We Can’t All be a Fred Bishop but…
Does heeding a God-PING (prompting) to serve really matter? Really? I would guess only a handful of the people who will read this post have heard of Junior Axley. Let me tell you how he may have impacted your life. Junior Axley was a volunteer youth director at Sunfield Methodist church over six decades ago.…
Why Christian Leaders Lead
I received two notes from highly committed parishioners. Both thanked me for effectively leading our church through “crisis.” My first thought was “which crisis?” Since 2016 or so, the church world has been in a perpetual state of crisis. The tornados keep touching down and the tornados already on the ground never seem to lift.…
Zambora, Zec and Papa Bish
I love being a Papa but I must confess that I had a pretty good teacher. With the DuQuoin State Fair upon us, this one is for all the Papas out there who are making one insane memory at a time! Zambora the Gorilla Girl(DuQuoin, Illinois, circa 1993) There is no better grandfather in the…
Recalling the DuQuoin State Fair
Thinking about the DuQuoin State Fair this morning. Generations of kids from DuQuoin literally grew up with this fair. We were it’s labor force. It was the biggest deal ever. I remember Sam the Candyman, Malone’s Taffy, First Heat dances, Car races, smoking hot days and nights, trotters, the Exhibition Hall, famous people walking through…
Why Christian Leaders Lead
I received two notes from highly committed parishioners. Both thanked me for effectively leading our church through “crisis.” My first thought was “which crisis?” Since 2016 or so, the church world has been in a perpetual state of crisis. The tornados keep touching down and the tornados already on the ground never seem to lift.…
Sixty Years in the Learning
In early April, I turned sixty. Sixty! Despite the depressing sound of it, sixty has been better than I expected. I am surrounded by love and by family. God has blessed my ministry beyond anything I could have ever imagined. I can still do most of what I could do when I was younger and…
Why Words Matter
“Gentle words bring life and health; deceitful words crush the spirit.” Proverbs 15:4 The Bible opens in Genesis with words being spoken by God and the cosmos forming as a result. God said and there was. In the New Testament, Jesus heals, delivers and sets miracles into motion with words. When Jesus speaks, the Kingdom…
Strategic Reallocation of Resources (Post COVID)
Though COVID will “always be with us,” the pandemic seems largely over. It has been over for a while, the politicians and news outlets just needed another story to fill their news cycles. What that means for churches is where you presently are; is where you are going to be. No one else is coming…
Pound Cake and Sweet Tea
When we lived in Georgia during our seminary years, we resided in a planned community called a mill village. The houses had wrap around porches and people sat out front on warm summer evenings. They sat in painted metal gliders and wooden porch swings; always swaying as kids played in the sandy front yards. Some…
Dealing with Disappointment (at Christmas)
It is 100% certain that you will be dealing with people who have disappointed you during this holiday season. When we are around people who have disappointed us in one way or the other, a myriad of emotions are sent into frenzy by our brain. Particularly if these people who have hurt us are people…
A (Blue) Christmas Prayer (2022)
Almighty God,Be with those who are dreading the Christmas season this year.Be with those for whom loss and despair occlude hope and light.Be with those facing empty chairs at their tables and those who will sit at their tables alone.Be with those for whom this season reminds them of where they have failed and what…
To the Journey! (What I Have Learned)
As of June 30, I wrapped up thirty-five years of vocational ministry. It all started in 1986 at the Herrin United Methodist Church where I was the Director of Family Life Ministries. Three years later, we left for seminary in Atlanta and I served the St. James Manchester/Chalybeate Springs Charge. After seminary, we shared our…
The Illusion of Perception (butter anyone?)
Not so long ago, an outspoken person I know was described to me as a “person who tells it like it is.” I replied, “Incorrect. That person tells it like they see it and how they see it is almost NEVER how it is!” The point was conceded in my favor. Often what we perceive…
Who is the Old Dude?
I celebrated a birthday last week. I am now officially fifty-nine. I saw my reflection in a window recently and wondered, “Who is the old dude?” I am pretty sure I am now older than my dad. I should have seen it coming. I didn’t, but I should have. It is like Christmas most years. …
A Dozen Things I am Seeing in Churches (Post Resurrection 2021)
I don’t think anyone knows what the church world is going to look like in the immediate future. It is not that “things have changed” and we need to adjust. It is that things won’t quit changing. Most of what I read concerning the future is what writers “hope happens” (extinction of the mega-church, collapse…
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Rev. Shane L. Bishop 