Since January of this year, I’ve had braces.  The invisible kind. I’ve had crowding on my lower teeth all my life and then earlier this year noticed the uppers were becoming more misaligned as well, and that was that.  I have an orthodontist friend at Good Shepherd and while I usually don’t mix church and Read the full article…

For yesterday’s message . . . what happened in the lobby afterwards was more important than what happened in the Worship Center during; the church got to learn a new word; the church was able to celebrate its own remarkable history of generosity and impact; the bottom line intentionally contained a grammatical no-no; staff and Read the full article…

  But you have to admit, it would have been fabulous.

William Faulkner  once famously noted, “The past isn’t dead. It isn’t even past.” I wonder if he ever spent time in my office. People bring a lot of baggage from their past that ends up poisoning their present. Both things done to them and things they’ve done to themselves. Sometimes I despair of helping people Read the full article…

After over 25 years of full-time pastoral ministry, I believe I have a reasonably good understanding of how it works. Or how it doesn’t. So what are those things that a pastor needs to avoid if he or she will have both an effective ministry and a vibrant spiritual life? Here are some thoughts . Read the full article…