It’s Ready After years of gathering ideas, studying Scripture, preaching “The Money Talk”, collecting three decades worth of wisdom…and months of writing and re-writing, the book is finished. We took our final pass at it with our red pens and now it lives with the publisher and then onto the printer…and then I hope…to you!…
The Reformation Anglicanism Essential Library
Bishop Michael Nazir-Ali, The Rev. Dr. Jensen, The Rev. Dr. John Yates, III, Dr. Ashley Null, and Bishop Ben Kwashi–these are the modern-day Anglican scholars and bishops that are teaming together to write a 6-volume work on Reformation Anglicanism. The first edition is out (The Reformation Anglicanism Essential Library, Volume 1). And it is great!…
Two Rectors Past and Present
Christ Church March marks the one-year anniversary of the beginning of the transition process at Christ Church. I remember it well. I had asked the Vestry 9 months earlier to begin a search process for a new Rector. I was so thankful for their diligence and care throughout the process. Fran and I were very excited…
WATCH: A Call to Plant a Church
A week or so ago I had the chance to sit with one of the church planters in our diocese (C4SO) from the Austin area. Shawn is one of a growing number of young leaders that have sensed a strong call to ministry in the Anglican Church in North America. However, he’s done more than…
How to Write A Year End Appeal Letter
As a ‘lame duck’ rector of the church I’d pastored for decades, I had an unusual experience writing my last year-end appeal letter. I had announced my resignation six months earlier. The entire congregation was waiting for some good news from the Search Committee. And we had a significant financial need. HUGE! We needed to…
Voting like a Serpent, Living like a Dove
A few thoughts about the election and the solemn duty we have as citizens of our country. The Demands of Biblical Citizenship Christians, at times, find the demands of biblical citizenship challenging. It is difficult to pray for political leaders who have a dissolute character, mock righteousness and the fear of God, lack the skills…
How Church Leaders Lead in Election Year Tensions
In the United States, we are enduring one of the longest (it seems) and mean-spirited (it is sure) election seasons imaginable. Politics is on everyone’s mind. I listened to a news story about a Dallas firm that had asked its employees to NOT discuss politics anymore around the ‘water cooler’. They were not trying to…
Guest Blog: BREAKING BAD: HOW GAINING POWER CAN MAKE YOU LOSE YOUR SOUL
Thanks to my friend and colleague, The Rev. Dr. Tony Baron, for this insightful and sobering article. BREAKING BAD: HOW GAINING POWER CAN MAKE YOU LOSE YOUR SOUL by Tony Baron, Psy.D., D.Min., Director Breaking Bad, is a universally acclaimed award-winning drama built on chemistry, cancer, and crime. It’s also the story of the erosion…
The Stewardship Digest: Everything in One Place
I decided to gather these ‘greatest hits’ in a single Stewardship digest. These posts distill some of the most practical applications of the issues raised in Giving Up. Here they are…up-to-date.
When You Hate Ministry: Don’t Quit It, Fix It.
It’s time for a little honesty. Just you and me talking. There are parts of pastoral ministry you hate. You’d rather clean toilets. You’d rather go to the dentist for a root canal. You drive by garbage collectors and think: “That’s appealing!” Sometimes, our lofty ideals and our devotion to Jesus are insufficient to keep…
Ash Wednesday: Are You Really Only Dust in the Wind?
On Ash Wednesday, clergy around the world will draw a cross-shaped smudge of dark black ashes on the foreheads of millions of people. It is the ancient rite of The Imposition of Ashes which signals the start of Lent. The words that accompany the ‘imposition’ on Ash Wednesday are simple, sober, and true. Over the years I…
What Do I Call You?
“What do I call you?” the bank teller asked as we conducted a routine financial transaction—a question prompted by the collar I was wearing. “I am an Anglican priest. Sometimes we are called Father and sometimes simply by first name. Whichever you please is fine.” A Title is an Identity with Jesus Christ What I…
