Category: Christian Leadership

Christian Leadership, Christianity, Culture, Devotion, Encouragement, Faith, Life, Sermon

Laying Down Our Burdens

I think it has dawn on me with this most recent move that our family owns a small library of books. At the same time, I think most of our boxes were nothing but books, whether they were Abbi’s, Noah’s, or my own. Each box had its own collection within them. Books from various fiction authors. Books about the presidents. Books about books in the Bible. Books about Curious George. Books that, to be honest, I don’t think we have even started reading.

Each of these books were placed into boxes of various sizes. The worst of these boxes were these egg crate boxes that were two boxes merged into one. At first, I thought this was a great concept. I could fit more books into the boxes and reduce the number of boxes we would need. I thought this until I had to pick up a filled box. These egg crate boxes were among the heaviest we had, because they were overloaded with books that made it difficult to carry. Continue reading “Laying Down Our Burdens”

Christian Leadership, Christianity, Culture, Devotion, Encouragement, Faith, Life, Sermon

Nothing More Important

This is a familiar passage for us. Many of us might be able to recite these words, especially Matthew 28:19, from heart.

It is a “go to” passage for us Methodists. This is a passage we frequently turn to as one of our favorite passages. We Methodists like it so much we made it our mission statement. At the 2008 General Conference, delegates approved making a version of this passage the definitive statement about our mission and ministry. Look at the front of your bulletin and you will see this. Our desire is to “make disciples of Jesus Christ for the transformation of the world.”

These words, this mission, are to define our work. Everything about us as a church is to be centered on our hope of making disciples of Jesus Christ who are sent out to make a difference in our world by how they love others. We are called to make disciples of Jesus. Continue reading “Nothing More Important”

Christian Leadership, Christianity, Culture, Devotion, Encouragement, Faith, Life, Sermon

Never Thirst Again

When I make my way into the kitchen, every morning, to start the day one of the first things I do is to go to the refrigerator. It is there I begin my quest to find the energy to make it through the day by grabbing a nice, cold, refreshing Diet Coke. While some may need the warmth of a cup of coffee to get through the morning, I need the sweet and calorie free taste of a Diet Coke to get things going. It is “Just for the taste of it,” right?”

To be honest, it’s not just in the mornings when I grab a Diet Coke. It seems like I always have a Diet Coke by my side. Come to the office, see me on Sunday mornings before worship, or see me moments before a meeting and chances are I am sipping on a Diet Coke or Diet Dr Pepper. In my mind, I need the caffeine from Diet Coke to get through the day, which ultimately leads me to having more soft drinks than a person should consume in one 24-hour period.

If we were honest with ourselves we all have things that we turn to in order to provide energy or momentum through the day. It could be a morning cup of coffee. It might be a favorite snack in the middle of the day. It might even be a favorite song or album that we listen to through the day. All these things, and many others, we turn to in order to “get us through the day.” Continue reading “Never Thirst Again”

Christian Leadership, Christianity, Culture, Devotion, Encouragement, Faith, Life, Sermon

Living the Mission

What is on your mind?

That is one of those questions we seem to ask a lot. I know it is one that I ask Abbi, in some form, several times a day. It is a question of curiosity about someone else. With this question, we are asking someone what they are thinking about in that moment.

You may not think about this immediately, but I think there may also be a theological aspect to this question. I think it gets to a deeper meaning that brings to mind what is driving our interests. Sometimes, I think this question can be asked in such a way that it allows us to talk about what we are focused on. By this, we are asking someone about what captivates, motivates, or has their attention.

It is important that we pay attention to what our focus is. I say that because often our focus, or what holds our attention, is what we share with others. Think about this in the simplest of terms: if we are having a bad day, try as hard as we might, we might not give our best to someone else. That is because the fact we are having a bad day, or whatever else might be grabbing our attention, is often what affects our relationships with others. Continue reading “Living the Mission”

Christian Leadership, Christianity, Culture, Devotion, Encouragement, Faith, Life, Sermon

Living With a Promise

This morning, I must admit something to you all. As I looked back over the themes of the sermons from the last few weeks, I admit that what we have talked about in this series has been very challenging.

I know that it has been challenging for me and I am sure it has also been challenging for each of you. They have been challenging in that each of these sermons have asked us, in a way, to look at where we are, where we are going, and what Christ desires of us today and tomorrow.

Perhaps it is not ideal to preach a series of challenging sermons as the boxes are mounting at the house. It would easy to blame the lectionary for its selection of Easter season passages for this year, but that would not be fair to anyone. To be honest, I’ve never been a fan of fluff. In my journalism days, I cringed at assignments that seemed to be space fillers, such as covering a local fair, before moving on to something else. I believe the Good News of Jesus Christ desires us all to be challenged to grow daily in our faith and what it means to be the church today. Continue reading “Living With a Promise”