First off, from our conference artist, Ted Lyndon Hatten: My goal is always the same – dialogue. I think HyVee Hall works against that aim. It is not a space that lends itself to conversation. So, I’ve secured a room on the lower level and will be converting it into a gallery with dialogue-provoking images…
The Body of Christ
we are the church
Ode to the Book of Discipline…
Oh Book of Discipline, how do I love thee… Let me count the ways. I love that when I am confused about how to proceed regarding a new parsonage purchase, you contain orderly directions. I love that when I wrote my papers for ordination nearly every question could be found within your beautiful pages. I…
disappointing numbers
The numbers game is something that we play a lot in the church. We want to know how many baptisms and members and monies and ministries were at play in a given year. We want to see upward trending statistics. We believe success lies in digits… which supposedly translate into actual lives being transformed… although…
how can we laugh at a time like this?
I’m sitting at my computer, looking out the 24th floor window of my hotel in Des Moines. I am currently attending our annual School for Ministry and learning all sorts of neat things about capital campaigns and what kinds of fonts to use on worship slides. We’ve had some good practical teaching this year… with…
potluck worship
A colleague of mine recently forwarded an email about potlucks and banquets. It was written by Dr. Ed Robinson, the president of MidAmerica Nazarene University in Olathe, KS. photo by: Gözde Otman Dr. Robinson asks us if our worshipping experiences are more like banquets or potlucks. And by that he means: do you come to…
foolish vigor
While I might be young, I’m also a bit daring. I have found myself in recent events at the front of the room instead of the back. Maybe it is my naiveity, but even standing at the front or on a committee, I wonder where the hope has gone. I wonder where the risk has…
born this way
A good friend helped me to find a post by Brian Kirk called “Lady Gaga, Lent, Teens, and Original Sin.” It is a good read, but there are a few tweaks that I might have made to his argument. In his article, Kirk shows how Lady Gaga’s latest song “Born This Way,” helps teenagers to…
Celebration of our Present
Instead of preaching this Sunday, we shared some videos about the life of our church and the process we are in. ENJOY!