I offered the following pastoral prayer yesterday on the occasion of my first Sunday in a new interim ministry role. Alpha and Omega, you are the beginning and the end. You alone see the world without the boundary of time. Those of us who live with the burden of time measure our days and count our hours. We consult our calendars and manage our moments. Help us to overcome the tendency to confuse busyness with blessedness. God of new beginnings who is making all things Read More …
Sermon: A Welcome Back Party (#1175)
This morning marks my second consecutive Sunday preaching at United Church of Marco Island, and is my first in the role of Interim Senior Minister. The text for today's message is Luke 15:1-32. Sermon Excerpt Every church has an amazing history. Many, perhaps nearly all of us, became a part of this community of faith after participating in multiple other churches. The first church I served in a ministerial capacity holds a special place in my heart. I accepted the call to Read More …
Year-End Giving Appeals (#1174)
Many nonprofit organizations, including churches, receive a great deal of their annual budgets in the form of end of year giving. Matt Steen, creator of Church Simple, considered the wisdom circulating via multiple recent articles of note regarding how best to time end of year giving appeals. According to the latest Google study, 3/4 of potential end of year donors begin researching how they will spend their year end dollars in September. So What? For many congregations, the annual Read More …
Learn Together (#1173)
Seth Godin is the author of twelve books that have been bestsellers around the world and changed the way people think about marketing, change, and work. He is also the master of saying a great deal using relatively few words on his blog. Recently he wrote about the power of togetherness in learning. Godin affirms that mere access to educational opportunities is not adequate. Completion rates from MOOCs are among the strongest recent data backing up this argument. Given this Read More …
My New Call (#1172)
It is official: I am now serving as Interim Senior Minister of United Church on Marco Island (FL). The congregation was established in 1966, and now consists of 300+ followers of the way of Jesus. United Church is committed to Christian unity, and is affiliated with the National Association of Congregational Christian Churches and the United Church of Christ. So What? While most of my previous ministry positions were firsts for the congregations I served (the first time they Read More …
Precious Moments Christianity (#1171)
Roger Olson, professor of theology at Baylor University’s George W. Truett Theological Seminary, recently blogged about something he calls Precious Moments Christianity (a term he borrows from Charles Colson). The term is intended to lead readers to think about Precious Moments figurines or paraphernalia, and to view Christianity through that lens. Olson identifies ten characteristics of Precious Moments Christianity: No or few expectations of members; Promotion of what Read More …
Christians Should be Saying (#1170)
Christian Piatt is the author of multiple books, including Banned Questions About Jesus and Banned Questions About the Bible. Recently, he shared a list of ten things he feels Christians should say more often. His list includes: How can I help? I don't know. I could be wrong. So What? Our vocabulary is of great importance. As people who follow the way of Jesus, we should be agents of love who seek to help others and all of creation while admitting the Read More …
For not Against (#1169)
Rachel Marie Stone is a writer who writes for places like Christianity Today, Sojourners, and The Christian Century. Recently she wrote a blog post calling her readers to focus on that which they are for rather than defining themselves by that which they are against. So What? When it comes to Christianity, so many tend to define themselves or "their type of Christianity" based on what they are against. Unfortunately, I have met far too many people who were Read More …
Sermon: Authentic Discipleship (#1168)
Today I have the privilege of preaching at United Church of Marco Island. My sermon texts are Psalm 1 and Luke 14:25-33. Sermon Excerpt Which of you would plan to build a new custom home without creating a detailed budget, and ensuring you have the necessary funds to complete construction? If you do not count the cost and only partially build the home, then it will be worthless and you will be the laughing-stock of your community. Or can you imagine the leader of a powerful nation Read More …
Rise of the Nones (#1167)
Claude Fischer, professor of sociology at UC Berkeley, recently wrote a blog post that provides a solid overview of the growth of "nones" (those who self-identify as religiously non-affiliated) over the last 30 years. The three most significant polls (GSS, Gallup, and Pew) all illustrate the rise of the "nones" from just 7% of the adult population in the United States in the 1980s to 18-20% by 2012. Fischer remarks, "By all these methods, the rise in 'nones' is a major American Read More …