I Came, I Saw, I Loved: My Charge to the Asbury Theological Seminary Spring Graduating Class of 2015

Julius Caesar famously wrote to the Roman Senate in 46 B.C. in the wake of his stunning victory in the east: veni, vidi, vici—I came, I saw, I conquered.   That famous phrase veni, vidi, vici has become almost the summarizing motto of the confident, unbridled triumphalism of the Roman era.  If their motto was “I came, […]

3 Reasons I’m a Wesleyan

I have a deep love for Wesleyan Christianity. There are several reasons for this. First, one of the great advantages which Wesley had was that he was born in the 18th century, a full two centuries after the Protestant Reformation. This gave him the ability to look back and see first-hand the strengths and weaknesses […]

Is the Same-Sex Marriage Debate “Roe v. Wade” or “Brown v. Board of Education”?

This week the Supreme Court is beginning to hear the oral arguments in a landmark decision which will either strike down all legislation banning same sex marriages, or it will uphold state prohibitions against same sex marriage. Most legal observers say it is likely that by this summer same sex marriage will become legal in […]

Would You Sell Your Church for $1?

The wonderful thing about language is that it grows and adapts to the linguistic landscape.  When I grew up, a “mouse” was a little furry creature that scurried around at night.  When I was growing up no one would know what a “blog” was, and certainly it would be mystifying if someone said in answer […]

The Post-Denominational “Network” Solution

I often tell my senior leadership team that when they come to me with a problem, they should endeavor whenever possible to also come with a solution. This is a good principle which applies to the church as well. We are all aware of problems in the church, but workable solutions have been scant. I […]

Help is on the Way: A New Wesleyan Network in a Post-Denominational World

There are millions of Christians around the world who are praying earnestly for the renewal of a global Wesleyan movement.  From the North American perspective things look quite gloomy since the largest Wesleyan movement on this continent, the United Methodist Church, is in such deep crisis.  We have always been a “big tent” church and […]

A Word to Worship Song Writers: Take Up Thy Pen and Write

Robin Parry in his book, Worshipping Trinity: Coming Back to the Heart of Worship, did a study of every song on 28 worship albums produced by Vineyard Music between 1999-2004. What he discovered was that only 1.4% of the songs were explicitly Trinitarian. Only 38.7% explicitly mentioned any member of the Trinity. The majority of […]

Two Kinds of Pluralism

A funny thing happened on the way to the dictionary.  Words which once meant one thing now denote something quite different.  One example of this is the word “pluralism” as used in the phrase “religious pluralism.”  I have noticed that there are two ways the word is now used and we need to be careful […]

Responsible Grace

Randy Maddox is the Professor of Wesleyan Studies at Duke University and is widely regarded as one of the leading Wesleyan scholars in the world. His book, Responsible Grace was one of his books which helped to establish him as a leading thinker. Maddox’s contribution to my own thinking has been helping me to understand […]

Life After Death, Take Two: Moving Beyond Renewal

I am going to re-write my last blog and try to approach this theme in a fresh way. It is clear that mainline Protestantism is in serious trouble. David Olson’s book, The American Church in Crisis is just the latest of a series of books which have documented this decline. All of the mainline churches […]