Does a good pastor know everyone in his/her congregation? In short, my answer is yes AND no. As always, I am sharing my thoughts in order to facilitate conversation, because I believe we are all richer when we can understand each other, so feel free to comment. First, why a pastor doesn’t need to know […]
I am so grateful for the diverse people I interact with online. The Biblical Leadership Principles group on LinkedIn gets a special shout out for having a great conversation with me as I wrestled these last few posts (What should church look like? and Is smaller church better?). I am also extremely grateful for a […]
My post on small church continues to reverberate in my mind. I started a fun conversation with @angelaswisdom. I think it is good for us to struggle with what church looks like, and whether we are creating something that is not really what God intended. Recently, one of my amazing children gave me a strong rebuke […]
For several years, I’ve been asking myself this question – you see, I love big church. In fact, my favorite church size is about 600. Yet in the back of my head, I hear the question: Is it possible for a church to be healthy if it is large? My study of ecclesiology (the nature […]
Lent starts Wednesday. Lent is a season of the year where we prepare for Easter. Early Christians didn’t practice Lent. Instead, they held all-nighters to remember the time between Jesus’ death and resurrection. Time and tradition lengthened this time of remembrance to the 40 days before Easter. Today, Lent is a time where many people […]
Sometimes, life throws a curve ball. In these situations, we have a paradigm – although it can be hard, we know to lean into God and get His perspective. However, there are times that the curve ball comes from a person. They reject us, fail us, hurt us, betray us and cheat. Instead of working […]
I read something life-changing this morning: “Rejection is a type of communication.” from The Search for Significance: Seeing Your True Worth Through God’s Eyes This means that rejection could mean: You confuse me I don’t get you You don’t fit my paradigm so I don’t know how to act with you I am overloaded and […]
Funny how retirement is only a concept until you hit about 50. Then you start to wonder…will I have enough? With one eye on scripture, and the other on the news, here are some things to consider: 1. More than one country in Europe has decided to take over personal pensions in order to relieve […]
What is your one word for 2014? There are those who set up New Year’s Resolutions. I pretty much fail at those by noon on January 1. Instead, a few years ago, I ran across the One Word concept. For me, it means that I ask God what the one word is that He wants […]
Over the years, I’ve been part of many types of community. Right now, I am almost half way through a year-long mastermind group with a group of ladies from all over the Northwest. What is a mastermind group? We meet once a month via google hangout, and bring a topic of our choice to the […]