The Christian as Leader
Leadership, leadership, leadership. We hear this mantra all the time, especially in the church. In fact, these 3 words were tweeted by Bishop Scott Jones on the opening night of General Conference 2012 as he reflected on the most important factors in United Methodist renewal. Though acknowledged as crucial, we might profitably ask, “What kind … Read more
Do You Know What I Have Done To You? A Sermon
This sermon was preached at First United Methodist Church, Orange, Texas, on Maundy Thursday 2011. The Scripture is John 13:1-17, 31b-35. The camera pans out, and we see our hero, paralyzed, perhaps strapped to a chair. No escape. The James Bond villain, or perhaps an antagonist from CSI or some other police or mystery drama … Read more
What’s a little conspiracy among friends? A Relevance LEAD wrap-up
Lots of folks blogged, tweeted, facebooked, instagrammed, and flickred (pinned, anyone?) their way through Relevance LEAD and Relevance X last weekend, so I won’t rehash every detail. I was fortunate to be on the inside a little; helping to coordinate the social media presence — PR on the cheap — and generally pitching in to … Read more
Relevance LEAD this week!
I’m doing something new at the end of this week. I’m going to a conference (well, that’s not new) in Las Vegas (well, I drove through on the Interstate once) called Relevance. (That. That’s the new thing!) Relevance LEAD follows the TED model — where current leaders in technology, entertainment, design, and more share brief … Read more
What would you teach your leaders?
I’m putting together a leadership curriculum for the student leaders in my campus ministry. For good or for ill, I’m staying away from how-to books (though there are some good ones) and instead provoking a deeper level of reflection about servant-leadership and Christian formation. Here’s what I’m toying with (yes, I know it’s a long … Read more
And You Give Yourself Away
The theme for this year’s Texas Annual Conference, reflecting the idea of Extravagant Generosity, immediately calls to mind U2′s anthemic “With or Without You.” Without a doubt, it was one of the best annual conferences I’ve been a part of. The highlight was Tuesday night’s service in which my wonderful wife Christie was ordained as … Read more
Discipleship, Leadership, and Community
For those of you who have read my blog somewhat regularly over the past year, you know that one of the questions I have is about how communities of faith grow both excellent leadership and provide a context for high-capacity Christian discipleship to flourish. One of the metaphors I’ve been using is that of a … Read more
Rievaulx Abbey
Yesterday was the feast day of St Aelred of Rievaulx; you can read about his monastic leadership and reflections on love and friendship here. I had the good fortune to visit Rievaulx Abbey (Yorkshire, UK) on a snowy evening in late December 2005, and took this picture, which might just be my favorite from that … Read more
Hugh of Lincoln
Reflecting on the life of Hugh of Lincoln (November 17), and learning lessons from this lesser-known saint: wisdom, creativity, good stewardship, faithfulness, and justice.
The Preaching Life: Countercultural
…there is a certain contrary character to all faithful preaching…The words of the sermon will be expressing our culture in need–beloved by God, but not itself God. So the preacher’s life, as well, will have certain countercultural strains to it. Perhaps simply being willing to become a preacher was already a beginning. In any case, … Read more
