Category Archives: Editorials

Editorials, Life in general, Missional

White Frame Church

Little White Church Building 01In the 80’s a little white frame church building used to sit on the road between Lubbock and Lamesa (long e), Texas. It was a very small building that could have seated 50 at the most. On Sunday mornings you’d probably find just a handful of congregants, all silver-haired.

The absence of change either of its size, color, or location was ironic given how the world all around was and is changing. New businesses, new people moving into the community, new political elections, and a thousand other changes in communication, medical care, and education. The world flies by the little church building at warp speed.

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Editorials, Food for Thought, Life in general

Culture Wars

Sailor Jerry tattooRemember when only sailors had tattoos?

It wasn’t that long ago that you found tattoos the sole expression of the military and social rebels. But as musicians and actors began embracing tattoo art, it became more common to see men and women turning their skin into a canvas.

Now there is a television show called Miami/LA Ink which adds to the respectability of using the body for an art display. It’s not unusual to see tattoo parlors in the mainstream of commerce.  But culture wars had to be fought to bring tattooing into common practice.

We’ve seen similar wars before.   Continue reading Culture Wars →

Editorials, Food for Thought, Leadership, Missional

The Top Five Reasons for Getting Rid of Your Office

OfficeI don’t have an office.

Necessity required that I give up my bookshelf-lined office and half of my library in order to move to a new town as a church planter. A church “planter” does just that – plants or begins a new church. Church planting requires a change of context, new skills, and a new “audience.”

It also requires a new place to “office.” My new office happens to be coffee shops. One business writer calls this “going bedouin” as in moving from one place to another.

Continue reading The Top Five Reasons for Getting Rid of Your Office →

Editorials, Food for Thought, Life in general, sermons

Disgust

Disgust

“Sue” was a woman I used to know. Unattractive mole-like bumps grew all over her face making her very unattractive, and I wanted to look away when she talked to me.

It was not a mature reaction on my part. Visceral and primitive, yes. Mature, no.

What I was experiencing was the psychological phenomenon of disgust. Richard Beck, Abilene Christian University psychologist calls disgust a boundary psychology, originally designed to protect people from noxious foods and such.

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Editorials, Food for Thought, Life in general

Just walking around…

silhouette-of-man-walking-around-the-outside-of-the-worldThe ancient Greeks had a word that literally meant to walk around. But it meant more than that.

It was often used to talk about how one lives. In the ancient world, “walking around” was euphemistic for the places you went and the things you did. And as we all know, those places and things can be good or bad.

One of the best places I ever walked was in Paris, particularly at the Louvre.  My wife and I strolled though its long corridors looking at centuries worth of art.  We were told that one gallery was a quarter of a mile long, and I believed it because my feet hurt so badly. Continue reading Just walking around… →

Editorials, Food for Thought, Life in general

When the world hates you…

oppositionA woman in her dream wedding gown stood at the back of the church sanctuary, the Wedding March about to begin, and she told her father that she did not want to go through with the wedding.  He did not give her the answer she expected but rather said that she should not marry this man if she had reservations about it.

“What about all the people I will be disappointing,” she asked. Continue reading When the world hates you… →

Editorials, Food for Thought

Continental Drift

Continental DriftPacific Island Travel says that Point Reyes National Seashore is, “a rogue piece of the earth’s crust that has been drifting slowly…northward along the San Andreas Fault, having started some six million years ago as a suburb of Los Angeles.”

It’s an interesting image – a piece of land that is hundreds of miles north of its first home. If you visit Point Reyes’ Interpretation Center you can see rocks that originated hundreds of miles south of where they now live. Continue reading Continental Drift →

Editorials, Food for Thought, Life in general, People

We’re going to Urinetown.

Urinetown 01We’re going to Urinetown this weekend. It will be the second time we’ve seen this Tony Award winning play.

The first time we saw the play was in San Francisco at the Curran Theatre. It was fun telling people about our intentions: “We’re going to see Urinetown in the City.”

“You’re in town? That’s a funny name for a Play.” Continue reading We’re going to Urinetown. →

Editorials, Food for Thought, LifeSpring, LifeSpring Church, People

Paying Attention

Cleopas and friend 04

I was in a restaurant last week eating lunch with a friend when a fellow diner waved at me and called my name as he left the restaurant.

His face was familiar. His smile said, “I know you.” I’m sure I must have had coffee with him recently or share a group membership. But no name came to my mind. “Who is this person?” I thought.

I hoped my face did not betray my cluelessness. I put on a big smile and waved back even though I couldn’t dredge up a name to go with his face. If I had just a moment to converse with him, I could have figured out the mystery.

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