This week I led our staff devotions at our staff meeting and shared a thought about one of the Apostle Paul’s experiences. That morning I had re-read 2 Corinthians 12 where Paul describes his vision of heaven and his ensuing ‘thorn in the flesh’ given him by God to protect him from conceit. I’ve read […]

In my last post I listed 8 evidences that I was letting my ministry get the best of me. As I’m trying to get myself back on track, here’s what I’m doing that’s helping. I’m REALLY taking a day off (Do you?) I’m reminding myself that the world (and my church) can get along just

Howard Diehl, one of the smartest guys I know who serves as a missionary in France that our church supports, commented on McLaren’s praying during Ramadan. I thought his comments to be very insightful. Hi Charles: Here is an article by McLaren on why he was doing it. http://www.brianmclaren.net/archives/blog/ramadan-2009-part-1-whats-going.html There were quite a few Christians

A couple days ago I suggested a leadership paradox leaders face: trust God or trust others? Although both Ezra and Nehemiah were both men who trusted God, each took a different route in a leadership decision. Similarly, leaders face another paradox. Do I act upon the Spirit’s promptings to make a decision or should I

Every year our staff takes an overnite retreat in September to map out plans for the next year. Our process is relatively simple. The elders determine the 2-3 broad objectives for the coming year. Then we translate these into strategies and then involve our ministry teams in developing the tactics. Sounds simple enough, doesn’t it?