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leadership renewing the church united methodist church

Wesley’s Focus on Fruit: Senior Staff Retreat (1 of 4)

The conversation around the  Call to Action: Reordering the Life of the UMC and the subsequent UMC Leadership Summit, as well as the conversation in Kansas and Nebraska about Great Plans for the Great Plains: A Vision (PDF Link), I have been reflecting on the time that I spent on the spring senior staff retreat at […]

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blog communications

Top Posts from 2010

Here are the top posts for the past 365 days that were written in 2010: Church Growth = Increased Pastor Salary? Top 8 Reasons to end Guaranteed Appointments in the UMC Ordination Paperwork in the UMC: A Provocative Proposal Do I have to believe all the beliefs in Methodism to be a Methodist? What to Do with […]

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church leadership renewing the church

Living in the Resurrection Bubble

Last week, I suggested that if a church is not growing, it is dying and I wanted to take a moment to respond to a comment from my friend, Jimmy Taylor. He pointed out that I am a young pastor serving at a high energy church with significant leadership. He is absolutely right. My pastoral identity […]

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church renewing the church

Church Conference via Skype

As Pastor of Resurrection Online, I hope to help build a Christian community online where non religious and nominally religious people are becoming deeply committed Christians. A key to this purpose is building community. There has been a good deal of conversation about whether there can be authentic Christian community online, so how about a […]

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Uncategorized

Nothing to Do but Save Souls in the UMC

There is no group, connection, cluster or network of churches that doesn’t have issues. Being connected is part of who we are as Christians. There is no use complaining, but great value in working in God‘s kingdom and renewal within the church. I ran across this advice in a post by Matt Judkins from Tim […]

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Uncategorized

Take thou Authority and Responsibility…

In the post, Responsibility and authority, Seth Godin (picture to the right) inspired me to suggest a change in the phrasing used at the ordination of every United Methodist Elder. The post is short enough to warrant reposting: “Many people struggle at work because they want more authority. It turns out you can get a lot done […]

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faith renewing the church united methodist church

Class Meetings at Resurrection Online

I have been inspired by Kevin Watson’s series of posts about the Methodist Class Meeting. It was part of what made the Methodist movement powerful. I have hoped to use the following series of posts as a guide for leading class meetings when I am the lead pastor at a church one day. The Methodist […]

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question and response united methodist church

Do I have to believe all the beliefs in Methodism to be a Methodist?

You do not have to agree with all of the beliefs and positions of The United Methodist Church to be a United Methodist. However, you do need to agree upon some of the central issues of Christian faith. The founder of Methodist movement, John Wesley, preached a sermon titled, Catholic Spirit, in which he addresses this […]

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ministry renewing the church united methodist church

Teaching Methodism 101

I believe remembering who we are as United Methodists is a key to revival within the denomination. I enjoy teaching and I particularly enjoy teaching Methodism 101 – What does it mean to be a United Methodist and what difference does that make in my life? Last month, I had the great opportunity to teach […]

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changing lives question and response united methodist church

Questions about The United Methodist Church

Yesterday morning I enjoyed an hour with a small group at Resurrection lead by Nancy. My task was to talk about Methodism – at large. I am passionate about knowing who I am as a United Methodist and helping others claim their identity as well. I began by asking for questions. I sought to respond […]

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renewing the church united methodist church

Emergent Church – Does anyone care?

I really resonate with Jared’s post – Emerging Boredom. I have lost a lot of enthusiasm for what has variously been known as the emerging movement, emergent, emerging church – whatever terminology you wish to use. I have tangibly seen this transition in my annual goals which included reading books and visits to churches who […]