Ministry in the Clinical Setting also known as the Grocery Store

One day, I’m going to work in a grocery store.  When people have a need, they will ask me.  If I don’t get something, they’ll tell me a second time.  They may call me a pinhead the third time, but at least I’ll know what they need.  I won’t be paid a lot, but I’ll be part of that neat gang of friends that check … Continue reading Ministry in the Clinical Setting also known as the Grocery Store

It’s About the Guns

Yes: It’s about the guns. If it weren’t about the guns, people wouldn’t rush into defending the 2nd amendment mere hours after a massacre of kindergartners   If it weren’t about guns, there would not be a small but loud minority pushing for guns in the hands of school teachers.  If it weren’t about the guns, people wouldn’t dismiss those who have been through this before.  If … Continue reading It’s About the Guns

Designing Worship: Sensing the Gaps-Coursera Lessons for the Church

What’s a Mediocre Preacher to Do? I am taking an online course called “Design: Creation of Artifacts in Society“.  It is being shared by the University of Pennsylvania through Coursera: an online education clearinghouse.  I am taking this course to help me better design worship.  I am not that good of a preacher-I tend to be boring.  If the Mountaineers play late, I know that … Continue reading Designing Worship: Sensing the Gaps-Coursera Lessons for the Church

POETRY: Kitties, Crickets and Crooked Branches

Kitty in window Oversees lovers at play Blissfully unfree · September cricket Sings a dusky requiem- Rests as cars roar by — That crooked tree must be balancing out the rest of the earth. For she is bent in a gnarly shape, superficially ugly, with patches of green leaves ready to die.  Bending shoots of dead branches testify to the sickness within. She is innocent-no … Continue reading POETRY: Kitties, Crickets and Crooked Branches

Episcopal Questions

I am at the Northeast Jurisdictional Conference (#nej12) serving on the Hospitality Team.  Tuesday’s schedule was dedicated to the interviewing of Episcopal candidates.  There were 8 interview teams and 19 candidates (candidates profiles can be found here [.pdf] in Tuesday’s Daily Christian Advocate).  Each candidate interviewed before each interview team.  In the evening, I got to sit in on one of the interview teams as … Continue reading Episcopal Questions

Book Review: “Holy Conversations”-Introduction

Vital Learning is Critical to Vital Church Leadership…or so they say. At Greenview, we have been undergoing a revitalization process.  I followed a pastor that had been here ten years, so the congregation was ripe for something new. We began in January by reading Vital Signs by Dan Dick.  It is a superb book that really got us thinking about who we are as a church. … Continue reading Book Review: “Holy Conversations”-Introduction