Several years ago, I replaced the traditional New Year’s resolutions with commitments. Commitments give me space for growth, beginning again as I seek to correct errors, constant renewal. Let me suggest four commitments that will make a difference as we seek to live as disciples of Jesus. I want to be bold. When I read …
Category Archives: Ministry
Thinking the Faith
“Americans Describe Their Ideal Church.” Barna reports constantly survey the ever-changing U.S. religious scene. Churches find it more and more difficult to reach out to their communities. In his book, Thinking the Faith, John Douglas Hall pointed out that historically, until the 1960s, most Americans attended the church of their parents. Hall observes that faith …
Challenges for the Church: Strengthening the Foundations
Barna Research Reveals Four “Mega-Themes” in U.S. Culture (#4) As today’s young adults, teenagers and adolescents have become accustomed to radical individualism, they have introduced such thinking and behaviors into the realm of faith realm. Faith is an acceptable attribute and pursuit among most young people. However, their notions of faith do not align with …
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Challenges for the Church: Strengthening the Family
Barna Research Reveals Four “Mega-Themes” in U.S. Culture (#3) Most parents want to do a great job of raising their children. However, Barna studies conducted among parents of children under 18 revealed that few parents have a strategy or plan for how they will accomplish that goal. Barna’s surveys point out that most parents underestimate …
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Challenges for the Church: Redefinitions of Christianity
Barna Research Reveals Four “Mega-Themes” in U.S. Culture (#2) The research also reported that people are reframing Christianity to suit individual tastes. Fewer adults (and many fewer teens) identify themselves as Christians. The image of the Christian faith has taken a beating due to a combination of factors: harsh media criticism, “unchristian” behavior by church …
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Challenges for the Church: Helping the Self-Satisfied
Barna Research Reveals Four “Mega-Themes” in U.S. Culture (#1) A Barna report from over 20 years ago (December 2007) identified four significant “mega-themes” in contemporary U.S. culture: high self-acceptance or self-satisfaction, new definitions of Christianity, increased challenges and concerns in parenting and family dynamics, and individualized “designer faith” with rootless values. The report noted that …
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Blessed to be a blessing….
Jan and I enjoy spending time together, reflecting on life and ministry. In recent years we have been invited to return and preach in five congregations in which we ministered full-time. (We have worked full-time in only six churches, and one no longer exists because it merged with another church.) The opportunity to “go home” …
Update: Future Plans
Recently the blog template I have used for 15 years became unusable due to automatic updates. I was able to transfer over 1000 blogs to this new format. As I worked through the problem, I evaluated the best options with regard to future blogging. First, I plan to blog more consistently. Second, I plan to …
Not By My Power
If you are like me, you want to be successful at whatever you attempt. Even more, you want to be perceived as successful by your peers. Maybe this attitude is a cultural thing, or perhaps it is a “man” thing (which is also a cultural thing). I know this: getting older often causes one to …
It’s Sunday Again: What Time Is It?
My blogging friends know that the posting date/time stamp may not be the actual time of writing! I confess–I am writing this on Saturday, but setting it to post on Sunday morning. The spring time change! Spring forward! I call it the “bad” time change! It is the “bad” time change because people refuse to …