United Methodist Pastor
As I was working on my message for Sunday focused on “Forming Community” I was encouraged and challenged by a quote from Tod Bolsinger in his book, “Canoeing the Mountains: Christian Leadership in Uncharted Territories.” In the book Tod said, “Leadership isn’t so much skillfully helping a group accomplish what they want to do (that…
What percent is your phone battery at right now? What percent is your personal well-being at right now? People today tend to be more aware of how low our phone battery life is, and less aware of our own bodies mental, physical, and spiritual needs. There are times that we get filled with concern if…
At 45 years old, I am far from young. I began serving part-time in ministry at the age of 20 while pursuing my undergrad. So there are those who were teens in the youth ministries I led who are now in their upper 30’s. Maybe even a few have entered their 40’s. There are many…
Like many of my fellow United Methodist Clergy and laity, I rejoiced last week as our General Conference voted overwhelmingly to remove the 40-year ban on Gay clergy, and revised our Social Principles to take out the harmful language that said, “The practice of homosexuality is incompatible with Christian teaching.” At the General Conference and…
I seemed to strike an important cord yesterday with the first part of my Rethinking the Ordination Process post based on the comments and my inbox. I fully understand writing about this topic in the way I have will make some upset while it will encourage others. My intention is not to upset folks but…
One of the rules of the United Methodist Church is “Do No Harm”, yet I believe our current ordination system does cause harm to those seeking ordination in our church. I believe there are also positive and encouraging moments and people in the ordination process and I will get to that later as well, but…
I want to preface the beginning of this post by saying that the church I serve does not expect me to visit every single sick person in the church, so this post is not a “vague-post” to make a disgruntled point. Yet, this quote from Carey Nieuwhof (shared on the clergy coaching network Facebook page)…
Thursdays are typically when I spend a lot of time writing my sermon, prayers, and call to worship for worship, so of course, this has got me thinking about our Sunday morning worship service. As I was preparing things I came across an important image reminder that I am sharing with you today. It reminded…
https://www.tiktok.com/t/ZT8rvf8QK/ This quick video has some powerful words on the importance of having just one person who we know is there for us no matter what and is looking out for us. I thought this was also important in light of it recently being #WorldMentalHealthDay. My one person is Lindsey ‘Moore’ Pettengill. As someone who has Generalized…
I have been serving appointments since 2021 but I have been working in the United Methodist Church for over 20 years in areas such as youth ministry, associate pastor, residency programs, and senior pastor roles. I am 44 and God willing I hope to keep serving as a pastor until I retire one day. However,…