Are you on the dry earth right now? Most of us are. But we cannot imagine the impact of Harvey. As much as the media has covered it, our minds cannot take it in. To help us truly fathom it, experts set up mind-blowing comparisons. Here are a few. It is truly unbelievable. But most…
Announcement: Giving Up is Coming Soon!
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!…
Barista, Priest, and Planter
Last week I posted some thoughts about the cost of church planting. I also included a You Tube video interview with Alex Wilgus, of the Greenhouse Movement. Alex helped us see how the funding of a church plant can be ‘raised’ through deputation; praying for support and asking friends and family to consider giving to…
How to Find Funding for your Church Plant
It is part of the challenge of starting a church: Finding Funding. The church planter is called upon to (not only) form and shape a vision, pray through a plan, build a core team, and develop a culture. But the planter must also find the funding to support the new work. And that is no…
The First Question to Ask Before You Ask!
Note: All my life I have had to ask for money…and in the back of my mind has been a reluctance. A guilt. How could I? I’m taking away from them! But Alex Wilgus clears this up in the first few minutes of this video below. Simple wisdom. One of the great challenges for the…
Meet RD Glenn: What Would Cranmer Do?
The Rev. Ray David Glenn and I are friends. We have known each other since 2010. When his wife died suddenly seven years ago, he and I became even closer. (For reasons I cannot explain, RD is the ONLY person I ever routinely Facetime with. It cannot be that actually wants to see me. But…
He is Risen!!
The Driving Force “Why did Christianity arise, and why did it take the shape it did? The early Christians themselves reply: We exist because of Jesus’ resurrection…there is no evidence for a form of early Christianity in which the resurrection was not a central belief. Nor was this belief, as it were, bolted on to…
The Whiplash of Holy Week
Holy Week is the “Week of Whiplash.” The highs in the Story of Palm Sunday are followed all too quickly by the shouts from the crowd calling for His death. Then He slow-walks the next days: from the Garden to the Courtyard to the Praetorium to the Streets to the Calvary Hill to the Cross to…
Holy Week and the Cross of Christ: Notes and Quotes
Here is a small collection of quotes and comments about the Cross and Holy Week that I have collected over the years. They are sermon starters, devotional nudges, and deep expressions of our faith and love of Jesus Christ and the Cross He endured. May the Lord richly bless you all in the Holy Week. …
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…
10 Reasons Why Your Pastor Should Go To Israel
This January (2018) I will lead yet another trip to the Holy Land…the first trip will be for clergy. Then, on the heels of that, a lay-oriented trip. (Both trips are found here: FaithPassage.com. These journeys will make trip #19 and #20 in the last twenty years. Yes…I will have been to the Holy Land…
Raise a Glass for St. Patrick
Today is St. Patrick’s Day. It ought to mean more than wearing green and drinking beer. For the Christian, the life and witness of Saint Patrick is an inspiration for us today as we face an unbelieving world and collapsing culture. Consider these things: St. Patrick is not a cartoon. He is an icon of…
