Categories
church leadership renewing the church

The Rabbit and the Elephant – a review

I recently finished reading The Rabbit and the Elephant: Why Small Is the New Big for Today’s Church by Tony & Felicity Dale and George Barna. This book offers the perspective that the church may be more effective in making disciples of Jesus Christ by multiplying rapidly rather than seeking to grow larger. The authors […]

Categories
leadership ministry

My Call to Ministry

My call to ministry has been a chain of experiences that have brought me to my current understanding of God’s call in my life. In the summer of 2002, I realized that God was not calling me to a career in biology, my field of study at the time. I considered many possibilities for life […]

Categories
annual conference question and response renewing the church

Wisdom for Ministry

At the young adult clergy booth at the Kansas West Annual Conference, participants were invited to add a post it note sharing wisdom for ministry. The responses were (in no particular order): Be who God created you to be. You! Don’t worry. Be happy. 🙂 Have Fun!! 🙂 BE a blessing Quit living in Fear! […]

Categories
renewing the church united methodist church

My Vision for the United Methodist Church

I have been thinking a lot about the United Methodist Church, including the Top 5 Reasons I Stay in The United Methodist Church earlier in the week. My vision for the United Methodist Church is that: Every church or charge will have at least one new member join by profession of faith each year. United Methodists […]

Categories
renewing the church

UMC Young Clergy – Online Community

Thursday and Friday of last week I was part of a gathering of 10 young adult leaders to discern best practices for supporting young clergy in the UMC. This grew out of conversations that began at the UMC Young Clergy Facebook group, video documentary on young clergy and the umc young clergy website. We named […]

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Uncategorized

Connection Drive – February 2009

Today I want to offer you, the reader, an invitation to connect with me. Whether this is your first time to read Thoughts of Resurrection or you are a regular visitor, I invite you to connect with me in the following ways: Subscribe to Thoughts of Resurrection to automatically receive each new post, without having […]

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Speedlinking – February 4, 2009

Big news and an opportunity to get a daily dose of Calvin at Reading the Institutes. A great reminder – The only thing I can control Summary of our Congregational Care retreat at Congregational Care at Resurrection in ’09. A Re-Visioning Prayer that I found to be an inspiration. I found this post to be […]

Categories
annual conference

Myths of Annual Conference: Relationships

I want to build on the myth of avoiding relationship in the Annual Conference because of a potential supervisory role in the future. I have heard it said that it is not possible to form deep relationships with other members of the annual conference. This is untrue and damages the connection. I reassert that it […]

Categories
changing lives worship

Vibe – Two Weeks In

This past Sunday was the second week for the Vibe worship service at Resurrection. I have been a part of the planning team and will be in worship leadership there each week. The service is in the Student Center with the sermon on video, edgier music and the opportunity for more movement and experiential response […]

Categories
ministry

iCampus – What about the incarnation?

This is a series of responses to questions about an internet campus from a previous series of posts. Do you have any other questions? Feel free to leave them in the comments and I will try to respond to each one. Thanks! Matt Judkins offered this comment at LifeChurch.tv Internet Campus – Not (3 of […]

Categories
ministry

LifeChurch.tv Internet Campus – Is (2 of 8)

I think that it was Terry Storch that shared these parameters of what an internet campus consists: Content – There is some type of content that is delivered, primarily a worship service including music, announcements, prayer, scripture and teaching / preaching. Connectivity – Internet campus congregants connect live to content that is being broadcast via […]

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Uncategorized

Guest Blog – Does the World Know?: Christian Unity in a Fractured Age (2 of 3)

This is a guest blog from Jared White of Finite Calls Infinite. Jared is a musician, a Web developer, a photographer, and a Charismatic Christian who believes that the Spirit of God is moving dramatically across the world today and impacting entire nations with the Gospel of the Kingdom. In last week’s installment of “Does […]