I conducted a very unscientific poll to help guide some of my research for my preaching class next semester, and sent the following questions to some pastors I know:
Excluding sermons contained in the Bible, what would you rate as the best, or among the best, Christian sermon ever preached? You can define “best” however you wish (led to many conversions, most often quoted, etc). If you can’t limit yourself to one, please give me a few from different eras.
Excluding teachers contained in the Bible, who would you rate as the best, or among the best, Christian preachers? This person may be different from the preacher of question 1, as you consider the preacher’s total body of work, and again, if you can’t limit yourself to one, please give me a few from different eras. Continue reading Best Sermon & Best Preacher Poll→
I read an interesting op-ed entitled Why Chinese Mothers Are Superior. It really made me think, as I reflected on my life as a son, parent, student, and pastor of a multi-ethnic church. The writer, Amy Chua, admits to making sweeping categories of Chinese parents versus Western parents in terms of parenting style, and pulls a bit away from ethnic stereotypes when she states:
I’m using the term “Chinese mother” loosely. I know some Korean, Indian, Jamaican, Irish and Ghanaian parents who qualify too. Conversely, I know some mothers of Chinese heritage, almost always born in the West, who are not Chinese mothers, by choice or otherwise. I’m also using the term “Western parents” loosely. Western parents come in all varieties.
This Spring, the seminary praxis course I will be taking is Christian Proclamation. This is essentially our preaching course. At Wesley Seminary, in each praxis course we write an Integration Paper (IP). This is a research paper in which we create a real life scenario that addresses a topic related to the course. The goal is to construct an answer based on biblical exegetical research, theology, church history, and social science. I have come up with two ideas for an IP on preaching. Continue reading Integration Paper Thoughts: Christian Proclamation→
I took the last of my family, that was visiting for the holidays, to the airport at 5 am this morning. The house is fairly quiet, except for the washing machine and dryer, which will be cleaning and drying sheets and towels all day. My wife and I have our offices and bedroom back, and over the next week, or so, I will be taking down and packing up all the Christmas decorations. I am back to work, but fortunately my seminary semester has not yet begun, as I am fighting off the shared cold of my sisters-in-law, I think it will be at least a week before we are fully back to “normal” around the house.
We added three more stockings before Christmas arrived.
This post is not to criticize any of my youth pastor friends. We are writing job descriptions at my church, and I was wondering, if I ever became a youth pastor again, what would my philosophy be? Continue reading What does a youth pastor do?→
During pre-marital counseling, one topic I share with the couple is communication. When people have a conversation, there are four levels of communication:
This post may be a case of “misinterpreting boldly so that the Spirit may come” (Ken Schenck).
Yesterday, as I drove away from seminary to visit my brother in Chicago, I had NPR on the radio. A story that played was a recollection of the lynching that led to song “Strange Fruit.” Although the song speaks about “southern trees” being the hanging trees, this particular famous/infamous lynching occurred in Marion, IN. When I learned that fact, I suddenly felt creepy; Marion, IN is where Wesley Seminary at Indiana Wesleyan University is located. I realize that Marion is a very different place than it was 1930, and few, if any, of the adults who were a part of this crime are alive today, but as an African-American, some things just disturb my spirit.
Lawrence Beitler took what would become the most iconic photograph of lynching in America, the lynching of Thomas Shipp and Abram Smith.
Recently, I have been asked numerous times, “So, do you feel like a father?” I heard similar questions after I graduated from college, after I was married, and after I was ordained. How I feel, was an awkward question to answer, because I did not have any baseline experience or feelings to compare. Each of those situations were new life experiences. Continue reading Call to Worship: I Feel Like . . . Me→
Thoughts on Personal and Corporate Spiritual Formation
