Many people are not by nature risk takers. In church leadership, the word risk is nearly a curse word. Some will do anything and everything to keep from taking a risk. When God was looking for our first parents, He asked a question: “Adam where are you?” God asked not because He didn’t know where Adam was, He asked the question to see if Adam…
Read MoreThe Pastoral Leader
The next manifestation of leadership is pastoral. It is a wise choice that one of the manifestations for pastoral ministry is pastoral. Pastor is a word that has been melted down to nothing more than a title. It seems to be synonymous with being a member of the clergy. I’ve always been fascinated by pastors who refer to themselves as pastor so-and-so even when they are not my…
Read MoreIn Celebration of Volunteers
Fulfilling the responsibility that I am entrusted with necessitates my meeting a lot of people. All of my adult life I have been surrounded by volunteers. In the not-for-profit world the vast majority of folks we work with are volunteers. They go to work, come home and take care of their families and then rush off to volunteer at the church. We seem to expect that this is how it…
Read MoreA Word or two about small Churches
Most of us are biased toward more. More fun, more food, more money, just more, more and some more. In fact we we even super-size our fast food orders. My last three churches, where I served as pastor were larger than the churches during my first pastorates. So the last half of my pastoral tenure was in larger churches. Because of my reality, I began to believe that large churches…
Read MoreMy Second Church
In March of 1984 Susanne and I moved from south Texas, to northern Indiana. The Nazarene church in Syracuse, IN had been reorganized and I began this great adventure. We pastored there 7+ years. It was at this location that I became involved in my first building program. Our son was born in nearby Goshen Indiana while pastoring here. This was the church where I learned many important ministry…
Read MoreMy First Week as pastor
My First week of pastoring started with a New Years Eve service. In my youth they were called “watch night” services. The one we had was our introduction to our fledgling congregation. There was music, Susanne even sang a special. I brought something between a greeting and a devotional. It was more a greeting than a sermon. I told them of our trip from Kansas City to South…
Read MoreA Walk along the Beach
For the past two week I have walked along the beach at least twice a day, most days a few more times. My intent is not to brag that I was able to leave central Indiana for a couple of weeks and vacation in paradise. Nor, is my intent to complain about the part of the world I live in, this morning I walked several county roads in the…
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