Anyone who has followed my lifelong trek through the maze of denominational staff service, and consulting and coaching with denominational organizations, knows that I believe in denominations. I also believe they have a future that respects their past and present….
Does anybody really know what tithing is?
By George Bullard Has a more general, difficult to measure, New Testament-oriented concept called generosity snuffed out the clear, easy to measure, Old Testament concept of tithing? Let me try that again. Has a left-brained legalism about tithing interpreted as…
Does anybody really know what tithing is? Does anybody really care?
Has a more general, difficult to measure, New Testament-oriented concept called generosity snuffed out the clear, easy to measure, Old Testament concept of tithing? Let me try that again. Has a left-brained legalism about tithing interpreted as 10 percent of…
Spiritual gifts are from God
By George Bullard Many years ago when walking down the hall in the building where I worked, I decided I would stop by Ken’s office and ask about him. It was discovered several months earlier that Ken had a growth…
If spiritual gifts are from God, why do they make you uncomfortable?
Many years ago when walking down the hall in the building where I worked, I decided I would stop by Ken’s office and ask about him. It was discovered several months earlier that Ken had a growth behind one of…
Great Commission and Great Commandment without synergy?
Do you remember where you were and what you were doing on the morning of September 11, 2001? I do too. That is a morning very difficult to forget. I was sitting in the lobby restaurant of a hotel in…
How Hurricane Hugo broke a racial barrier
By George Bullard Twenty-five years ago Hurricane Hugo made landfall in the Charleston, S.C., area and brought significant destruction in almost two dozen counties. At that time I was working for Baptists in South Carolina and supervised the department that…
How Hurricane Hugo broke the racial barrier
Twenty-five years ago on September 21, 1989 Hurricane Hugo made landfall in the Charleston, SC area and brought significant destruction in almost two dozen counties. At that time I was working for Baptists in South Carolina and supervised the department…
Shallow congregations only take off their shoes and socks
By George Bullard Since they only plan to wade into the shallow end of the pool or a few feet into the river, lake or ocean, the typical congregational participant only needs to remove shoes and socks. And we are…
Shallow congregations only take off their shoes and socks
Since they only plan to wade into the shallow end of the pool, or a few feet into the river, lake or ocean, the typical congregational participant only needs to remove their shoes and socks. And we are not talking…
When pastors live out the mission and vision of their church . . .
. . . it is a thing of great beauty. Recently I spent a couple of days with Samuel Tolbert, the pastor/teacher of Greater St. Mary Missionary Baptist Church in Lake Charles, LA. [See the church at www.gsmmbc.net.] I have…
Are Millennials different than Baby Boomers 40 years ago?
Back in the 1970s a lot of congregational prognosticators warned that the Church, in general, was in the process of losing a whole demographic generation known as Baby Boomers. Existing congregations, new congregations, and denominational approaches to ministry were losing…