Arminius’ affirmation that regeneration precedes even the first movement of the will toward God may surprise even many Arminians. It is usually thought that only Calvinists believe that regeneration precedes conversion. However, as later Arminians explain perhaps better than Arminius himself did, the regeneration of which the Dutch theologian here spoke is not complete regeneration … Continue reading Understanding Who We Are as Methodists
Author: Jay Voorhees
Jay Voorhees is a pastor, writer, and community activist located in Nashville, TN. Jay currently is the pastor of the City Road Chapel United Methodist Church in Madison, TN, and is engaged in helping to connect others to the example and teaching of Jesus Christ and to take seriously Christ’s call to love our neighbors in radical ways.
Jay is the co-founder of The MethoBlog, a site that aggregates the writings of Methodist-related bloggers throughout the world, and is the former managing editor of The United Methodist Reporter. Jay has been involved in the United Methodist Church at both the local and national level since 1988. Jay is also the owner of Only Wonder Media, a boutique book and media publisher.
I Love Youth Ministers
Dear youth ministry friends, Having spent the past weekend at our annual conference's annual winter youth event, I just wanted you to know that I love you. You have a task that is more likely to result in condemnation than praise when some mom feels that little Johnny has been slighted, or when that spontaneous … Continue reading I Love Youth Ministers
Smartphone Update. or why I got the Iphone
This afternoon, after a great church council planning retreat, I made my way to the local AT&T store to move into the world of smartphone ownership. This was an interesting exercise, for I was pretty locked into a contract, am pretty much okay with AT&T in my area, and so was evaluating solely on phone … Continue reading Smartphone Update. or why I got the Iphone
Smart Phone Questions….
For being the technopastor, I have been rather low tech in regards to my cell phone. Even now I haven't made the jump to a smartphone due primarily to cost. I carry an IPod touch with me at all times as my PDA, but in the post Christmas price war, it seems time to make … Continue reading Smart Phone Questions….
The Missing Conversation from Arizona
Saturday morning I was watching the Twitter stream when the first accounts of the shooting in Arizona began to ring out. The news reports were, as we all know now, all over the map, with various accounts of what happened, and the reported death of Congresswoman Giffords. At the same time, within the first hours … Continue reading The Missing Conversation from Arizona
Moving On To A New Year
Today represents the fiftieth New Year that I’ve experienced in my life, and I have to say that it doesn’t seem much different from what’s come before. Like most, I lean forward with anticipation that the coming year will be “better” than the past. And yet I also know that every generation somehow believes that … Continue reading Moving On To A New Year
On the third day of Christmas…
...Steve Earle sang one of the great Christmas songs in the past 25 years. Enjoy.
A Gift for the 1st Day of Christmas
Enjoy....
Engagement vs. Inertia–Worship
Perhaps one of the places most clearly identified in culture with congregational vitality is in the area of worship. After all, for most people, worship is the first experience of a church, and what is experienced in that service will likely be a factor in determining whether to go deeper in developing a relationship with … Continue reading Engagement vs. Inertia–Worship
Engagement vs. Inertia–Worship
Perhaps one of the places most clearly identified in culture with congregational vitality is in the area of worship. After all, for most people, worship is the first experience of a church, and what is experienced in that service will likely be a factor in determining whether to go deeper in developing a relationship with … Continue reading Engagement vs. Inertia–Worship
Engagement vs. Inertia – Discipleship Development
Worship guru Dean McIntyre raised the question in my last post as to how to differentiate between those congregations that are engaged (leading toward vitality) and those who are driven by inertia (surviving and perhaps even growing numerically, but disconnected from the source and power of vitality). He asked for practical descriptions of the differences … Continue reading Engagement vs. Inertia – Discipleship Development
Engagement vs. Inertia – Discipleship Development
Worship guru Dean McIntyre raised the question in my last post as to how to differentiate between those congregations that are engaged (leading toward vitality) and those who are driven by inertia (surviving and perhaps even growing numerically, but disconnected from the source and power of vitality). He asked for practical descriptions of the differences … Continue reading Engagement vs. Inertia – Discipleship Development
Vital Churches = Engaged
Every morning one of my daughters and I head out to the car to get to school. We open the doors, adjust our seats, put on our seatbelts, and I turn the key to start the car. By many of the indications used by most churches, we are doing pretty good – we’ve shown up, … Continue reading Vital Churches = Engaged
Vitality = Forward Leaning
Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already arrived at my goal, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. Brothers and sisters, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is … Continue reading Vitality = Forward Leaning
Church Vitality = Dynamic
As I’ve been reflecting on the Call to Action report, especially in light of John Meunier’s very good questions about the disconnect between the methodology from the recommendations, and Neil Alexander’s suggestions that nothing in the report is to be seen as a “one size fits all” means of engendering vitality in the church, I … Continue reading Church Vitality = Dynamic
More Call To Action Information
Our good friend John Meunier offered some great questions on how the data in the Call to Action report led to the conclusions of the Steering Committee in the comments of a recent post on this blog. I forwarded the questions to Neil Alexander of UMPH who was one of the leaders of the Call … Continue reading More Call To Action Information
Harvesting from Afar
One of the crappy things about moving from one appointment to another is that there are many seeds that have been planted that haven't quite sprouted. We leave them in hope -- hoping that the congregations we are leaving will keep up the watering and fertilizing; hoping that the folks that are following us in … Continue reading Harvesting from Afar
The Drive for Discipleship – Setting the Stage
Over the past few weeks I have been thinking quite a bit about the state of the church in America, focusing of course on the United Methodist Church in particular. Reports such as the Council of Bishop's Call to Action report have driven some of this thinking, but most of it comes in my context … Continue reading The Drive for Discipleship – Setting the Stage
A “Vital” Reponse
Neil Alexander is the President and Publisher of the United Methodist Publishing House, and a member of the Steering Committee which produced the Council of Bishop’s Call to Action report, which I recently wrote about. Neil e-mailed me his thoughts on that post earlier today and has agreed to allow me to share them in … Continue reading A “Vital” Reponse
A “Vital” Reponse
Neil Alexander is the President and Publisher of the United Methodist Publishing House, and a member of the Steering Committee which produced the Council of Bishop’s Call to Action report, which I recently wrote about. Neil e-mailed me his thoughts on that post earlier today and has agreed to allow me to share them in … Continue reading A “Vital” Reponse
Only Wonder Understands 