A Breathtaking Stage After Jesus was baptized in the Jordan, the gospels record that he immediately was driven into the desert for forty days. For those forty days, he was tempted by Satan. He was attended by angels. He played with animals. And out in that desert place, for forty days, Jesus fasted. You can go to this place today, [...]
On Monday, January 14, we'll be unveiling our redesigned website! We've been hard at work to make the new website both visually appealing and easy to navigate. Our goal is to make it as easy as possible for you to read, share, and benefit from our content! Here's a sneak peak of the new home page: Anglican Pastor, published by [...]
“A week to experience England? Right after Easter? In 2019? Are you kidding me? Perfect! I’m in!” Those were about the words I spoke late last year when the travel agency called me. I loved the idea…especially for clergy. It is perfect! Why? Because so many of our new clergy do not come from Anglican backgrounds. Instead (and most impressively), [...]
The images are stark and scary, like something from an apocalyptic movie. Devastation. Hurricane Michael has cost so many people so much: the loss of human life, material property, businesses, family homes, rentals, and even entire communities. We must surely pray for them. But we can do more than prayer. We can help them recover. Through the ministry of the Anglican Church [...]
In honor of the 25th anniversary of the founding of Anglican Frontier Missions, AFM founder, The Rev. Canon Tad de Bordenave, oversaw the compilation and editing of 17 chapters that make up AFM's 25th anniversary book, Shadows from Light Unapproachable. Providing a holistic if not exhaustive look at frontier missions and an Anglican approach to world evangelization, this book offers [...]
After my last post about making the St. Mary's Day (2018-08-15) edition of the ACNA Daily Office Lectionary into a booklet, I reached out to the Liturgy and Common Worship Task Force to ask about obtaining a spreadsheet version of the latest lectionary, instead of the PDFs currently available. There will be an upcoming St. Andrew's Day revision of the [...]
Pastors and church leaders, if you're scared or anxious about bringing up the topic of stewardship and giving with your churches, I'd like to draw your attention to the following series by David Roseberry of LeaderWorks. Stewardship, Giving, and the Third Rail Stewardship is extremely important, yet often extremely uncomfortable to talk about in the church! David addresses some common [...]
From LeaderWorks: helping leaders do their work. A third rail is the high voltage power line that runs along a subway train. It is the one you are warned NOT to touch. It powers the train. But don't touch it. It makes everything go, but if you touch it, it might kill you. Zap! Shock! For some congregations, the topics of [...]
You may have noticed some changes here at Anglican Pastor over the past few weeks. That's because an exciting partnership is in the works between Anglican Pastor and LeaderWorks—a ministry of David Roseberry that helps Anglican leaders do their work. Anglican Pastor is, of course, your Anglican pastor online. Together, LeaderWorks and Anglican Pastor are here to serve and support [...]
Recently, when I was in Jerusalem, I was delighted to see so many familiar faces there as well: not only those who toured with me, but other clergy and friends who travelled for the GAFCON meeting. My social media feeds were stuffed with pictures of all the landmarks I've come to know so well over my nearly two dozen trips [...]
I am walking in the Land of Giants again. Israel. Yesterday we were atop Mt. Carmel where Elijah called out the prophets of Baal. Today we walk were the Apostle Paul walked, rather, stood in chains before his captors and played the only card he seemed to have left. After several years of captivity, Paul breaks the deadlock of waiting and trials [...]
Jen Pollock Michel, in a recent article, has drawn attention to the fact that Christian men in large part do not read female authors, whereas women are quite willing to read male authors. She cites my friend Al Hsu, a senior editor at IVP, who states that “women read relatively equally between male and female authors (54%/46%), while men, on [...]
Kevin Miller has served as a writer, editor, and director at Christianity Today for nearly three decades. After being ordained and working as an associate at a larger Anglican church, he now serves as the rector of Church of the Savior in Wheaton, Illinois. The church had been planted a little over a decade before Kevin arrived, and he knew it would take [...]
This guest post was provided by Kentucky teacher Heather M. Morgan, who is a member of St. Peter's Anglican Church, Frankfort, Kentucky. Many Kentucky teachers have been protesting low wages and inadequate funding. St. Peter's sits adjacent to the Kentucky state Capitol. St. Peter's Anglican Church in Frankfort, KY has always been keenly aware of our location, just down the [...]
On April 10, LeaderWorks will facilitate a webinar from the meeting of the ACNA's Liturgy Taskforce as they work on common texts for liturgical use for our province. We hope to provide an opportunity to hear from the faithful men and women who have put in years of hard work on this prayer book. In October 2017, we were able [...]
LeaderWorks was the power engine behind The Gift of Lent program that has made its way around the ACNA. We conceived the idea and, by God’s grace, were able to build the website and get the links set up. Many thanks (almost ALL thanks) to Kolby Kerr for his work. One of the cornerstones of the project was the daily [...]
Happy St. Patrick's Day. While the day has taken on a life of its own in the form of pots of gold, shamrocks, green beer, and the promise of a country without snakes, there are important truths about St. Patrick's life that should not be missed. Here are a few things that I posted over at LeaderWorks...and a few others. [...]
My name is Patrick. I am a sinner, a simple country person, and the least of all believers. I am looked down upon by many. And so begins the Confession of St. Patrick, a vivid, honest, and faithful account of what God had done in his life. It makes for great reading. About two years ago I led a group [...]
Over at LeaderWorks, we've been talking about awkward questions for church leaders. Many of them are about money (no surprise there!). Who should be able to see the giving records? How to address the pastor's compensation? What about retirement? But as I rolled out this series, I heard from a friend with another awkward question. Here's his comment: I really [...]
It's been a while since we've given an update of the goings on over at LeaderWorks. Here's the latest: We are rolling out a big series on "Awkward Questions Your Church Needs to Answer." These are the tough conversations that Vestry and Rectors need to talk about, even when it can be touchy. I'm not trying to equip you with [...]
Note: The Anglican Multi-Ethnic Network exists to help Anglicans in North America better reflect the diversity of the body of Christ in local churches so that our churches’ ethnic make-up manifests the universal saving power of the gospel and its ability to unite all people under the lordship of Christ. Part of that work involves dealing with the historic causes [...]
The Public Religion Research Institute just released an invaluable new resource to help church leaders see what’s been happening across the American religious landscape. Their American Values Atlas is an up-to-date, representative dataset drawn from over 100,000 interviews conducted in 2016. The breadth of the data allows church leaders to target the responses of specific states and even metro areas [...]
Texas will be dealing with the rest of the crisis from Hurricane Harvey this week, and then begin the efforts of recovery. How do we respond? In 2005 Hurricane Katrina decimated not just New Orleans, but much of the Gulf Coast, including Gulfport, Mobile, Biloxi, and beyond. Kim Lawton, in a PBS special report on faith-based disaster relief, at the [...]
“Knock and it shall be opened.' But does knocking mean hammering and kicking the door like a maniac?” ― C.S. Lewis, A Grief Observed Ever feel this way? Certain situations come up in life where we are overwhelmed and full of anxiety, feeling all alone, at a total loss of what to do, and we sometimes just cannot do anything [...]
