Galatians 1:13-17; 2:15-21 and Luke 18:9-14 Sixth Sunday of Easter Losing My Religion Sermon Series May 21, 2016 First Christian Church Mahtomedi, MN Click here to listen to the audio. It’s been about two years since our congregation voted to become an Open and Affirming congregation, meaning that we openly welcome Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and... Continue Reading →
Preach the Gospel. Use Words.
The fact of the matter is that we are called to preach the gospel. NOT be the gospel; that's something onlyJesus can do. NOT live out the gospel, because again, Jesus. We are called to preach the gospel and since we don't possess the power to speak telepathically to people, we have to say something.
We Call Ourselves Disciples
My wife Jan and I have been members of First Christian Church of St. Paul for nearly 20 years. We love the congregational focus. We particularly embrace the dedication to the principles of wholeness and inclusiveness of the Disciples of Christ, that welcome everyone to the Communion Table with no exceptions. We have recently rededicated... Continue Reading →
Repost: Church Planting and Mainline Church
I wrote this post back in 2006. A lot has changed since this post was written. Sadly, how Progressive Christians view church planting isn't one of them. I sometimes wonder if mainline Protestant churches really have a passion for new churches. I won't go into the nitty gritty of the situation with Community of... Continue Reading →
Mainline Churches Don’t Give a Rip About Church Planting.
As 2012 draws to a close, I'm taking some time to reflect on the new church ministry in the Christian Church in the Upper Midwest and the hopes for 2013 and church planting in within Mainline Protestantism as a whole. Earlier this year, I kind of fell into leading a ministry team of people interested... Continue Reading →
We Can’t Be Friends
It was about 20 years ago, that I attended a large Baptist church in Washington, DC. The church was an odd mix, or at least it would be odd today. Evangelicals and liberals were somehow able to worship together, along side a healthy dose of members from Latin America and Asia.The church decided at some... Continue Reading →
Repost: Why Church Planting Matters
Jim, left and my partner, Daniel, right. From August 2010. As First Christian plans its future, a constant among the plans is to leave some money aside for to plant new churches. Both the Senior Pastor and I have made this a priority in what ever decisions are made. That has been met with some... Continue Reading →
Sunday Sermon: December 4, 2011
“That Will Preach.” Isaiah 40:1-11 and Mark 1:1-8 December 4, 2011 First Christian ChurchMinneapolis, MN It been interesting to walk around the church office these days. It’s kind of become a bit of a museum. As we get ready for the upcoming move to SpringHouse Ministry Center, old newsletters and church bulletins are being taken out of... Continue Reading →
Super Simple Sunday School
I'm starting a new Sunday School class at First Christian that's called Super Simple Sunday School. It's basically morning devotions/morning prayer. The class goes a bit like this: We read one of that Sunday's lectionary text. We have a brief discussion of the text. We share prayer concerns. We pray. We leave. That's it. The... Continue Reading →
Lillian Daniel, Adam Copeland and the SBNRs
My last post created a lot of comments on Facebook. A colleague of mine disagreed with the article and me for the attitude against those who consider themselves "spiritual but not religious." Actually, I was agreeing to a short article written by UCC pastor Lillian Daniel and her comments have received a bit of criticism... Continue Reading →