There are many blessings of being in ministry as the pastor of a local church. One of these blessings is the opportunity to lead our congregation in mission to the community. In my role at Resurrection West, I have the opportunity to work with a great team of volunteers on the Mission team that organizes […]
There are many blessings of ministry as a pastor. One of those is to be with families with new babies. In the past several weeks, I have had the opportunity to be with two families who welcomed a new member to their family, as well as pray before surgery for an infant. Each one of […]
Here are some posts from Thoughts of Resurrection one year ago, that I think you might find interesting. Take a look… Will.i.am makes me smile – and he still does! Nothing to Do but Save Souls in the UMC – What else is there? Groundbreaking at Resurrection West – I had no idea that I would be at […]
“Better is one day in your courts than a thousand elsewhere; I would rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God than dwell in the tents of the wicked.” Psalm 84:10, NIV This verse reminds me of two things, which happen to be connected together. The first is an experience that I had in college at One […]
Yesterday, I led a workshop at Leadership Institute – Worship Online: What We’ve Learned in Three Years. Having transitioned my job responsibility to serve as Associate Pastor at Resurrection West on August 15, this was my final official role with Resurrection Online. You can see the presentation here: I felt great about the presentation. I […]
It is Leadership Institute time again at The United Methodist Church of the Resurrection. This year there are over 2,000 church leaders from 700 churches, 46 states, Brazil, Scotland and South Africa here for 2-3 days of teaching, inspiration, worship and community. I love these days. There is something that is powerful when there are hundreds […]
I recently learned that Relaxation is a Skill. One of the ways to relax is to breathe deeply. Our son is 9 months old and it doesn’t do us much good to tell him to take a deep breathe. What we can do is to hold him close and breathe deeply. This helped me know […]
We enrolled our son in Kindermusik and Nicole takes him to class each week. A couple weeks ago they learned something that was new to me. Relaxation is a learned skill. It is not something that we are born knowing how to do. I recognize in myself a tendency to not allow myself to relax. It […]
David and all the Israelites were celebrating with all their might before God, with songs and with harps, lyres, timbrels, cymbals and trumpets. 1 Chronicles 13:8, NIV Yesterday we completed a two week series at Resurrection in which we looked at what it means to worship. I found this verse to be particularly timely and […]
I was fascinated the version of All Creatures of Our God and King from the Elevation Church worship team. This video has prompted some response in the blogosphere, including: Worship vs. Performance Citizenship Confusion: Auto-tuned Elevation Church I find myself back and forth between the perspectives outlined in the two posts above. I would be […]
Earlier this week, I met with the Resurrection West Missions team. This is a fantastic group of people in the congregation who are committed to transforming communities. This team is responsible for one of the strategic objectives that we have as a congregation at West for this year. Here it is: “In order to be […]
On Sunday afternoon, Nicole and I met some friends to see the Kauffman Center for the Performing Arts as part of the Community Open House. It was a drizzly afternoon and the line was long. We waited in line for over an hour. Along the way, there were volunteers that were present to answer questions […]
Rev. Andrew Conard 