I have not been as faithful through 2016 in writing for this blog.
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In each of Paul’s letters, he follows the writing conventions of his day.
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I am beginning to see the word discern a bit more these days.
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In following the lectionary readings as a part of a devotional time, I came to a passage in Jeremiah that caught my attention.
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This has been a season of traveling for me and my family.
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As we continue to consider the twelve disciples in worship, we focus on James this week.
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This summer, we are exploring the Twelve Disciples of Jesus. For several years, I have contemplated doing this series.
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This Sunday is both Mother’s Day and Ascension Sunday. It is always a struggle when a cultural holiday competes with a church holiday.
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A few weeks ago, I was directed by the lectionary to Acts 11.
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We often hear people describing ventures of self-seeking. They retreat from the normal pace of life to find themselves.
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In preparation for Palm Sunday, I was reading the lectionary text for this week.
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Discerning has become a key issue for me in ministry. I find myself constantly using the word in conversations, leader meetings and even interactions with other churches.
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I am preaching tomorrow at a community-wide Lenten service. It is wonderful to join with other Christians through the season of Lent.
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It has been a while since I have posted on this blog.
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During this season of Advent, we are following the lectionary passages.
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I am a planner. I like to stay well ahead of deadlines; I work best when I have a little breathing room.
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A few weeks ago in my morning devotions, I was reading a passage from the lectionary.
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In my last post on this blog, I highlighted the difference between hearing the voice of God and obeying God.
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We are well into our sermon series on the life of Solomon.
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I was listening to a podcast this morning by Todd Henry called The Accidental Creative.
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As I continue to explore the life of Solomon, I find increasing application around the issue of discernment.
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This summer, we are working through the life of Solomon. I have enjoyed preparing the sermons and am excited about our congregation engaging the story together.
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I am presently working on a sermon series on the life of Solomon.
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For the past couple of weeks, we have been following the lectionary passages through the first epistle of John.
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At First Baptist Muncie, we begin a special season of outreach emphasis on Sunday.
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This week begins the liturgical season of Lent. When I was growing up, I did not understand Lent.
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I am writing a sermon this week that is based on 1 Corinthians 1:18-25.
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January is a unique time of year. On the one hand, the winter season is often slower paced.
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It is the season of Advent. During this season, we generally follow the lectionary passages in our worship on Sunday mornings.
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James 4 is perhaps one of the strongest passages in scripture regarding discernment.
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I have always thought of wisdom as coming from God. But in my sermon preparation this week, I encountered a new dynamic in my understanding of wisdom.
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Today is a sermon preparation day for me. I have been hanging out in a coffee shop most of the day working on a sermon for November 30.
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We are all familiar with the infamous story of Jesus feeding the large crowd with only five loaves of bread and two fish.
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As we continue to work through the life of David, I am finding stories of discernment.
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We spent most of Monday night’s meeting developing a listening strategy for our church staff discernment process.
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We meet this evening as a church leadership team to develop a listening strategy for our discernment process in church staffing.
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My middle name is Samuel. When I was a kid I enjoyed hearing the story of the boy Samuel being called by God.
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David was a pioneer. As he established Jerusalem as the newly formed capital of Israel, he has lots to do.
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As we navigate through our study on the life of David, I am astonished its relevance to the issue of discernment.
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I was asked to submit an article to a community organization that works with our city’s poor.
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Tomorrow, we begin another season of discerning at First Baptist. I have lost count on how many times we have been through a discernment process in the past few years.
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As we enter Holy Week, I am reminded of the importance of preaching the Cross.
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Last week, we discussed the story of David’s anointing from 1 Samuel 16.
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My work on this blog is primarily in the area of discernment.
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We have experienced a few weeks without our Associate Pastor. I have to admit, my plate feels a bit full these days as the only paid staff person at the church.
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For the past few months, I have failed to update this blog.
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In October, we begin a sermon series on the book of Ruth.
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I was eating lunch today at the student center at Ball State.
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Tonight, we will begin our fall session of our missional community.
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This summer, we are navigating two discernment processes as a congregation.
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This past week, I have been re-reading a book entiled Missional Map-Making: Skills for Leading in Times of Transition by Alan Roxburgh.
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The summer, we are working through a number of discernment processes in our church.
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As we navigate through two discernment processes at our church, I am a bit overwhelmed with the potential change.
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As we navigate cultural and sociological changes, the pathway can be obscure.
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Nichole Nordeman wrote a song entitled Small Enough. In the song, she is seeking an accessible encounter with God.
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As I am preparing for this week’s sermon, a particular phrase in the text struck me.
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This coming Sunday, we are beginning a book study in Ephesians.
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I sometimes get tired of change. It seems like everything is moving so fast.
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As I encounter this week’s lectionary text, I find myself questioning Jesus’ stance.
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This week, we are exploring Luke 15 as a congregation. This chapter includes one of the most popular parables in Scripture.
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This Sunday, we will be exploring one of the strangest stories in the Gospels.
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I have been thinking a lot about this discernment process in recent weeks.
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Today, I am preparing a homily for funeral. Fred Shulze passed away last week.
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I enjoy listening to podcasts while working out. While on the elliptical, I enjoy watching video podcasts.
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As I prepared to write a post for this week, I decided that I would publish the article that I wrote for our monthly newsletter.
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I have been privileged to be able to use the discernment process from my doctoral work variety of settings.
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This week in worship, we are in Philippians 4:4-7. As I usually follow the lectionary during the season of Advent, this text was not one of my choosing.
