living the Gospel in an everyday world
Like millions of other Americans, I tuned in to hear President Obama’s second inaugural address on Monday. The President is rightly admired for his strong oratory skills and ability to use communication as an effective leadership skill. That’s why I was so disappointed in the speech. While there were parts of the speech that resonated…
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I graduated from a Lutheran college (now a university) where I learned a lot about the Reformation. As a Baptist, I especially enjoyed learning about how the reformers railed against the inappropriate practices of the Catholic Church, including problems related to priesthood. As one who holds firmly to the tenet of “priesthood of all believers”…
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What does a church need from her pastor(s)? I propose every church needs pastoral leadership that exhibits the three-fold office of Christ: prophet, priest, and king. I gave an overview of this in my last post. In this post, let’s take a deeper look at the prophetic role. What does a prophet do? To put…
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On a cold December Sunday back in 2005, I sat in an elementary school outside of Charlotte, NC preparing to preach for a good friend of mine, Jimmy Britt. As I sat there, it dawned on me that a good segue to the sermon would be to say something really nice about Jimmy. After all,…
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Our family visited the Portland Art Museum a few weeks ago to see an exhibit of California Impressionism. The exhibit was outstanding. My wife and I were super-impressed with the talent of the artists and the beauty of each piece. My kids? Not so much; they were a bit bored. As we were heading for…
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Earlier this week I read a report from the IBM Center for Applied Insights related to marketing and came across an interesting line of thinking. The report authors were making the case that proper use of technology now allows marketers to develop “personalized marketing strategies.” They provided Land’s End as an example. The catalog retailer…
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For the better part of ten years, I served as a consultant with the NC Baptist Convention – a denomination with over 4,000 churches serving over a million members. In my role with such a large and diverse group, I was honored to work with lots of church planters. In fact, I joined their ranks,…
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I was sitting in our family minivan at a stoplight a while back, when one of those over-sized SUVs pulled up beside us. A minivan, despite its moniker, is not a small vehicle, but beside the Ford Excursion (or was it an Expedition, or an Excavation, or what?), I felt like I was in a…
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I’m sitting here on a hot, steamy evening in Chennai, realizing it will be a while before I can go to sleep. It’s my first night here in India, and my clock is all out of whack, having arrived at 3:00 this morning after an eighteen hour flight. But it is okay. Part of my…
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One of my summer reading pleasures this year has been The Meaning of Marriage: Facing the Complexities of Commitment with the Wisdom of God by Tim Keller, who serves as pastor at Redeemer Presbyterian Church in New York City. Keller is one of my favorite authors and leaders and there is a lot to learn…
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