My wife and I parent four boys, six goats, two dogs, two chickens (update: the chickens have been eaten by coyotes) and we live very close to, but not actually in, Portland, OR. I help nonprofits navigate storytelling, fundraising and technology at 343 Consulting.
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Now that we have a ten-year old boy in our house – and three more of his brothers coming after him – we’ve begun thinking about how to talk with our kids about sex, girls, puberty, etc. You know, the fun stuff of parenthood. One of our friends who has raised fairly-well adjusted adult boys […]
I’m revisiting Brene Brown’s book Daring Greatly for a short talk I’m doing at Barcamp Philly tomorrow morning. I’m calling the session “Vulnerability Practice“. I’m going to give a brief overview of the book and share my own story of my journey in to daring to live a more vulnerable life. Then I’m going to […]
My prayer for the church is that we would be a communities of people who understand the grace and peace of the only one who can truly give grace and bring peace. And that as we receive that grace, peace and the hope and salvation that comes with it, we would proclaim it boldly to […]
“Sometimes God calls you into new things, sometimes God pushes you into new things..” This was my dad’s response to me as I shared with him some of the questions I was asking related to my vocational and occupational life. It became clear that this was one of those instances where God was pushing, and […]
From our gathering this morning at The Well: Father, you tell us in your Word that whatever does not proceed from faith is sin. We confess that we have frequently relaxed our faith. We have allowed ourselves to become cynical, and our cynicism has boiled over with slander, criticism, prayerlessness, and pessimism. How easily […]
Yep.. Western cultural views of how best to organize and lead (the majority paradigm in use in the world) are contrary to what life teaches. Western practices attempt to dominate life; we want life to comply with human needs rather than working as partners. This disregard for life’s dynamics is alarmingly evident in today’s organizations. […]
We’ve been forming some excellent teams at The Well, it’s been beautiful to see them flourish and work. At the same time, I always hear about how “bad” committees are in churches. I’ve never really been part of one, but apparently there is something annoying about them. So, if teams are good and committees are […]
From our good friend, Lesslie Newbigin in his most excellent book Household of God, It is surely a fact of inexhaustible significance that what our Lord left behind Him was not a book, nor a creed, nor a system of thought, nor a rule of life, but a visible community. I think that we protestants […]
“A systematic theology of grace puts church in its right place. Church is at best the caboose to grace. It is its tail. Ecclesiology, on the other hand, makes church into the engine.” Paul Zaul, Grace in Practice
It’s fascinating how much frustration and misunderstanding is really easily taken care of by honest, open, vulnerable conversation. As a pastor (and a human for that matter), I tend to make decisions that effect people. Sometime these decisions are received well. Other times, not so much. Usually someone is happy while someone else is pissed. […]