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We begin the season of Advent this Sunday. It is a season of anticipation.
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I am working with a team in our congregation to develop a pilot missional community.
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This blog is dedicated to issues of discernment within the church and among church leaders.
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A few weeks ago, I was reading James 4. James is addressing a fighting church.
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In the last couple of weeks, we have been walking through the story of Joseph.
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In our culture, we are often told that we can accomplish whatever we want.
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Our leadership team is facing a fair amount of turnover this year.
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Most churches strive for church unity. This is not a bad goal.
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I have been thrilled to use material from my doctoral thesis in a variety of practical contexts.
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I spend time each morning reading Scripture; I usually follow the given passages in my devotional.
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Learning to trust God is no easy task. We explored the testing of Abraham last week in worship; God required intense trust as he ventured up the mountain to sacrifice Isaac.
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I am currently preaching through the book of Genesis; we are now in the story of Abraham.
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In a few weeks, I will be preaching from Genesis 24, the search for Isaac’s wife.
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One of the most challenging dynamics in church leadership is dealing with complainers.
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This past weekend, I was able to join my family on trip to Chicago.
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This past week, I was listening to a podcast from a well-known seminary.
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As you may know, I recently completed a doctoral thesis. The premise was that my current church is dealing with some level of paralysis in its decision-making.
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One of the challenges of becoming a discerning church is fighting old models of decision-making.
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Trends in church leadership come and go. In the 80s and 90s a tendency to fashion church leadership after business leadership was common.
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Meetings are often longer than planned. Minor tasks sometimes take hours to accomplish.
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I was reading On the Verge: A Journey Into the Apostolic Future of the Church (Exponential Series) this afternoon.
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I wanted to update you on the status of our recent decision to change our Sunday morning schedule.
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As I reflect on the dynamic of discernment, I am living in the tension of process and free-flowing forms of interaction.
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In the morning, I generally read Common Prayer: A Liturgy for Ordinary Radicals.
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We are on the other side of the January 22 meeting.
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It has been a while since I have blogged on this site.
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A couple weeks ago, my thesis supervisor was in Muncie for an on-site visit.
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One of the key truths that I am learning about discernment is that it never ends.
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It has been almost a month since I have posted. If you have been reading along, you know that we have been carrying out our listening strategy.
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This morning, I was listening to a podcast about leading churches.
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We met again last night to develop a listening strategy. A listening strategy is the plan to hear voices around us.
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I met last night with a group of leaders to begin working through a decision.
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Today is the first day of August. So far, I am on track in terms of my thesis schedule.
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Last night, I met once again with my MSG (Ministry Support Group).
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We are heading into a sermon series on 1 Corinthians. As I prepare for these sermons, I am struck by the clash of the gospel with culture.
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Developing a process of discerning for church leaders is a daunting task.
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This week, I am preaching on Luke 24. Jesus finds the disciples in a state of confusion after he rises from the dead.
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We are moving along with our work on developing a process of discernment.
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I watched a very interesting TED talk today. “Wrongologist” Kathryn Schulz describes the necessity of admitting our fallibility.
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I have been deep in Charles Cosgrove and Dennis Hatfield’s book Church Conflict: The Hidden Systems Behind the Fights the past two days.
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My doctoral thesis is underway. The Ministry Support Group is formed and is working on various tasks.
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I recently read Jim Van Yperen’s book, Making Peace: A Guide to Overcoming Church Conflict.
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I am spending a large chunk of today in Stephen Fowl’s Engaging Scripture: a Model for Theological Interpretation.
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We are studying the healing of the blind man in John 9 this week.
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I have been reading Charles Cosgrove’s chapter in Cross-Cultural Paul: Journeys To Others, Journeys To Ourselves on American Individualism.
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The more I preach, the more I realize how the context of our life impacts our reading of scripture.
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The Spirit has been prompting us to explore our wedding policy.
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As some of you know, I enjoy listening to tech podcasts.
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I have been preaching this year from the lectionary texts. It has been a new and challenging exercise for me.
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It has been a while since making a post on this site.
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A week ago, we concluded our sermon series on the book of Acts.
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Discerning is a continual process. Once we think we have it nailed, God reveals something new.
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The recent episode of This American Life is entitled Crybabies. If you are familiar with this show, you know the hour long broadcast (usually 3-4 chapters) centers on one topic.
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As I spend considerable time in the book of Acts each week, I am confounded by the movement of the Holy Spirit.
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As I have been teaching through the book of Acts, the Spirit’s movement is unmistakable.
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I have been reading A.W. Tozier’s book, The Pursuit of God as devotional reading.
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Several weeks ago, I read Alan Roxburgh’s Missional Map-Making: Skills for Leading in Times of Transition.
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Church picnics are fun. You usually have the kids running around, homemade desserts, and plenty of time to talk.
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Sometimes our plans are not God’s plans. In my preaching this week, we are dealing with Paul in Acts 16.
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I recently completed a paper for a summer course. Here are a few thoughts concerning our building.
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I have been reading Tozier’s, The Pursuit of God. It has been a tremendous experience.
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Yesterday, our worship arts director emailed me; He asked for direction in choosing someone to share a testimony in an upcoming service.
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Last week, I read Forgotten God: Reversing Our Tragic Neglect of the Holy Spirit by Francis Chan.
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Do you sometimes wonder what God is up to? It is inspiring to look back and see God’s orchestration of events.
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Have you figured God out? Have you heard enough about Him, studied Him enough, been around His people long enough to determine how he stands on every issue?
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