I grew up in a very interesting strain of Christianity. Now, I don’t know if this was the explicit teaching of my church or just what I felt, but it seemed like the overall message of a Christian’s duty was, “don’t sin, attend church, read your Bible, and tell others about Jesus.” Now, all ofContinue reading “Make Christianity Hard Again”
Category Archives: Church
Letters of Recommendation
We don’t like to admit it, but who you know is sometimes as-if not more-important than how good you are at something. We’ve gone through some hiring in our office recently, and a well-connected 3.5 GPA absolutely beats out a 4.0 that nobody knows. It’s hard to overstate the power of a good recommendation. ButContinue reading “Letters of Recommendation”
Love your church, whatever the size
After years of having a position of some church leadership, I’ve begun to get a feel for what people like and dislike about the church. But I have found that the things that I expected that people would dislike sometimes are not actually the biggest points of contention. For example, my church holds some culturallyContinue reading “Love your church, whatever the size”
Your church will die, and other encouraging thoughts
Ecclesiastes is a hard book go through. It talks much about death. It does so because death is a reality that is hard to live with, but a reality, if embraced, that will make you wiser. A sampling: “For of the wise as of the fool there is no enduring remembrance, seeing that in theContinue reading “Your church will die, and other encouraging thoughts”
Learn to Fall
“In other words,” [Bree] continued, “you can’t ride. That’s a drawback. I’ll have to teach you as we go along. If you can’t ride, can you fall?” “I suppose anyone can fall,” said Shasta.“I mean can you fall and get up again without crying and mount again and fall again and yet not be afraid ofContinue reading “Learn to Fall”
When Your Ears Itch
“I charge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who is to judge the living and the dead, and by his appearing and his kingdom: preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, and exhort, with complete patience and teaching. For the time is coming when peopleContinue reading “When Your Ears Itch”
The Difficult Church
Background On March 15, 2020 our church closed its doors temporarily because of Covid-19. We are slated to open again on June 7, and frankly, it has been a long two months. For me, uncertainty has been the hardest part. As a small group leader, I have people that look to me for direction, andContinue reading “The Difficult Church”