Although email and video conferencing are effective tools, there is nothing quite like meeting face to face – praying, eating, laughing, planning, hoping, and learning together.
Take some time each day this week to thank God for the ways he is cleansing you.
Funny, the things we can learn from friends who do drugs. In the world of meth users, tweaking is a thing. That’s the term users use for the frantic and compulsive behaviors that tend to surface when you’re strung out on meth. Tweaking is obsession with an activity — any activity — like cleaning or searching through drawers or picking
As we enter a season of offering thanks in the United States, consider what proportion of your prayers express gratitude.
The church has always been challenged in maintaining an effective and healthy witness of the faith beyond the walls of its buildings. Every revival throughout the history of the church was started because the fellowship of believers was awakened by the Spirit to witness to their faith in public settings. This movement from the private (or inward) faith behavior to an intentional engagement
When we participate together in worship, we not only allow God to form and shape our hearts, we allow other Christians to serve as channels of God’s grace in our lives.
The bravery, chutzpah, faithfulness, love, and kindness of these women remind us that leadership in the kingdom of God comes in many forms, if only we have eyes to see.
We serve because God calls us through his Word to participate in his mission of reaching out and loving people from every nation and culture.
My experience in the Eternal City taught me three important things about evangelism.
Even though these men stood at a distance, Jesus saw them. Jesus made a choice to see these men.
Though Wesleyans are most committed to offering Christ, not to being distinct from other Christian traditions, there are differences in Christian traditions because various parts of the body of Christ articulate their faith with differing emphases or nuances. And although Wesley was primary focused on offering Christ, he was not indifferent to Christian beliefs or practice. The next three posts,
Several weeks ago, as I was running errands, I heard my two-year old son exclaim from the backseat of our car, “Oh my God!” When I paused for a second to consider how to explain the third commandment to a toddler, he continued, “Heavenly Father, You have blessed our congregation with the joy and care of children…” This is the
Today, in Houston, Texas, friends and family of Bishop Sarah Frances Davis are gathered in sorrow, thanksgiving and joy. They are gathered in sorrow, because they are mourning the loss of a sister in Christ. They are gathered in thanksgiving, to celebrate a life well-lived, and they are gathered in joy, confidently proclaiming the truth that Jesus Christ has overcome
This summer I spent a week in Santa Fe, New Mexico at a writer’s conference. I’ve attended a few of these over the years and I’ve learned something. A single, very important fact: Writers are weird people. That’s just the truth. I can say that because I’m a full time pastor and a full time mom and only have time
Evangelism is a natural and necessary element of multifaith conversations from Wesleyan perspectives. True conversation by Wesleyans means true announcement of the good news of Christ’s life, death, resurrection, and coming reign. Yet a real conversation also means Christians are open to hearing what other faiths consider good news in their traditions. Multifaith conversations for Wesleyans always include evangelism (which
On a recent hot summer day, I pulled down the flap of my mailbox and discovered an official-looking summons. For the first time in my life, I had Jury Duty – those dreaded words that bring pained expressions to millions of Americans every year. Being a woman of a thousand and one opinions, however, I immediately waved the paper under
In elementary school, children learn about endangered species, those animals that have become so uncommon that their ongoing existence as a species is at risk. Endangered animals need special protection and care in order to have an increased chance of survival, growth, and flourishing. The idea of endangered species recently got me thinking about another domain of life, the virtues.
H. Richard Niebuhr summed up the mainline Protestant view on the coming kingdom of God with the statement: “A God without wrath brought men without sin into a kingdom without judgment through the ministrations of a Christ without a cross.” Sharp words. Niebuhr was writing in the 1930s. But it might as well have been yesterday. Many Christians in our
Furious with rage, Nebuchadnezzar summoned Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego. So these men were brought before the king, and Nebuchadnezzar said to them, “Is it true, Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego, that you do not serve my gods or worship the image of gold I have set up? Now when you hear the sound of the horn, flute, zither, lyre, harp, pipe
I’m excited about what’s unfolding at Wesleyan Accent. We’ve got a group of younger voices in the Methodist/Wesleyan world who have a great deal to offer those of us seeking to live out the Christian life “with a Wesleyan accent” in the Kingdom of God. One of those is Phil Tallon. Recently, Phil wrote a piece on teaching youth about justification
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