“I don’t know what you mean by ‘glory’ Alice, of Alice in Wonderland, once asked Humpty Dumpty. He smiled contemptuously and said, “Of course you don’t – till I tell you. I mean “there’s a nice knock-down argument for you!” “But ‘glory’ doesn’t mean ‘a nice knock-down argument’ Alice objected. “When I use a word,” […]

Brothers and sisters, we have a big problem. A rather large portion of the western so-called “mainline” churches do not seem to be offering any substantial defense against the relativistic forces of post modernity. How quickly the “mainline” churches have become “sideline churches” while other, more robust Christian movements have emerged. I rejoice in the […]

This is the last entry of a three part series. Read Part I and Part II. — Third, the Wesleyan view of the holy Christian life. A doctrine of justification separated from a robust doctrine of sanctification has left the church in a weakened state which compromises our witness to the world, dishonors Christ and […]

This is the 2nd of a 3 part series. Read Part I and Part III. — It is in this context alone that we can now speak properly of Wesleyan distinctives.  Without understanding the four interlocking foundations we improperly think of our distinctives as weapons which we wield against other Christians.  Distinctives should never be […]

There are few more established routines in life than the famous bedtime story. When our children were small it was the only way a day could be brought properly to an end. The number of stories which we read, remembered from our own childhood or, quite frankly, made up on the spot during that sacred […]

This is the 1st of a 3 part series. Read Parts II and III titled “Four Great Wesleyan Distinctives.” Asbury Theological Seminary 6th Convocation Address Estes Chapel, September 02, 2014 Florida-Dunnam Campus, September 04, 2014 — The Taj Mahal is one of the seven wonders of the modern world. The Taj is located in Agra, […]

One of the greatest joys which my wife and I share is the knowledge that our daughter Bethany serves as cross-cultural minister of the gospel, bringing hope and God’s grace to an unreached people-group in Tanzania known as the Alagwa. She is now in her fourth year there. She speaks a language called Alagawesi and […]

Over the last fifty years, the Western church across Europe and North America has been losing between 7,500 and 11,000 members per day. It is a collective loss of over 100 million Christians. These staggering losses have been offset some by the dramatic growth of the immigrant churches in the West. But, we are clearly […]

On Wednesday I had the opportunity to meet with several dozen seminary Presidents from around the world who are part of a ministry known as Overseas Council. For over forty years, Overseas Council has been mentoring and training leaders from around the world who are now leading emerging seminaries, churches and mission agencies to serve […]

This is the seventh and final part in a blog series reflecting on the document, A Way Forward for a United Methodist Church Is There a Way Forward? We now come to the time for proposing positive, alternative solutions. First, we must begin with the realization that we cannot legislate our way to unity and […]