Some subjects touch a nerve. I’m pretty sure this one hit an artery! The discussion went on for days. Last week’s blog was entitled, “7 Reasons That Churches Don’t Sing.” The 7 reasons we explored were: Because the song leader is not singing. Because they don’t know the songs. Because
At first, I thought it was just me, but I soon found out it’s not. Churches just don’t seem to be singing as much as they once did. By singing I mean congregational singing. I’m in a different church every month, sometimes every week. It’s what I do. I work
What do people see when they hear Adventist? What words or images come to mind? For many years I have asked this very question to Adventists and non-Adventists alike in a word association exercise I use in evangelism. The responses have been fairly consistent: Ellen White, Loma Linda, Sabbath, vegetarian,
It was the mother of all photo ops. You couldn’t get away from it. Media outlets everywhere pictured presidents of Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) gathered in the White House with President Trump. Of course, the surprise guest was Kellyanne Conway, whose mother evidently forgot to tell her it’s
“Because no matter how gifted you are, there are at least three things that you don’t know.” Listen. That’s the first thing that every leader should do. They should listen. Before they plan anything, they should listen. Before they announce anything, they should listen. And certainly, before they change anything,
If you’re going to speak truth to power, it would help if you’d speak the truth. This is the final blog in my Trump trilogy. Each week this blog will address church ministry themes: leadership development, research, missiology, trending topics, etc. I didn’t mean to do 3 Trump posts, but
It has been the transition that every Trump supporter dreamed of and every Trump detractor feared; A whirlwind of pen strokes, cabinet appointments, and troubling tweets. The conservatives got the Scalia-clone they wanted. The home-schoolers got the voucher champion they wanted. And “Saturday Night Live” died and went to heaven.
In November of 2014 an article in Charisma News caught my eye. It was entitled, “5 Ways to Pray for Government Leaders You Don’t Agree With.” The writer began with these words. “The substantial majority of readers of this site do not care for Barack Obama’s presidency.” He was right.
“What do you think about this Surge thing?” We were having a camp meeting conversation a week ago and an old question took on a new life. I had to pause and think because frankly, in the Huntsville area Surge has not been the Sabbath dinner super-subject that it seems
I was exercising in downtown Grand Rapids, Michigan, and the setting was nothing short of inspiring. The Gerald Ford Presidential Museum was to my left. The Michigan River was on my right; and I ran down a damp trail between them. My mind was racing through a church leadership workshop
The problem with common sense is that it’s not quite as common as it used to be. This is particularly true in the area of church growth and evangelism. Most pastors understandably and appropriately want their churches to grow. Despite the pushback that evangelism gets these days for being a
It has been weeks and I still haven’t come down from my Hampton Minister’s Conference high. Every June thousands of us make our yearly pilgrimage to that amazing ministers’ conference. The resources are good. The fellowship is better. And the preaching is the best! This year was the 100th anniversary and
