It took Amazon.com a few days, but they finally put up the cover to my book. Check it out here.
Is anybody Buying Clergy Appreciation month?
Does anybody really pay attention to clergy appreciation month? I think I’ve received 1 card in 5 years. I think some of that is because many of those in our church don’t come from a church background and this tends to be a churchy thing. I’ve always felt kind of weird about it. Is anybody with me on this? Also, why is ti a whole month? Mother’s get a day. Father’s get a day. Christmas is 1 day. So why is Clergy appreciation one month long? I don’t appreciate it…
Book Review: Now I can Die in Peace
I usually don’t read sports books, but when one of my favorite columnists, Bill Simmons, wrote a book about the last 4 years of being a Red Sox fan, I had to read it. This book: “Now I can Die in Peace” was amazing. I laughed out loud about 500 times. He captured so many of the emotions that you go through following the Sox that it was a great read. If you love baseball, especially if you love the Red Sox, you have to buy this book. It’s great!
The Reality of Church Work
People are under the impression that church work is easy. I talk to people who say, “You guys at church have it easy. You sit around waiting for the phone to ring. You pray and read the Bible all day until someone needs help.” These comments make me feel like Clubber Lang did about Rocky Balboa: “I’m gonna hurt him…real bad!” The truth is church work is probably the most grueling work there is. I believe it can be fun and rewarding, but it’s not easy. so here’s my list of the not-so-fun-stuff in church world: #1 – teaching a … Read More
2 Things You Can’t Buy
We have a staff member leaving at the end of the month. This staff member has been with me since we started. He and I go back about 11 years. When someone decides to venture off and do something else with their one life, you start to think (selfishly) about how that’s going to impact you and your organization. Here’s what I realized: you can hire people to fill the position, but you can’t buy loyalty or trust. Trust is built over time and loyalty is proven when a person has to opportunity to be disloyal. So consider that when … Read More
World Series Predictions
It’s down to 2 teams: The Astros and the White Sox. So here’s my question: Who is going to win it all this year? Post your prediction…The winner and in how many games. My prediction: The White Sox win in 6 games…(Sorry Astros fans. But they aren’t going to score any runs against the White sox starting pitching)
The Night of the Living Dead
Last night marked the 1-year anniversary of the beginning of the Red Sox’s historic comeback last year. Down 3 games to 0 against the source of all evil Yankees, they won it in dramatic fashion. From Dave Roberts’ stolen base in the 9th inning and Bill Mueller’s game tying base hit off of Mariano Rivera to then the homer of all homers by David Ortiz to win it in the 12th inning! This night one year ago reminded me why I have stuck with this team for my entire life. One year ago, life was good and it would only … Read More
Leadership Lessons from the NLCS
After watching last night’s thrilling game 5 of the NLCS and watching Albert Pujols hit a monster shot that I don’t think has landed yet, I started to think about how Albert is getting most of the attention, but other people helped make him the hero. This is so true when we are leading our churches or ministries. There are other people who “set the table” for the leader to hit the ball out of the park. Not much is being said of David Eckstein’s 2-out base hit or Jim Edmonds walk. But it only becomes a 3-run homer if … Read More
Too Important?
I need to get something off my chest: I’m taking the hotel shuttle to the catalyst conference last week and I’m listening to the people on the shuttle talk (I believe the term is eavesdropping). The guy behind me says, “I wish I could turn my cell phone off. But I’m on call 24/7 at church.” Then his phone rang and he took the call. That reminded me to turn my phone off before I went inside. About 30 minutes into the morning session I hear a phone ring. I look up and it’s this guy. He’s sitting in the … Read More
Why are we so judgmental?
Once again, the Christian community has shown itself to be the most judgmental people on planet earth. Frankly, I’m so done with this. Having seen this post talking smack about Granger Community church, I’m just shocked at how rude Christians can be in the name of being right. People, if you don’t have anything nice to say, __________________________. We can probably fill in the blank…I think. My deal is this: If you don’t agree with the way someone is doing something, fine. This is America and everyone is entitled to an opinion. But can we please stop shooting people that … Read More
