trying to get as many dads as possible to take this 10min web survey. So check out the link below and pass it along to savvy daddies like you. savvydaddy.wordpress.com or go directly to the survey here Need incentive? Ok, one lucky dad will win $200 in American Express Gift Cheques (or if you choose, savvy daddy will donate the $200 to your selected charity). Plus, you’ll be helping them figure out how to create something that’ll be useful and fun for you.
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November 19, 2007
Joe Myers Interview
My good friend Joe Myers, author of Organic Community and The Search to Belong, will be interviewed by Sally Morgenthaler on www.shapevine.com tonight at 9:00pm Eastern. I am hoping to be able to listen in. Joe has been a great encouragement to me as a friend and as a mentor. I think its possible you would benefit from hearing him talk.
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November 14, 2007
A Holy (Suburban) discontent
Tim Keel, author of the new book Intuitive Leadership, must be reading my mind. Or, it might be more accurate to say that I have been reading his mind. Or I could just say that I’ve been reading his book… Anyways, I’m about 60 pages into his new book and he is basically telling his faith story. He is reflecting on how he had an intense and authentic experience of spiritual community in college. Then, post-college he entered into the world of suburban america. he writes, “I was able to see a number of friends with whom I had live so intimately begin to lose their faith following college. That sounds dramatic, and i don’t mean it in the way you might initially read it:...Read More →
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November 12, 2007
Site Maintenance
Doing some site maintenance just for the fun of it. If things look screwy I apologize. Update: So, I moved to a two column scheme. What do you think? Is it easier to read? Easier to find things? Let me know…
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November 12, 2007
An Adoption Sermon
Intro: Below is the sermon manuscript that I preached on August 10, 2007 after my wife and I and our new son Mason got home from Guatemala. I meant to post this a long time ago, but I had to make a few edits. I didn’t really make all the edits and I am fairly sure that what I actually said is different from what I wrote here but the general idea is here (I never follow my manuscript very closely) . I would link to the audio but it just figures that this was the week that our recorder decided to take a vacation. I hope you find this enjoyable. I am going to print it out to put in our adoption box that...Read More →
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November 6, 2007
Website Launch: The Imperfect Leader
Today I launched a new website for a good friend Davis Taylor. He’s on the leadership team at The Well and I consider him a very important mentor in my life.His book, The Imperfect Leader, “explores the not-so-secret secrets of transformational leadership—the kind of leadership that effectively executes a worthy mission—the kind of leadership that can make a difference in your organization.” I have personally read the book and found it very, very helpful. Go ahead and grab yourself a copy today! Check out this new website here…
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November 5, 2007
Random Thoughts on 11/5/07
I don’t have just one blog post in me so here goes a list of random things…  The Psalms. Like I said here, I have been reading the Psalms in the morning before I start work, at lunch break and when I finish up for the day. Or, I should say that has been my goal.  I’ve yet to go 3 for 3 for an entire day.  It’s amazing how distracted I get and how easy it is to forget this.  The times that I have done it though have been really meaningful.  I made myself a goal of making it to Tuesday (tomorrow) and I believe I will set a goal for another week.   Its worth the effort.  The Psalms are turning out to be...Read More →
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November 1, 2007
Being Countercultural with the Workday
Eugene Peterson writes in his book Working the Angles: “In short, the Psalms provide the language, the aspirations, the energy for the community as it comes together in prayer, and they then call into being and are formative for the activities of prophets, wise men and historians. The Psalms initiate; the prophets follow.  The inner action of prayer takes precedence over the outer action of proclamation. The implication of this for pastoral work is plain: it begins in prayer.  Anything creative, anything powerful, anything biblical, inso far as we are participants in it, originates in prayer. Pastors who imitate the preaching and moral action of the prophets without also imitating the prophets’ deep praying and worship so evident in the Psalms are an embarassment to the faith and an encumbrance...Read More →
