I am a pastor at 
As I arise today,
may the strength of God pilot me,
the power of God uphold me,
the wisdom of God guide me.
May the eye of God look before me,
the ear of God hear me,
the word of God speak for me.
May the hand of God protect me,
the way of God lie before me,
the shield of God defend me,
the host of God save me.
May Christ shield me today.
Christ with me, Christ before me,
Christ behind me,
Christ in me, Christ beneath me,
Christ above me,
Christ on my right, Christ on my left,
Christ when I lie down, Christ when I sit,
Christ when I stand,
Christ in the heart of everyone who thinks of me,
Christ in the mouth of everyone who speaks of me,
Christ in every eye that sees me,
Christ in every ear that hears me.
Amen.
A Prayer by St. Patrick
Reflections on Romans 8:31-39
This morning at The Well we came upon Romans 8:31-39 in our study of the book of Romans. Paul begins this section by saying, “What shall we say about all these things…” Of course, the obvious question here is “what are all of these things?” Now, it could be all of what Paul has talked about in Romans or just the last few chapters, 5-8. But, I’m happy to say its all of Romans up to this point.
Here’s a quick snapshot of some of “all of these things…”
Salvation has been revealed and God has remained faithful to his covenant!
God’s wrath was revealed to man by giving him over to their desire to worship the creation rather than God himself, who made the creation.
This is true of everybody. Even the religious, even those who are supposed to be “righteous” in the worlds eyes.
It doesn’t matter if you are a Jew or a gentiles, religious or not religious, all have turned away from God.
But God is faithful to his …
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The Missional Church Made Simple
This has been going around and I forget where I first saw it, but its a really well done introduction to the missional church. Too bad they didn’t use flannel graph.
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The Well: What Are We Doing?
A semi-concise, not perfect, overly-wordy description of what The Well is all about…
I have said many times throughout the last couple years that I would rather work nowhere else than at The Well. You could make me an offer to work full-time with a $120,000 salary in a …
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Letters and Papers from Prison – Bonhoeffer
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Ecclesia National Gathering & Diversity & Dallas Willard
Last week I spent 4 days at The Ecclesia National Gathering in Chevy Chase, MD. This is usually one of the highlights of my year and this year didn’t disappoint. The pastors and leaders in this network consist of …
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Hiestand Boy Band
Mason has become quite the singer, this is him leading is brothers in some of his favorite songs.
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An Invocation for Our MLK Gathering
Last night I had the honor of participating in our local Martin Luther King, Jr celebration service. This is always a meaningful event because we get to worship God together with a very diverse group of churches. I led the invocation during the gathering. This is what I shared:
Dr. King …
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Bi-Vocational Pastors
As a pastor who has spent the last nine years living a bi-vocational life (sometimes tri-vocational), I appreciated all the discussion on David Fitch’s blog post back in November. I posted the rhythm I have been living for the last nine months back in November also. Things have …
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Top 55 Pastor-Bloggers
So, apparently I am one of the top 55 pastor bloggers. Not sure how that list was made. But I guess its cool. And hey, I am #33 right after the one and only Eugene Cho. Maybe that’s because we share a name (my middle name is Eugene …
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What Are Your Habits?
Sometimes I miss really obvious things. I think it is because of familiarity. You know, you see or hear something over and over again and you miss the significance of something. For example, most of you would know the name Dick Butkus (pronounced by most people: Dick Buttkiss). He’s one …
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Edwin Freidman on Change
Edwin Friedman spoke the following at the Baccalaureate address to Albert Einstein High School in 1964:
“The universal ingredient and force which permeates all of life – namely change – is changing for the faster, and this means that it will become more and more necessary for each of us to … -
Emerging Church Reading Group
One of the more challenging things (Among many others) with being a pastor at The Well is the constant need for us define if we are an “emerging church” or not. I’m not going to get into that here, I’ve already done so …
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Peace on Earth. We Need it Now…
Sing the honest words of U2 in this song tonight as I process through the loss of a friend tonight.
Heaven on Earth, we need it now
I’m sick of all of this hanging around
Sick of sorrow, sick of the pain
I’m sick of hearing again and again
That there’s gonna be peace …
