You are Disaffiliated! (What Now?)

Disaffiliation from a denomination is a long and bumpy road.  It is a road few of us wanted to take and most of us hoped we could avoid.  Things didn’t work out that way. Disaffiliation is hard.  Denominations were not structured to let people out.  They are like interstates with next to no exit ramps

A Change of Inputs (recovering evangelism while there is still time)

Churches are in a decaying orbit; we have to change our inputs.

We Don’t Make the Rules

When I was a kid, we played the Parker Brother’s board game Monopoly with some regularity. It took a long time and we started far more games than we finished but we played. Once while in early high school, I actually played at someone else’s house (my first away game) and discovered they had different

Does Your Church Want a Future? (then “get” this!)

History will look upon the years that spanned our lifetimes and declare them to be a period of seismic cultural shift.  In the same way the Gutenberg Press changed the world in 1439, the advent of the personal computer and the internet has changed the world again.  We live in a time when the Norman

“We Want Out!” (the loudest voice the #UMC isn’t hearing)

  There is an increasingly resonant voice in the United Methodist conflict emerging from both congregations and pastors.   It is a voice not being heard.   It does not receive invitations to the negotiating table.   It is a voice becoming too loud to ignore.   “We want out!”   As the United Methodist

Telling the Truth (About Jesus)

“Don’t let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God, and trust also in me. There is more than enough room in my Father’s home. If this were not so, would I have told you that I am going to prepare a place for you? 3 When everything is ready, I will come and get you, so that you

THE WORK OF THE HOLY SPIRIT (Part I)

BAPTIZED BY FIRE: THE WORK OF THE HOLY SPIRIT (Part I) Acts 2: 1-6   You may wonder why I would write on a topic as historically controversial as the Holy Spirit.  For me, it is an issue of disconnect and firepower.  The disconnect is that standard practice in most churches does not even remotely

Discovering God’s Will (A Different Perspective)

  Trust in the Lord with all your heart;     do not depend on your own understanding. Seek his will in all you do,     and he will show you which path to take. -Proverbs 3:5-6 (NLT)   Recently I had a faith discussion with a good friend who was troubled by the notion of God having a “plan”

Why I Believe What I Believe… Hebrews, Orthodoxy and Hope in Christ (Part IV)

Welcome to my forth installment of “Hebrews, Orthodoxy and Hope in Christ.”  Let’s begin with scripture: In fact, according to the law of Moses, nearly everything was purified with blood. For without the shedding of blood, there is no forgiveness.  And just as each person is destined to die once and after that comes judgment, so

Why I Believe What I Believe: Hebrews, Orthodoxy and Hope in Christ (Part III)

    13 Nothing in all creation is hidden from God. Everything is naked and exposed before his eyes, and he is the one to whom we are accountable. 14 So then, since we have a great High Priest who has entered heaven, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold firmly to what we believe. 15 This High