Earlier this month I was taking a seminary class at Luther Seminary with John Roberto of Lifelong Faith Associates. During one of the classes, he showed us what may be the best TED video I’ve ever seen. It could be titled, “The Gospel According to Chopin” (by the way, I am in no way a […]
Are You a Coach or a Player?
If you follow sports, you know that there is a difference between a great player and a great coach. The best players often do not make good coaches, and many great coaches weren’t exactly stand-out players. Phil Jackson, the great Chicago Bulls and Los Angeles Laker is considered by many to be a coaching genius. […]
Is “Grow” a Four Letter Word?
Over the past few weeks I have been listening to a lot of podcasts from William Willimon, who is currently the Bishop of the North Alabama Conference of the United Methodist Church. I didn’t know much about Willimon much before this recent spate of listening, except that he was dean of the Chapel and professor […]
Luther Seminary: Free, Legit Resources
One thing I am convinced of is that the church needs to be working towards more truly open source styles of resourcing for ministry. Some will disagree, saying that is unsustainable, and that you have to pay people in order to get the best work. That might be true if the church was bound to […]
The Best Church Assessment or Survey?
Our pastor wants to do some sort of church wide assessment or survey to get a snapshot of our congregation’s spiritual health. What are some of the best options out there? We are willing to pay some for it, but not an exorbitant amount. Here would be the perfect solution for us: Individuals fill out […]
Church as Incarnational Pneumatology
The following is a section from a paper I wrote this summer for a youth ministry course. Craig Van Gelder offers a robustly theological explanation for the nature of the church that gives a glimpse of how exactly God is present through this group of human beings: In this view, the Spirit-created church lives as […]
The Church and the Rich Young Ruler
I’m going to be preaching later this fall, and the gospel text for that Sunday includes Mark 10:17-23. In an initial reading of the passage, I couldn’t help but wonder if today we need to be reading the passage something like this: As Jesus started on his way, a pastor ran up to him and […]
Transforming Churches into Mission Centers: Rethinking Ordination
I’m at the ELCA Churchwide Assembly as a voting member, and there has been some very encouraging discussion on the requirement for the church to become a missional church. Those of us in emergent/missional conversations know this to already be true, but making this a strong emphasis across a mainline national church body is a […]
Adventures in Ecclesiology: ELCA Churchwide Assembly
Some of you may or may not know this, but I am a voting member in next week’s ELCA Churchwide Assembly. Because of that, I received about 500 pages worth of the Pre-Assembly Report in the mail a few weeks ago. It’s filled with reports from churchwide officers and offices, recommendations for action, information about […]
From Eternity to Here Blog Tour
Frank Viola is promoting his latest book, From Eternity to Here: Rediscovering the Ageless Purpose of God, on a multitude of blogs today. I have chosen to review the book, but others are featuring guest posts or posting an interview with Frank. To see a full list, scroll to the bottom of this post. Frank […]
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