Ministry Updates

Post-Christendom and Global Christianity (Part I)

The two most important developments in the church of our time is the movement of western civilization into post-Christendom and the equally dramatic emergence of global Christianity. This article will focus on the emergence of post-Christendom, and a follow-up piece will develop some of the implications of the rise of world Christianity. By Christendom, I […]

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My Charge to the Asbury Theological Seminary Graduating Class of 2016

Brothers and sisters in the Lord Jesus Christ, my charge to the 2016 graduating class centers around two Greek words which appear together as a sacred pair—a technical coupling—in the writings of St. Paul. These two words are parelabon and paredoka. They are translated “received” and “passed on” and go back even further to the […]

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An Open Pastoral Letter to United Methodists, Part II: A Word of Clarification

Dear United Methodists, Immediately following General Conference I wrote an Open Letter to United Methodists expressing my long term hope for a renewal in the global Wesleyan movement which was rooted not in ecclesiastical deliberations, but in grass roots faithfulness of the “people called Methodists.” I truly wish that I could have shared that message […]

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An Open Pastoral Letter to United Methodists

Dear United Methodists, Another General Conference has ended and you are feeling betrayed, angry and sad about the brokenness of the church. Is there a way forward? Have the Bishops provided it with the document by the same name? Are we hopeful about the future? First, as much as we might want to be angry […]

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United Methodist General Conference and the Unity of the Church

General Conference was originally designed to celebrate our unity as a connectional church. Today, it has become the public testimony before the world of how utterly divided we are as a movement. But, let us remember that when Jesus said, “I will build my church” He was not referring to the institutional survival of a […]

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The Deeper Issue Facing the United Methodist General Conference

Every four years the United Methodist Church comes together for General Conference, a time for “holy conferencing” and for discerning the future of God’s mission through the “people called Methodist.” Social media is ablaze with defiance as protestors are determined to shut down the conference over the issue of homosexuality. It seems like every four […]

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Reflections on the Day of Prayer

Sometimes the President of an institution is the last to know things. I may have been the last to realize that something was stirring in our student body in the last few months. Prayer meetings were breaking out. Sins were being confessed. Reconciliation was taking place. The renewing winds of the Holy Spirit are definitely […]

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Why the Little Sisters Will Prevail

By now most Americans have heard about the Little Sisters of the Poor, a Roman Catholic order totally devoted to caring for the elderly poor. As nuns, the sisters take vows of poverty, chastity and obedience. In the case of this order, they take a fourth vow, the vow of hospitality, since their mission involves […]

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Good Friday Reflection

Psalm 22 and Psalm 69 are two of the psalms which Jesus himself quotes from the cross. Most of us know that many of the most familiar lines of the passion are actually Jesus quoting from the daily prayer book of the Jews, which we call the Book of Psalms. “My God, My God, Why […]

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What We Can Learn from Stickers That Won’t Come Off Merchandise

Most of us have experienced the frustrating situation where you purchase something from Walmart or Home Depot or Target and when you get your item home you find the price tag almost impossible to get off. You start to pull the sticker up from the edge and, despite how gentle you are, it inevitably begins […]

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