Categories
changing lives life ministry

My Advice on Cohabitation

I recently read an update from The Methodist Church of Great Britain in which it reports: “The Methodist Church will look at cohabitation, at the urging of the Youth Assembly. The annual report from the Youth Assembly, which was received by the Conference, requires the Methodist Council to work with young Methodists to produce advice […]

Categories
annual conference church ministry renewing the church

What to Do with Unhealthy United Methodist Congregations

I recognize there is debate about how to determine what makes a congregation healthy. What to do with an unhealthy United Methodist congregation is more difficult to determine than what to do with inffective United Methodist clergy. Kick them out of the denomination? In some cases, this might allow the congregation to become healthier. It […]

Categories
ministry renewing the church united methodist church

What is a guaranteed appointment in the UMC?

According to the 2008 Book of Discipline of The United Methodist Church, “Every effective elder in full connection who is in good standing shall be continued under appointment by the bishop…” (¶334.1) There is conversation about changing the “shall” in this paragraph to “may.” This would, in effect, end a guaranteed appointment to serve at […]

Categories
annual conference ministry united methodist church

Top 8 Reasons to End Guaranteed Appointments in the UMC

If I could change one thing in the United Methodist Church today, I would end guaranteed clergy appointments. Here are the top 10 reasons to end this practice: 8. Ineffective clergy will be more easily removed from leading a United Methodist church. 7. Effective clergy will be responsible for a increasing number of churches. 6. […]

Categories
ministry worship

Internet #FAIL at Resurrection Online

The past Sunday morning was not a great at Resurrection Online. First, here is a normal graph of connections from the evening service on June 13: The blue line is the number of computers that are connected and the green is the estimated worship attendance. The black line at the bottom is the iPhone stream […]

Categories
fun ministry

Angry Eyes and Tech Support

We have a great IT team at Resurrection. Here is one of their latest efforts to spread the good word about the support that they provide. Thanks to Jeremy for the great work!

Categories
ministry

How to Find the Value of Your Church’s Facebook Page

I continue to consider what is the best way to measure the effectiveness of the Facebook Page for Resurrection Online in the church. Ultimately, effectiveness would be living out the purpose of our church – to build a Christian community where non religious and nominally religious people are becoming deeply committed Christians. I hope that […]

Categories
ministry

Pre Marital Appointment via Skype

In a couple weeks, I will be officiating at the wedding of a couple who have recently moved to Texas. I met with them in person several months ago for our initial pre marital appointment. They were not able to travel to Kansas to be present again before the week of their wedding and asked […]

Categories
ministry question and response

Who are the major competitors to Resurrection Online?

I am working with a design firm on a redesign of the Resurrection Online website and part of the process is an assessment of the current website, including: “Who are your major “competitors”?” I can tell you that it is not primarily other churches. For Resurrection Online, competitors include All other content on the web. […]

Categories
annual conference ministry renewing the church

2010 #kswumc – Zimbabwe Partnership

Yesterday I focused a lot of my energy around the covenant between the Kansas West and Zimbabwe East Annual Conferences. It was my responsibility to pull together the team that shared stories of the trip and presented the legislation. While not speaking, I probably got more anxious than was strictly necessary trying to corral the […]

Categories
annual conference leadership ministry

2010 #kswumc – Reflections on Clergy Session

Last night was the clergy session of the Kansas West Annual Conference. My name was raised under the following questions: 31. Who are elected as members in full connection? b) Elders 33. Who are elected for ordination as elders? Along with 8 other elder and 2 deacon provisional members, I walked in to Mabee Arena […]

Categories
leadership ministry

@rezonline’s 2010 Summer Intern – @billgepford

I am excited to work with Bill Gepford. He started on Monday as part of the Resurrection Online team as a summer intern. He is a graduate of Kansas State University and finished his first year as a student at Perkins this spring. He will provide significant assistance moving forward the strategies and tactics of […]