Carol Howard Merritt has a post up about the young clergy crisis. Here's a bit of her post: Since I’ve been chairing a national Presbyterian Church (USA) committee on the Nature of the Church for the 21st century, I’ve been gaining a different perspective on many of the larger trends of our denomination. One thing... Continue Reading →
Is It a Sin to Live in the Suburbs?
I've always been a city kid and for the most part have always lived in a city. As kids growing up in Michigan, I grew up with the belief that the 'burbs were somehow not a good place to be. They were filled with white people who fled the cities to escape people who look... Continue Reading →
"A Glimse of What Is Possible"
The word is getting around about SpringHouse Ministry Center (that's the new name), the new building where First Christian is moving to and working with a UCC and a Lutheran congregation. I've shared about how First Christian came to join this partnership and now here are some words from Geoffrey Black, the General Minister and... Continue Reading →
Notes from a Scrapper
I've been meaning to share this post by Carol Howard Merritt, but life has been busy and so I never did get around to it. But hearing about some fellow Disciples of Christ clergy who feel that they have no place in the church reminded me of it again. She uses the term "Scrappers" to... Continue Reading →
Notes from a Scrapper
I've been meaning to share this post by Carol Howard Merritt, but life has been busy and so I never did get around to it. But hearing about some fellow Disciples of Christ clergy who feel that they have no place in the church reminded me of it again. She uses the term "Scrappers" to... Continue Reading →
The Naked Pastor
I've been following fellow Disciples pastor Danny Bradfield for about five or six years via his blog, Field of Dandelions. We still have yet to meet in person (it will happen, I promise). He has a great post about what it means to be honest and authentic, something that pastors are not always good at... Continue Reading →
Three’s Company: A New Way of Being Church
Carol Howard Merritt has an interesting blog post about declining churches and ten ways for new churches to sprout. One of the thing that she focuses on is that many churches built buildings for the 1950s, when churches were incredibly full. But over the last few decades, many of these mainline Protestant churches have declined,... Continue Reading →
Sunday Sermon: May 2, 2010
I usually post my sermons soon after I preach them, but for some reason I didn't post this one last year. I filled in for the pastor at Plymouth Creek Christian Church in Plymouth, MN. Part of the reason I share this now is that I want to tell part of the ongoing story of... Continue Reading →
What Does the Lord Require?
A few weeks back, I happened to be browsing the religious website Patheos and came accross a blog post by Greg Garrett called "God Commands Compassion, Not Evangelism." The title fascinated me and the excerpt was even more interesting: "Christianity is not about praying in a certain way, or believing a certain thing, or making... Continue Reading →
Repost: Come and Visit My Church
From December 2010: A few years ago, I got a call from someone who wanted to visit Community of Grace, the church start that I did a few years ago. The person wanted to know about the church and it seemed they were interested in benig part of a church with a big choir and... Continue Reading →
The Clockwork Pastor 