Growing up, I sat at the feet of countless remarkable male preachers. Besides Beth Moore, I don’t recall ever hearing a woman preach until my sophomore or junior year of college. I witnessed countless men stand behind pulpits, open their…
Is social media trending or transforming?
Editor’s note: Faith & Leadership offers sermons that shed light on issues of Christian leadership. A version of this sermon was preached at St Martin-in-the-Fields in London on Sept. 13, 2015. Genesis 11:1-9; John 16:7-15 I’m going to start with…
Unprofessional Christianity
Quitting your job is scary and hard and weird and exciting and nauseating, but when you’re a pastor, it’s a lot like leaving a cult. For most people, the phrase “You know, it was just time” is a sufficient…
The sound of silence
I am pastor of a Baptist congregation in Fort Collins, Colorado, and for the past two plus months, I have been on sabbatical. In addition to pursuing goals of resting, studying and revisioning, I have also attended three conferences, visited…
Congregational vision is a grace gift of God that we discern
When I first started consulting on vision I had a very left-brained approach. This was natural for me, because I am a hopelessly left-brained person. This meant I focused more on the vision statement than on the characteristics or qualities…
Too busy NOT to stop
Over 20 years ago, Bill Hybels wrote a terrific book, Too Busy NOT to Pray . In it he challenged our passive willingness to allow busyness to muscle out time for prayer in our daily schedules.
Time to prepare for “No Shave November”
Does having a beard make a person more or less effective as a minister? I feel kind of silly even posing the question, because it’s not the kind of question that typically crosses one’s mind—except that I’m in ministry, and…
21st century ministry: Like growing potatoes on Mars
While engaged in a conversation with some of my closest colleagues about the changes and challenges of pastoral ministry, Bill Wilson, Director of the Center for Healthy Churches, made a comment that summarized some thoughts that had been simmering in…
I abuse my church
I have a confession: I abuse my church. When I write abuse, I don’t mean it in the contemporary sense of the word. I mean it in the traditional sense, like when your grandfather abused those old work boots by wearing them in…
Clergy performing same-sex marriages: A new twist on a subject that makes us squirm
Baptists of most ages will cringe at the rest of this sentence, but here goes: Sexuality is in the air. This subject makes us squirm more than a too-long sermon on a too-hard pew in a too-hot church. But as…
7 habits of highly annoying clergy on social media
Clergy and social media. They go together like, well, selfie sticks and tourists. They might look ridiculous but that’s not going to stop them. And occasionally they produce something breathtaking.My Facebook timeline and Twitter feed are littered with posts by…
I’m tired of saying “I’m Sorry!”
I’m sorry. It may be the most common phrase in my work. I am sorry about the death; I am sorry about the diagnosis; I am sorry you didn’t like the music, the sermon, the temperature. It seems that I…