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This will probably be the simplest post I’ve written for a long time.  Not “simplistic” I hope, but simple, and maybe even short. I was talking to a pastor a few weeks ago about his excellent church. And it really is. It’s united, growing spiritually, growing by way of new converts to Christ and joyful. […]

My wife and I have been learning about spatial disorientation by listening to airline disaster podcasts.  The phenomenon occurs when pilots, unable to see the ground because of darkness or bad weather (pilots call it “goo”), become unable to determine their aircraft’s true position relative to the ground. Their senses tell them, for instance, that […]

“I am the LORD your God, who brought you up out of Egypt. Open your mouth wide and I will fill it”           Psalm 81:10 Sorry pastor, I’m not offering restaurant gift cards today, but I want to talk to you about your hunger for a revitalized church and I do […]

“I feel like a man without a country” – Recently retired pastor I’ve been writing about the challenges faced by soon-to-retire or newly retired pastors. Here’s a slightly amended paragraph from my posts: Lame Ducks Can Still Fly: Twelve Projects Retiring Pastors Can Work On and Twenty Ways To Redeem Your Pastoral Retirement. No other […]

Last week I wrote about disciple-making as an irritating new trend. No, I don’t think it’s an irritating new trend; I think it’s a wonderful, old trend. But I’m well aware of the fact that many church people have a serious case of “new idea fatigue.” They are weary and leery of new pastors with […]

Those of you who are devoted to the current disciple-making movement probably find my title to be absurd, and I suppose it is. Just to clarify: The disciple-making movement says simply that we American evangelicals need to “fix” our discipleship paradigm, our idea of what a mature or maturing devoted follower of Jesus looks like. […]

Like finally reaching Wally World and finding it decrepit and closed, retirement is a profound disappointment to so many hard-working people who were led to see it as the exciting destination at the end of their labors. I was young and naïve when I heard that my Uncle Fred had just retired and was driving […]

There’s something happening in a church near you: the pastor is moving toward retirement.  I’m told that the average age of pastors in America has risen to about sixty. While many pastors continue on in full-time ministry way past the typical retirement age of sixty-five, pastors at sixty are usually at least thinking about it. […]