“Daily,” she said. “I’ve never seen that word in this text before. I always read it, ‘Take up your cross and follow me.’ I like it. It reassures me. Every day I am to pick up the cross. It’s easier to think about it in daily increments.”

She was one of twelve sitting in our Tuesday evening small group. It’s a mishmash of people: a couple of escapees from a large, local evangelical church; some young adults who fled the internal sickness of their home church, and an assortment of other almost middle-aged adults with little previous exposure to God or the Bible. Continue reading →

A group of us went to Australia for an “evangelistic campaign” in the early 70’s.  In retrospect, I am sad that I made the decision to do so.

Our group was so passionate about this venture, but little did we know how unsatisfying the trip would be.  If we had fully considered the basic assumptions governing the trip, we may not have taken the invitation.     Continue reading →

A while ago a young woman asked me if I would preside at a marriage renewal ceremony on the eve of her and her husband’s 15th anniversary.  Their relationship actually began several years ago when she fled her toxic family for the stability and love of her, now, husband’s family.

I’m a sucker for gooshy, romantic occasions like this so I said yes.  I conducted my usual interviews with the couple and found out about how they met, what they liked about each other, and what they did for enjoyment.  I always look for a metaphor to hang the ideas on.  Continue reading →

I spent a year as chairman of the board of the local Chamber of Commerce.  Don’t ask me how that happened.  How on earth does a pastor become a local business organization leader?

I could tell you it was because I was easy pick’n.  Or the only one around when the stock market crashed and the Chamber was bleeding members and money.  Or I was a graduate of the Chamber’s leadership program.  Who knows what their reason was?

Maybe it was because a pastor is well-trained in the nuances of human behavior.  Someone that has spent a majority of their working life in churches has seen it all.  Continue reading →

At the time we moved to our city, most church planting organizations were training their recruits to use marketing techniques to build their new churches.  This included using mass marketing devices such as mailers and positioning the new church’s location near fast-growing areas of a city.  “Low hanging fruit” was the target.

This method has two noticeable benefits and one drawback.  Benefit number one is that it is an effective way to quickly grow a church with money and resources.  The marketing methods, by their very nature, ferret-out people who are actively looking for a new church and have experienced being part of a church.  Many of them are ready to jump in and start giving. Continue reading →

If our church plant is anything, it is a surprise.

Our church has resisted every stereotype and template that we were given in training and early-stage coaching.  From the speed at which this church has grown to her size and composition, her beginning was more like being given a shapeless lump of clay rather than a coloring book with black and white images already drawn. Continue reading →