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: 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 »
by Dr. Paul Raybon You may remember doing a values clarification exercise in school with this prompt. “Your house is on fire, what 10 things will you try to save?” Then a follow up, “Time is running out! You have to leave five, what will you keep?” Individual lists are then shared in a small
What Will You Save? Read More »
By Rev. Dr. Paul Raybon One of my very favorite people, a long-time lay leader, is a retired teacher who, when she gets really mad, will exclaim “Anglo-Saxon ad infinitum.” Because as we all know, all the best curse words are Anglo-Saxon. Put another way, how many people yell “excrement” when they hit their thumb
“Anglo-Saxon ad infinitum” Read More »
By Dr. Paul Raybon I have to start by confessing that I am a lover of words. I still have my crumbling 45-year-old paperback Roget’s Thesaurus, although truth be told I am more likely to consult thesaurus.com in a pinch these days. And to be precise, I am not a lover of all words, I
Impactful or Meaningful? Read More »
