Note Scraps

I just discovered a great computer tool called Note Scraps. It’s a product made my Logos Bible Software, but Note Scraps is an application for anyone who needs a place to keep random thoughts or data.
Note Scraps is deceivingly simple. You can’t format anything. There are no nested menus. The FAQ [...]

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Autonomy

If you become a pilgrim, you cannot live in isolation from others; you cannot ‘purposefully separate from others on the journey.’ As part of personal transformation, you become a member of community.
Radical autonomy, subjectively driven lives, and consumer choice lead in a predictable direction: toward cultural fragmentation.
My sermon last Sunday was about the otherliness [...]

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Public Speaking

This week I get to speak twice at public gatherings. One speech will be to people who give care to loved ones who are suffering from serious illness. The other will be to new members of the Chamber of Commerce.
I like opportunities like this for two reasons. The first is that I [...]

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Friends

I was about to go into the State capital when the voice mail came. “Call me this morning after 10:00. We’ve got lots to talk about.” The voice was pretty insistant and assuming, but I didn’t have a clue who the voice belonged to.
I was one of two day chairs who were [...]

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DNA

I was participating in a conversation recently about evangelism. A question was being raised about how we can get indolent churches to wake up and start noticing the world outside their walls.
There were a few of us contributing to the conversation who were jaded, and a bit cynical, about whether changing the direction of [...]

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Open House

LifeSpring Church began meeting weekly on September 10, 2006, but it was a soft, quiet opening. We didn’t do a lot of advertising to let people know about it. This was a good thing because it gave us the time to work on details and work out kinks.
We have planned our Grand Opening [...]

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A Good Day

I like days like today. It was what I would call a heavily peopled day.
It began at Starbucks. A physically challenged gentleman came to my table and asked me what I did for a living. He was curious about my opened computer.
I told him that I was a pastor, and he seemed [...]

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Will of God

This week I read two different blogs, both dealing with the will of God, although from slightly different vantages. The first came from Christian Century. In that blog, James Howell cautions against too quickly assuming that you know what God wills.
In a second blog, my friend Peter Walker reflected on how many times [...]

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Hooking up people

This week I bumped into a woman that I see often in coffee shops around my town. The first time we talked it was like elevator conversation, and it stayed that way for months.
Recently the talk changed. “I’ve been unhappy with my job. I’m going to start looking for a new one.” [...]

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Who do you want to talk to?

I discovered something last night. Well… Maybe it wasn’t so much a discovery as a reflection. It was about 11:30 PM, and Bev and I were crawling in bed after being at a party.
I spent the evening in 4-5 conversations. What struck me was that I do not normally see the [...]

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