My office at the church is just down the hall from the office work room. Every Thursday afternoon I hear the thump-thump-thump of the risograph machine churning out Sermon Notes and Study Guides and Prayer Guides for the bulletin. This week, however, production has started for Candlelight Christmas Eve bulletins and will continue through tomorrow. […]
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FaithWork
On Saturday, I was able to take part in a mission project with my small group. At The United Methodist Church of the Resurrection, one of the entry level mission opportunities is called FaithWork. It was a great experience. We arrived on Saturday morning, signed up for one of about a dozen projects that were […]
Yesterday I purchased windshield washer fluid for my vehicle. When I went to the local auto store and asked for windshield washer fluid, they pointed me to a stack of boxes. There were two choices: evergreen and cherry vanilla. They were both windshield fluid with de-icer. However, I had never considered the possibility of having […]
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Hospital Visits
Tuesday is my assigned day for hospital visits. Each of the pastors of Congregational Care has a particular day to which we are assigned to visit people in the hospital, pray before surgery, etc. Today I had five visits in four different and traveled forty miles. This has been the busiest day for me thus […]
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Church Names and Clarifications
In this blog, I tend to use different names when referring to particular communities. Language is important and I want to try to clarify what I mean. References may include the following:community of faith – a gathering of people united by a particular faith. This could be of any faith tradition.the church – the universal […]
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Cultural Awareness
An article titled “Pastors less informed about popular culture than are the people in their churches” was recently brought to my attention in this post by Kent at Church Relevance. From the article at Ellison Research: Sellers [Ron Sellers, President of Ellison Research] also noted that one criticism people often have about churches is that […]
In a previous post, Embers of the Fire, I posed several questions in regards to revitalization of churches. My responses are…Do these reflections apply to your community of faith?I believe that these reflections apply to my current community of faith. At this time, the local church of which I am a part is considering ways […]
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John Henry Faulk’s Christmas Story
While home for Thanksgiving, John Henry Faulk’s Christmas Story was shared with my family. I want to share this beautiful Christmas story with you. This narrative touches on some of the themes of the gospel: concern for the poor, equality of all races, and making room for all at the table. From the beginning of […]
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Ortho – what?
During Staff Chapel on November 30, Adam Hamilton spoke on Part IV of Thomas Merton’s Life and Holiness.On page 73 of Life and Holiness, Thomas Merton writes: It is quite possible to “believe in Christ,” in the sense of mentally accepting the truth that he lived on earth, died, and rose from the dead, and […]
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Internet Search and Reputation
I read a post by Cory Miller at Church Communications Pro that piqued my interest. Cory’s post, Houston, rather [Insert Your City Name Here], We Have a Problem, starts with this sentence: Humor me and try an experiment … go to Google and type in “church” and see what site gets top billing in the […]
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Resources for Learning
I am always looking for ways that I can continue to learn while being in a full time ministry setting. It has been a transition from being a seminary student to a setting where being I have found it a challenge to make time for study. My plan to be more intentional about study is […]
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Embers of the Fire
These are some reflections on the life of a denomination or individual church that initially began at a campfire on the night of November 6. I will begin with observations of a scene, pose questions related to the church and respond to these questions in a future post. When there is a fire that is […]
Rev. Andrew Conard 