Writing

This blog helps pastors and church leaders foster spiritual discernment and maintain a healthy work-life balance, offering reflections and practical advice to lead with clarity and purpose rooted in a strong connection with God.

Muddled Missions

This week, I am preaching on Luke 24. Jesus finds the disciples in a state of confusion after he rises from the dead. No doubt, they are afraid, yet joyous; they believe, yet they doubt. John Stott puts it this way. His coming found them beli...

Practices

We are moving along with our work on developing a process of discernment. However, the deeper I get in this process, the more complicated it seems. I am sure that we cannot pin this topic down to a commodified process. In the same way, agreeing o...

Being Wrong

I watched a very interesting TED talk today. “Wrongologist” Kathryn Schulz describes the necessity of admitting our fallibility. While some dismiss her talk as an argument for tolerance, I find her points extremely applicable to the church. Don’t ...

Church Conflict: The Hidden Systems Behind the Fights

I have been deep in Charles Cosgrove and Dennis Hatfield’s book Church Conflict: The Hidden Systems Behind the Fights the past two days. The work is extremely insightful. They state their purpose in the first chapter. Our thesis is that behind...

Paralysis

My doctoral thesis is underway. The Ministry Support Group is formed and is working on various tasks. My reading list is narrowing while the first chapter is swelling. I have not talked specifically about this project on this blog; my hope is to b...

Making Peace

I recently read Jim Van Yperen’s book, Making Peace: A Guide to Overcoming Church Conflict. This is a premier work for church leaders. A notable feature is Van Yperen’s view of conflict. He sees it as an opportunity for God to work. Resolving conf...