United Methodist Pastor
A few ideas/concepts I have been thinking about lately in regards to itinerancy and organization for the betterment of churches and clergy… I was thinking how as clergy we are each gifted in different ways, in some areas we are strong, and in others weaker. I know you could have one pastor who is excellent…
Coming up on June 11th I am doing an “Ask the Pastor” message for our worship service. I had one week in between the sermon series I am doing and then being gone at our annual conference and so I wanted to address questions that people had about the faith. Today, in my blog, however,…
Recently a fellow clergyperson was doing a survey to find out about generational divides within the church. Of course, over the years the common and even cliche divide was over musical styles (hymns/contemporary). I remembered hearing about this from the time I entered the church as a teen. Yet, I think the divides over the…
Even when we as the Church seek to do ministry in fresh ways, we can have a tendency as the church to fall back into old unhelpful habits. We gravitate towards programs or things we do “for” the community rather than “with” them. We should be leery of just putting a new bow on the…
If you know me or have just seen a picture of me online you would know I am pretty fair-skinned. For me, if I am going to be out in the sun for even an hour and the UV index is 5 or above I need to put on some sunscreen. Most of the time…
My church is going to be hosting a church workshop with the United Methodist Fresh Expressions group on Saturday, August 19th, where we will spend the day learning how our culture has shifted, what that means for us and the community around us, and how we are being called to think in new ways to…
As most of you know I serve as clergy in the United Methodist Church. If you are familiar with the UMC you have probably heard of the 3 Wesleyan Rules that we try to follow which is, “Do No Harm, Do Good, and Stay in Love with God”. The rule I want to speak on…
© virtosmedia, 123RF Free Images How we read the scriptures matters. I shared this earlier today on TikTok but also wanted to bring this thought forward on my blog. Today we kicked off a new Bible study where we are studying the book of Genesis using a book by Peter Enns and Jared Byas called,…
I read a Twitter thread today from former pastor Eugene Kim that really struck me on the various reasons of why people get into pastoral ministry. I will begin by saying I acknowledge there are more reasons than he was able to list but I believe he hits on some key points. Here is what…
The phrase “That’s just the way it is” is used in many different contexts from workplaces, to families, to finances, to politics, and even to churches. Often when this phase is used it tends to be in situations where people feel their hands are tied, that the way things are done is just out of…