There is a bridge to nowhere where I love to go. The sculpture is a meandering walkway of wood and steel that rises into the trees with seemingly no real purpose whatsoever. As I approach the entrance I have two…
VITAL SIGNS: Resistant or resilient: A critical distinction
Two of the more important words for a congregation to ponder in the 21st century are resistant and resilient. Which of those two words better describe your congregation (and you) may well determine whether your congregation is viable in the…
LETTER: Yoga is incompatible with Christianity
I was saddened to read in the Jan. 28 edition of a Christian pastor practicing yoga. I am writing because many Christians do not understand that yoga involves more than just getting in to certain body positions and that it…
TRENDING: The leadership-discipleship-mission triangle
One way to read trends in the evangelical world is to watch how national conferences like Catalyst, Exponential, and VERGE are “theming.” Based on this, there is evidence that the North American conversation is centering on the theme of discipleship….
OPINION: An ode to the Ood
I have always had an affinity for British culture. Maybe it’s their many breaks for tea, their fascination with the Queen, or their insistence upon toasting before every drink. Whatever the reason, I’ve always felt myself drawn to the ways…
OUT LOUD
“Pope Benedict, tweeting as @Pontifex, has 1.5 million followers, which is pretty good, but he has tweeted exactly 35 times — and the messages read like boilerplate composed by a dutiful intern.” Bill Keller The New York Times columnist was…
TRENDING: Past the in-fighting?
My friend and mentor Mike Breen is an apostolic leader with keen global eyes. So when he recently issued his “State of the Evangelical Union,” it had my full attention. We’ll explore key themes from it in the next four…
OPINION: Shifted lives
Since I’ve been a father, I’ve been a subscriber to cable television for a total of 36 hours. That is how long it took my wife and me to realize that we were unwilling to pay for that quantity of…
OPINION: Burt’s Bees and thinking outside the hive
They were the most unlikely of business partners. In 1984 the beautiful town of Bangor, Maine, offered few stable jobs and many people still got by working odd jobs, trading for goods, and growing their own produce. Alex Gallimore Burt…