Recent united methodist

• Up in the Air

  I have been thinking about my life lately, and though I don’t really want to sound like a whiner ( I really don’t), I am not too happy about where it seems to be heading.  As all of my faithful readers know, I have been looking to move to a new church this summer in [...]

  March 1st, 2008

• Waiting and Patience

  Many years ago I discovered something about myself that is probably true of 99.99% of the people in world: I hate waiting. Some friends of mine at Eastern Kentucky University and I made plans to go to the Kentucky Derby (sometime in the early 80s I suppose), and though we knew that we [...]

  January 12th, 2008

• Happy Birthday Charles Wesley

  Charles Wesley, song writer extraordinaire and co-founder of Methodism, was born 300 years ago today. In his honor and memory I post my favorite hymn/poem of his. Titled Come, O Thou Traveler Unknown in the United Methodist hymnal, the poem Wrestling Jacob is an extended meditation on Jacob’s encounter with an angel or [...]

  December 18th, 2007

• And So It Begins

  It is after 2 am, and I cannot get to sleep.  My mind is still in overdrive as I consider all that needs to be done before Sunday, including:

  Lead a Bible Study tomorrow morning . . . er, in six hours.
  Prepare 3 bulletins - Maundy Thursday, Good Friday, and Easter.
  Write sermons for Good Friday and [...]

  April 3rd, 2007

• This Week’s Quote - No Transformation Necessary?

  Leadership Journal’s online blog Out of Ur recently ran this quote from Dallas Willard, which I found intriguing:
  “We fail to be disciples only because we do not decide to be. We do not intend to be disciples.”
  The writer of the blog post then goes on to ask:
  But which is the greater problem, the person [...]

  March 30th, 2007

• "Find Your Path, Share the Journey" Redux

  Just the other day, I shared my feelings about the new advertising campaign of the

  December 21st, 2006

• Find Your Path, Share the Journey, Make Me Sick

  Okay, enough already. I’ve had it with the advertising efforts of the United Methodist Church. They are, in a word, inane. First, we suffered through “Catch the Spirit” in the 80’s and early 90’s. The “Holy Spirit as the common cold campaign” is how I saw it. It was also a grand case of false [...]

  December 15th, 2006

• Local Churches Told to "Stick It" by Judicial Council

  United Methodism’s highest court, the Judicial Council, recently told “local churches to stuff their congregational tendencies where the sun doesn’t shine.”
  In a ruling from its late October session the Council sided with a decision by the Bishop of the Iowa Annual Conference when they declared, in essence, that local churches should have no say in [...]

  December 12th, 2006

• Maintenance or Mission - This Is Just a Test

  About a month ago UMC Bishop Will Willimon posted an excerpt on his blog from the Crossmarks website, which in itself was taken from a book by Harold Percy called Good News People, which you can purchase here (How’s that for giving credit where credit is due?  Oh, by the way, the excerpt in question was forwarded to the good [...]

  November 21st, 2006

• Bishops Adopt "Calls to Action" for United Methodists - Can You Say Pipe Dream?

  From an article by the United Methodist News Service (Nov. 13, 2006, By Linda Green):
  MAPUTO, Mozambique (UMNS) - The bishops of the United Methodist Church are calling members of the denomination to “live the United Methodist way” in their daily lives and public witness and be a community of believers who offer hope to the [...]

  November 15th, 2006