Author: Administrador

I was a student pilot on my first solo cross country when it happened. Everything was going fine. Conditions were CAVU (ceiling and visibility unlimited), so I could see my destination airport from quite a distance. The two-seat, single-engine Cessna 150 was humming along just fine until everything suddenly got very quiet. Because of a … Continue reading “Aviate. Navigate. Communicate.”

Have I failed if someone in my congregation mishears something I say and instead hears something I did not intend? What if they come to greet me after the service and thank me for a beautiful explanation of the Trinity after having preached a message intended to be about the mission of God? Well, that recently … Continue reading “How God Uses Preaching”

Congregational needs—particularly around issues of vision, discernment and staffing—often precipitate discussion about the need for a consultant. Consultants (or more accurately, consultation) comes in many forms. Sometimes consultation is conversational—with some of the work being done through exchange of information via email, Skype or video-conferencing. Some congregations attend seminars hosted by consulting firms; frequently, a consultant … Continue reading “Do You Need a Consultant or a Coach?”

J. Ellsworth Kalas, Preaching in an Age of Distraction. InterVarsity Press, 2014. 165 pp., paper. ISBN 978-0-8308-4110-3 The phrase “age of distraction” will resonate with anyone living in the 21st century. Our culture itself seems to have attention-deficit disorder, as it whipsaws from crisis to crisis, trend to trend. Our personal lives seem just as … Continue reading “Preaching in an Age of Distraction”

Jared C. Wilson, The Storytelling God. Crossway, 2014. 187 pp., paper. ISBN 1-4335-3668-4 The heart of Jesus’ preaching in the New Testament is found in parables, and these power-packed stories provide the basis of much of our contemporary preaching in the gospels. In The Storytelling God, Jared Wilson draws us into the parables to help … Continue reading “The Storytelling God”

In an article for Ministry Matters, Alex Joyner writes: “It’s easy to get distracted. We can come to the Easter garden like the women, preoccupied with grief and worries, with a sense of guilt or loss, utterly unmoored from anything stable. The Resurrection comes to tell us that grief and loss and lost-ness are not … Continue reading “Approaching the Easter Garden”

In a sermon that appeared in the March-April 2000 issue of Preaching, William Willimon says: “People like us are the sort or folk who like to believe you can have resurrection and still have the world as it was yesterday. We want to have Easter and still have our world unrocked by resurrection. We are … Continue reading “Easter as Earthquake”

Before church bulletins disappear altogether, let’s enjoy some of these classic mistakes: This afternoon there will be a meeting in the South and North ends of the church. Children will be baptized at both ends. The eighth graders will be presenting Shakespeare’s Hamlet in the church basement on Fri., 7 p.m. The congregation is invited to … Continue reading “More Bulletin Bloopers”

Sometimes you’re better off going with the first option. That was the case with a Maine man recently stopped by police. In an effort to avoid arrest for the marijuana in the car, the man said the drug wasn’t his—because he had just stolen the car. While he was being driven to jail, the owner … Continue reading “And Finally: One Stone, Two Birds”

“O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to it! How often would I have gathered your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you were not willing” (Matt. 23:37). My daughter reminded me, Lord, of confusion surrounding this week. This week? Yes … Continue reading “The Why of Remembering”