May 30, 2013 | Being a Minister, Preaching
Every time I have to preach, it never fails; negative thoughts flood my mind. “Who are you? You’re an impostor! You have no experience. You have nothing to say. You have no authority! You are one-dimensional. Every sermon sounds the same. No one takes you...
May 13, 2013 | Being a Minister, Encouraging Words
Two years ago on May 7, 2011, folks gathered at Lake Shore Baptist Church in Waco, Texas, laid hands on my shoulders, back, and head. That day a calling that began years before I was willing–or able–to see it, feel it for myself, bore down with the weight...
Apr 30, 2013 | Being a Minister
I missed my flight to Nashville, Tennessee, because I was standing in line at security. It was the weekend of the manhunt in Boston and airport security / TSA were on high alert. All bags were being checked. All documentation was being thoroughly screened. I had an...
Apr 29, 2013 | Being a Minister
“I am working in the field of adoption. I wasn’t able to find a church position after I finished seminary.” “I oversee the freshmen dorms at a state university. You would not believe what comes through my door, but I am not sure this qualifies as Christian vocation.”...
Apr 22, 2013 | Being a Minister, Being the Church
I am a Baptist minister but am currently serving as interim pastor of First Christian Church, a Disciples of Christ congregation, in Birmingham, Alabama. The transition to a Disciples church has been an easy one for me. Baptists and Disciples are very similar in...
Apr 5, 2013 | Being a Minister, Encouraging Words
All these people earned a good reputation because of their faith, yet none of them received all that God had promised. For God had something better in mind for us, so that they would not reach perfection without us. (Hebrews 11:39-40, NLT) In the words of the late...
