By Rev. Dr. Rick Jordan Recently, my wife and I spent a week with our son and daughter-in-law, Todd and Stacey, in Utah. One night, while he was grilling some steaks, Todd heard an owl call. He rushed into the house with the cooked steaks saying, “I heard an owl and I think it is […]
You’ve Got to See This! Read More »
By Rev. Dr. Paul Raybon I’m continuing to read and reflect on this idea of “resilience” as a metaphor and design for what we do as church. (See here if you missed it.) One of the practical applications, as described to me by Co-Pastor Ernesto Bazan of Iglesia Bautista Kerygma in Holguin, Cuba, was reorganizing
Ministry of Accompaniment Read More »
By: Dr. Paul Raybon You may have heard this word in the news, it is one of the “go to” words of our times. Resilience is the capacity to withstand or to recover quickly from difficulty, trauma, and disaster. The interesting thing about resilience is that scientists have determined that there are ways to build
By: Rev. Steve Zimmerman Last month Angela and I had an opportunity to get away for a few days along the Blue Ridge Parkway. But before our lodging was ready, we decided to do an overnight stay in West Virginia. In order to get to that destination, we had to drive a section of Interstate
by: Rev. Jerry Chiles If we open our eyes, we can identify walls in our own church that need to be torn down. The question is how do we begin to have an impact on these walls? Here are some simple suggestions. If you are having trouble identifying them, invite a ‘church visitor’ to visit
Identifying Walls In Your Church Read More »
by: Rev. Jerry Chiles Recently I noticed a small book entitled The Wall: A Parable by Gloria Jay Evans. Why it caught my eye I wasn’t sure, but I was drawn to it. I have edited the text for the following version. I don’t know when I first began to build the wall. I suppose
Building Walls or Tearing Them Down? Read More »
By: Rev. Dr. Rick Jordan I confess that most days, I walk through a day without much thought. Not that I’m ignorant or inconsiderate. But too often I do breeze through a day’s experiences without consideration of deeper insights. Sometimes, a shock to my system helps me realize that I need to ponder what I
How My Vacation Changed Me Read More »
By Rev. Dr. Rick Jordan It may have been the best sermon I’ve ever heard, but I will never know for sure because it was spoken in Icelandic. Hallgrímskirkja is the largest church building in Iceland, a Lutheran congregation. My experience there sparked these reflections about this church and the Church. Experience: “Hallgrímskirkja” looks like
Worship in A Foreign Land Read More »
By: Dr. Paul Raybon Last time I wrote about how seeing your church facilities as a gift to be shared can change how you do ministry and how you relate with your community. Churches can also use that gift to generate alternate streams of income. As churches we are rightfully wary of becoming profit-oriented and
The Gift That Generates Income Read More »
By: Dr. Paul Raybon My church, Hominy Baptist in Candler, North Carolina, is over 200 years old. We are a small-medium sized congregation, which in the post COVID world means about 150 folks participating in worship and/or ministry on a regular basis, and about half that number in worship on any given Sunday. Many churches
Your Building Is a Gift! Read More »
