My friend Wes Magruder, pastor of the Kessler Park UMC in Dallas, shared some thoughts this week about how progressive United Methodist congregations might move forward in relation to the "Way Forward" decisions in the UMC. His thoughts were generally positive and worthy of thinking about, but one phrase in the post jumped out at … Continue reading The Case for Connectionalism
I think most of the world has seen my Facebook post from yesterday in which I announced that I am being appointed to serve as the Sr. Pastor of the City Road Chapel United Methodist Church in Madison, TN. In that statement, I acknowledged that I had thought at the beginning of the week that … Continue reading A United Methodist pastor’s perspective on a pastoral transition
We made a decision to turn our will and our lives over to the care of God as we understood Him. 12 Steps of Alcoholics Anonymous One of the interesting things about the 12 steps is the recognition that recognizing our powerlessness and insanity and believing that God has the power to transform us doesn't … Continue reading 12 Steps of Church Transformation: Step 3 — Surrender
We came to believe that a power greater than ourselves could restore us to sanity. --12 Steps of Alcoholics Anonymous-- I left us with a question in the last post: do we REALLY believe in a God who has the power to transform the church? To quote Bishop Vashti McKenzie, "...if so, why don't we … Continue reading 12 Steps of Church Transformation: Step 2 — A Power Greater Than Us #2
We came to believe that a power greater than ourselves could restore us to sanity. --12 Steps of Alcoholics Anonymous-- So far, the 12 steps have asked us to admit that we are powerless to effect change and manage our churches and denominations. But the 12 step model goes even further, suggesting that our problems … Continue reading 12 Steps of Church Transformation: Step 2 — A Power Greater Than Us #1
One of the things that we church people have done these days is to revere the culture of competence. We have taken the call to be a community of broken individuals working toward wholeness and transformed it into a product to the sold to the highest bidder; a commodity to appeal to the masses. This … Continue reading A bit more on powerlessness and leadership
We admitted we were powerless...that our lives had become unmanageable. --12 Steps of Alcoholics Anonymous I don't know about you, but as the pastor of a traditional, historic, aging, church that has been in numeric decline for some years now, it's time for me to come to terms with the powerlessness I feel in regards … Continue reading The 12 Steps of Church Change: Step 1 — Powerlessness
About a year and a half ago, a new member to our church community came with a request. He shared that he and his wife were recovering alcoholics, and that they were dedicated adherents to the AA 12 Step Movement, attending meetings almost every night. He noted that there were no meetings in our immediate … Continue reading The 12 Steps of Congregational Change — Setting the Stage
Over the past couple of days I've read a couple of articles by friends regarding the decision of the active (currently serving) United Methodist bishops to have a closed meeting (which they call a forum). Generally the responses have been negative toward the bishop's decision, suggesting that the lack of transparency further erodes trust in … Continue reading Waffling on Transparency
Today we learned that Cokesbury (I guess in their desire to meet the adaptive challenge that Neal Alexander talks about on a regular basis) will be closing down all their brick and mortar stores choosing instead to place their future in on-line sales. I confess that I received the news with a bit of a … Continue reading Well good luck to ya…
Today we learned that Cokesbury (I guess in their desire to meet the adaptive challenge that Neal Alexander talks about on a regular basis) will be closing down all their brick and mortar stores choosing instead to place their future in on-line sales. I confess that I received the news with a bit of a … Continue reading Well good luck to ya…
A week or so ago I was asked by a colleague in ministry who is in a new appointment to come talk to his finance committee. He was new in ministry and his church had just reconstituted a functioning finance committee and languishing for several years. They were looking for training on what they … Continue reading The Ministry of Resources
I met Mike Baughman through a curtain in a convention center in Tampa. I was working for the United Methodist News Service as a social media maven. Mike was in a similar role for the United Methodist Reporter. Our desks were next to one another, and I had a great time getting to know him, … Continue reading The Future of the United Methodist Church
A few days ago I posted a link to a website which shared some information from members of a congregation who felt that they have been marginalized by the denominational hierarchy in their annual conference. As I stated in that post I fully recognized that they represented one side of what is very likely a … Continue reading A note from a pastor of a wounded congregation
When I wrote my letter to Bishop Willimon, I really didn't expect it to receive the response it did. As a result, I've received several (many?) messages and e-mails thanking me for verbalizing what they would have liked to say to our United Methodist bishops, but were afraid to do so in fear of retaliation … Continue reading A Letter from a Wounded Congregation
In my recent letter to Bishop Willimon in response to his United Methodist Reporter commentary I was pretty hard on our bishops in my attempt to address what I heard the Bishop say about the lack of trust of the General Conference in Tampa. Somehow, he implied, the Council of Bishops were the victims in all … Continue reading I Love our Bishops
Ken Carter is a friend, colleague, mentor, and I hope will soon be a bishop. He wrote a great blog post reminding us that much of what we need to move into the future is already at our disposal. This paragraph resonated with me: Our gift to the individual seeker and to a jaded and … Continue reading Ken Carter on our focus in ministry
Dear Bishop Willimon, This morning the net was abuzz with commentary about your UMR article on "Church by Committee." Frankly there was little in the article that surprised me for I've known you long enough to know of your disdain for the system that we are both part of. I have heard you speak pretty … Continue reading An Open Letter to Bishop William Willimon
This morning emergent guru and bomb-thrower Tony Jones used Bishop Willimon's latest UMR commentary as a justification for shutting down the United Methodist Church. He suggested that all young clergy should get out while the getting is good: I just hope that enough of you young UMC clergy have the temerity to stand up and … Continue reading A Letter to Tony Jones from a United Methodist
The Service of Repentance continues as I speak, but I need to offer a quick word of thanks to Dr. George Tinker for his prophetic word which taught all of us a history that has been pushed under the carpet, and calling us to communal repentance with a gentle spirit that was challenging and yet … Continue reading George Tinker calls GC2012 to Repentance
Only Wonder Understands 