The website Newseum.org lets me peruse snaps-shots of today’s front pages from over a thousand newspapers around the world. I’ll often look at my hometown paper, The Salina Journal, or browse a few major U.S newspapers just to get a glimpse of what people are waking up to. Perhaps it is nostalgic, but it feels like a glance at the front pages gives me a better sense of what I should spend my time reading before I start clicking news websites.... Read more
When I hear the word hospitality, I immediately think of the hotel industry. The word has many associations in our society. Good service at your favorite restaurant, friends for dinner, your mom or grandmother, hospitality can mean many things to us. But I don’t think I realized until seminary that it holds a very specific theological meaning. Hospitality is a word that theologians have come to use in order to describe something that is deeply imbedded in the gospel story. It’s... Read more
I believe in the church maybe more than I believe in any other thing in this world. The church is the surest sign I know of that God loves everything he’s created; that God is not done with the world. The church is the singular reality bearing faithful witness to the truth that God has not left us here to struggle all by ourselves. God has come for us, to heal our broken hearts and this precious creation no matter... Read more
I confess that it felt like we had a great service at Redemption Church yesterday, and then things got a little weird. At some point the plumbing backed up and the toilets became unusable. We had to shut down all of the bathrooms and call a plumber. Luckily it happened toward the end of the morning, so the inconvenience came as people were leaving. (Our mother-ship Heartland Community Church once had to cancel their morning services because of a plumbing problem like this,... Read more
“The movement that Jesus begins is constituted by people who believe that they have all the time in the world, made possible by God’s patience, to challenge the world’s impatient violence by cross and resurrection.” — Stanley Hauerwas I have a theory that at least half of what passes for leadership in the context of churches and ministries today could most accurately be described as: the frenetic activity of a leader who does not have the patience to wait on God... Read more
Every Sunday as we are dismissing our church service, another congregation is just arriving. Via de Esperanza is a wonderful Spanish-speaking congregation with whom we share a worship space each week. It has been one of the real joys of my ministry life to have Via worshipping in this building, hopefully feeling more and more at home here. Our two congregations have worked together and been friends for 7-8 years now. But only recently have we begun using the same building.... Read more
Our society is fascinated with success. The American story is about bigger, better, higher, stronger, and faster. Don’t talk about limits, talk about results; talk about the latest models, strategies, and techniques that will lead us to greatness. This kind of leadership is pragmatic. It asks only one question: “What works?” That’s the American story. That’s not the Christian story. The Christian story says the first will be last; the greatest will be the servant; if you lose your life for... Read more
I confess that Shrink is set to release tomorrow. So I’m probably going to talk a lot about ideas from the book in the coming months. But before I get to that, I have a few acknowledgments to make. In today’s confessional, I feel compelled to say: To the pastors of small churches everywhere: I’ve been thinking about you guys every day for the past three years. I wrote this book for you (us). Thank you to Paul Raushenbush, who... Read more
I was sitting in a restaurant with a few friends recently, and every so often a cell phone would emit this short whistle tone. You may have heard this alert, it’s the classic tweet alert on the iPhone–an unmistakable tone that says, “Over here.” That little whistle could be the global symbol for distraction. We live distracted lives. For better and for worse, the reality is that smart phones and personal computers are the chief culprits. The problem is that distractions make us stupid. Stanford University... Read more
This is the sermon I preached last week at Redemption Church. If you are a pastor, feel free to copy and steal anything that helps you with your sermon. Thanks goes out to Isaac Anderson who allowed me to steal some of his exegesis and commentary on 1 Kings 19. __________________________________________________________ 2014.08.24 – SHIFT 1 Kings 19: From Loneliness to Solitude. In the book of Genesis, after Adam & Eve ate the fruit, God explains to them that the consequences... Read more
Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In