Categories
faith life

Breathe In, Breathe Out

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 […]

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church renewing the church

Why Numbers Matter in the UMC – Community (3 of 3)

Vitality seems to be the talk of The United Methodist Church. From the invitation to be a Vital Congregation to tracking metrics through Vital Signs, there has been a wide variety of response to the movement to increasing the level of reporting of involvement across several areas of local churches. Let me be clear about where I stand – […]

Categories
church renewing the church

Why Numbers Matter in the UMC – Learning (2 of 3)

Vitality seems to be the talk of The United Methodist Church. From the invitation to be a Vital Congregation to tracking metrics through Vital Signs, there has been a wide variety of response to the movement to increasing the level of reporting of involvement across several areas of local churches. Let me be clear about where I stand […]

Categories
church renewing the church

Why Numbers Matter in the UMC – Naming Reality (1 of 3)

Vitality seems to be the talk of The United Methodist Church. From the invitation to be a Vital Congregation to tracking metrics through Vital Signs, there has been a wide variety of response to the movement to increasing the level of reporting of involvement across several areas of local churches. I have heard a great deal […]

Categories
Bible life

Scripture Monday – Psalm 63:1

You, God, are my God, earnestly I seek you; I thirst for you, my whole being longs for you, in a dry and parched land where there is no water (Psalm 63:1, NIV). I love the vivid description of seeking God. Thirst is powerful in a land where there is no water. I aspire to seek God in this way, […]

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blog leadership ministry

A Year Ago on Thoughts of Resurrection – September 2010

Digging through the archives of this blog, I found a few posts from a year ago that I continue to find value in today. I invite you to take a look back with me. With all the talk about metrics for congregations in the UMC, what about a Monetary Incentive for Spiritual Growth? Authority and Responsibility – What is […]

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renewing the church united methodist church

Starting New Churches – An Interesting Story

Thanks to Tim Stevens for bringing this story to my attention via this post – One Church Becomes Two… Without Splitting. Beach United Methodist Church, in Jacksonville, Florida will be launching one of their worship venues, Eleven 22, as a new non denominational church in 12 to 18 months. You can read more about it at […]

Categories
leadership

Kansas Leadership Center

Earlier this week I was part of a team from Resurrection West that started the Leadership and Faith: Transforming Communities program from the Kansas Leadership Center. Here is a summary from the website: “This unique program is designed for United Methodist congregations in Kansas and is a collaborative effort of the Kansas Health Foundation, United […]

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leadership ministry

Pastoral Excellence: Equipping People

In my pastoral ministry, I hope to be effective at bearing fruit in God’s kingdom. I believe that one of the ways that I can be part of God’s work is to be excellent at equipping people. There are some things that I can do, say or ways that I can be that can bear […]

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blog

A Year Ago on Thoughts of Resurrection

Here are a few posts from a year ago, I hope that you might take a look at two or three and add your comments. Enjoy! Looking Forward to the Dad Life Institute: What’s the Point? (5 of 5) What to Do with Ineffective United Methodist Clergy What to Do with Unhealthy United Methodist Congregations My Advice on Cohabitation

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changing lives life

Start and Stop in the Appointive Year

This appointive year I am going to work on starting and stopping things to be more healthy, faithful and balanced. Start Creating deeper connections with colleagues in the United Methodist Church More regular exercise Gardening Puttering about the house a bit more Stop Worrying about things that I cannot decide about or avoid Caffeine (This […]

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leadership united methodist church

Healthy Pastoral Ambition?

At times, I wonder about ambition as a pastor in the United Methodist Church. On one hand, I am appointed and sent to serve at a local church by the bishop. It can be unhealthy to always “live in the next appointment” – looking forward to what might be. On the other hand, God has […]