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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David Bosch outlines five important characteristics of the church’s relationship to the world in his landmark book “Transforming Mission.” This stuff is so fantastic (and I think important) that I am just going to copy what he wrote here. Also, if you haven’t read this book. Get it and spend the next three years slowing reading through […]
Eugene Peterson’s latest book, Practice Resurrection is fantastic. I don’t know how else to say it. An excerpt, “Church is the appointed gathering of named people in particular places who practice a life of resurrection in a world in which death gets the biggest headlines: death of nations, death of civilization, death of marriage, death […]
In my sermon this week, on the parable of the Foolish Rich Man, I referenced this quote from Tom Sine’s book, The New Conspirators. I absolutely loved this book and would recommend it to anyone who is wondering what kinds of things are going on in some awesome Christian communities these days. Tom writes, “If […]
“The initial locus and primary focus of [pastors] work is in their offices. Time-management studies again and again have confirmed that pastors invest a large percentage of their time in their offices – in meetings, in doing administrative work, and in taking care of administrative details…Pastors continue to spend so much time their offices because […]
I’ve been working with someone in our church to take a long hard look at the culture and practices of we’ve developed in our church around the issue of spiritual formation, spiritual direction and discipleship. In this, I’ve been doign some reading about how other denominations and traditions have approached this topic throughout the history […]
Eugene Peterson is one of those writers who has the uncanny knack to take my deepest struggles with leadership, faith, spirituality and speak at directly at them. One of those books is called Working the Angles. That’s one of those books I read at least once a year. Each time I do, I end up […]
Been really enjoying the book The Monkey and the Fish by Dave Gibbons. It’s one of those books that I will pass on to a few people and simply say “see, this is what I’ve been trying to talk about.” In chapter 5 he goes through three questions that are helpful for pastors and leaders […]
I turned 32 today. Not sure what to think about that. But I can confess that one begins to think more intentionally about life the older one gets. Of course, its not like I am old. There are plenty of you reading this who are much older than me! Recently, I read a post from […]
From Karl Barth’s Church Dogmatics v.4.3.2 – The Doctrine of Reconciliation To sum up, we may say there is committed to it the gospel, I.e. The good, glad tidings of Jesus Christ, of the real act and true revelation of the goodness in which God has willed to make and has in fact made Himself […]
I’ve been reading Resident Aliens by Stanley Hauerwas and William Willimon over the break. Chapter four is brilliant. This year I have done a lot of thinking about the Church as a counter-cultural community. I think this is always necessary and I’m certain there is a desperate need for those of us in a suburban […]