Church

Rags to riches. Come-from-behind wins. The underdog who succeeds. Who doesn’t love stories like these? Yet I know for every rags-to-riches story there is one that goes from riches-to-rags. A come-from-behind victory means someone who was in the lead ended up defeated. And not every underdog succeeds. I’m drawn to stories like these because I want to believe in possibilities. There is a common thread of hope that runs through each of them. I'm drawn to them because I want to be reminded that defeat isn’t inevitable. In some ways, each of our stories are different: Backgrounds Experiences Where you went to school Jobs In many ways, each of our stories also share common components: We want to be loved We want to feel accepted We want to have a sense of purpose We also share a common struggle to make sense out of life The thing we have most in common is a…

With all of the advances in technology, in many ways we are exponentially more productive. We can read our email while making our morning coffee. We can respond to calls while we walk to lunch. We can carry dozens of electronic books with us anywhere we go. Our smart phones keep us connected to every single thing that is happening every minute of the day. Ironically, we’ve become increasingly less productive at same time. I call it the curse of whatever is in front of us at the moment. Things like emails, text messages, Facebook updates, Twitter, Instagram, Snapchat ... We are busier than ever but not necessarily more effective at what we're doing. Here's why: By focusing on whatever is right in front us we may not be focusing enough on the most important things. In Forbes Magazine, Margie Warrell put it this way: “In our age of hyper-distraction, many…

This is America so bigger must be better. We build bigger homes with bigger yards that require bigger lawn mowers. But, as we all know, bigger isn't necessarily better. A bigger waistline A bigger debt Though I currently pastor a church that many would consider large (that's called perspective!), I was born and raised in a small church. I've been the "senior" pastor on a staff of one. Since I was the only paid person, I was the senior pastor by default. Because of my background, I have always had a soft spot for small churches. In an article for Leadership Journal, Karl Vaters writes about the need to change our attitude about small churches. Here are seven ways he says we can begin to acknowledge the role of small churches within the kingdom. I'm leaving a brief summary beneath each point and would encourage you to read the entire…

Have you ever experienced emotional bipolarity? You probably have and didn't know what it was called. You might have told someone you had "mixed feelings" or felt "bittersweet" about what happened. A son or daughter gets a promotion which requires moving out of state. At the same time, you feel both happy and sad. You are happy for their success and sad about the decreased amount of face time you'll have with them. You are experiencing emotional bipolarity. On the surface, the feelings appear to be contradictory but we know they're not. We can be genuinely happy for someone and still feel a deep sadness over the changing circumstances. Fortunately, we don't live every minute of every waking hour in emotional bipolarity. That would be exhausting. In Acts 2, the crowd that has gathered to hear the apostles speak experiences a moment of emotional bipolarity. The apostles have received the Holy…

Over the last 46 years, I’ve been in a number of different churches. I was born, raised, and baptized in a wonderful church in East Peoria, Illinois. I led my first worship song at a one-room church in Caulfield, Missouri. As a teenager, I volunteered at a tent revival in Springfield, Illinois -- and had a blast watching the preacher sweat through a three-piece silk suit. As an adult, I have worshiped at Saddleback Church with Rick Warren (not right next to him, but he did preach). Three years ago I had the privilege of worshiping with fellow believers in Nepal. During my last year of college, I preached for a church of 18 people. I’ve been in large churches and small churches. I’ve seen the church fight the good fight and I’ve seen the church … just fight. What has been your experience with the church? Perhaps your experiences…