I’ve heard via the always-reliable Interwebz that as many as 7,000 people have leftMars Hill Church in Seattle in recent months. The implosion in a church doesn’t have to be as painfully dramatic and public as the one in Seattle for a person to leave a broken congregation with a lovely parting gift: at least one…

I’m so pleased to announce that I’ve just signed with NavPress to write a book I pray will invite many to consider the gift of days the Lord has given each of us: the ordinary ones, and the red-letter ones. The working title of the project is Everyday Eternity: How The Jewish Feasts and Christian…

A couple of years ago, I joined a group of 4-8 women gathered on Monday mornings in an empty conference room in a suburban church to pray for their twenty-something adult children. The first morning we met, we introduced ourselves, briefly shared a bit about what each of our kids was doing post-college, and whether…

I’ve written in this space (here, here and here) about the challenges some over age 40 have when it comes to maintaining meaningful connection with their local churches.  I am always on the lookout for people and congregations doing some creative thinking about how to nurture spiritual maturity for those at midlife and beyond. Dr. Gail Bones has…

My friend B. had been a pastor for years before he stepped into the leadership of a parachurch ministry. During his work week, he worked and prayed with dozens of pastors and church leaders interested in transforming their congregations and communities. But on Sundays, he and his wife were invisible members of their own home…

After a lifetime of taking almost uniformly terrible pictures, modern technology in the form of camera on my phone plus the special effects magic of Instagram filters has allowed me to improve my game a bit:       While there is almost nothing a person with a good command of Photoshop can’t do to an…