More good stuff from the Faith and Work Collective this week: ideas from United Methodist pastor Chris Howlett for a sermon series on Biblical perspectives about everyday work. Especially helpful for preachers like me who are having trouble thinking about how to speak about this to parishioners. (Even though I work for a faith and work website, I realize how little about work makes it into my sermons.) I was once at an empowering laity for ministry seminar at a... Read more
By Timothy Askew; reprinted from Inc. with the kind permission of Timothy Askew. Author Clare Boothe Luce once said, “Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication.” Simplicity is one of the greatest and most elusive virtues I am constantly seeking as an entrepreneur, salesman and human being. It is a skill I constantly look to improve on. How do you speak and write with greater and greater succinctness and clarity, while making a precise, eloquent expression of your value and your brand?... Read more
I’ve never met Morgan Guyton. The closest I’ve come is that he spent a couple hours in my friend Brandon Harnish’s living room while on a book tour. However, I love his blog, Mercy Not Sacrifice, and I’ve enjoyed interacting with him on Facebook. Somehow the fact that my husband and I knew him on Facebook got us a free book this past spring, which my husband has been much more timely in reviewing than I have, here and here.... Read more
By Mike Coyner Our United Methodist mission statement has a second sentence. Most people seem to know the first sentence: “Making disciples of Jesus Christ for the transformation of the world.” Many people do not know that there is a second sentence to that mission statement which says: “Local congregations provide the most significant arena through which disciple-making occurs.” Not all disciples are made through local congregations, but all disciples eventually must be linked to a local congregation. There was... Read more
After years of trying to force himself to be an extrovert, a pastor discovers that being a Christian leader begins with accepting who you are. Even if you are introverted, shy and out of touch with popular culture, you are God’s beloved. Originally published at Faith & Leadership. By Roger Owens I’d been invited to preach to a group of ordinands. Before the worship service, the bishop described the kind of ministers the church needs. I don’t remember the exact... Read more
By Timothy Askew; reprinted from Inc. with the kind permission of Timothy Askew. One of the things I am most proud of as the 20 year owner of my executive sales firm Corporate Rain International is how many employees and associates have left me to take a leadership role at other companies or to start their own ventures. While I see a multitude of articles written about holding on to great employees, I never see an article about celebrating an... Read more
By Kerry Creaswood We know when we aren’t like everybody. We sense it in childhood when all our friends want to do one thing, and we want something completely different – or nothing at all. In my case, I was crazy about my diaries. While the other girls would write on them just the most remarkable moments of their lives, I spent hours of every single day putting into words not only what had happened to me, but also my... Read more
By Timothy Askew; reprinted from Inc. with the kind permission of Timothy Askew. Socrates said, “Beware the barrenness of a busy life.” I’m a lazy guy. I like staring at walls. I like reverie. I’m off for a two-week vacation in Santa Fe next week. I’m looking forward to it, but I’m also trying not to overbook my “fun” time there. This may not seem to be a very good modus operandi if one wants to stay in business, particularly... Read more
By Mike Coyner My last E-pistle shared my predictions for what things will be like in the United States and in The United Methodist Church in the year 2020. Some of you have responded that you thought my predictions were pretty pessimistic, and I suppose that is true. So let me continue this process by sharing my hopes for the next few years. These hopes may be overly-optimistic, so perhaps this will be a balance from my previous predictions: I... Read more
By Mike Coyner Hindsight is always 20/20 they say, but I want to try my hand at some foresight for the year 2020. I am choosing that year because it is beyond my own tenure as bishop, and because we all hope for 20/20 vision. Here is what I anticipate our world will be like in 2020 in the United States and for our United Methodist Church: We will all be paying higher taxes and government fees. In spite of... Read more
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