In the most recent issue of Rev magazine, church growth dude Charles Arn spun out some interesting ratios featuring the word “should“: 5:100 – Your church, according to Arn, should average 5 visitors for every 100 in attendance. 1:4 – 1 of every 4 visitors should be a regular attendee within a year of his/her…

Spending time with my four year-old grandson Gabriel means that I become an instant authority on the way the world works – just for the day. “What do cars drink? Why can’t the cat eat my soft taco if he likes it? What is grandpa doing right now?” I am required to have some snappy…

This Sunday is one of those “firsts” they talk about in the aftermath of a significant death. It’s the first Mother’s Day I’ll experience without a mom. My mom died last September. Though it has been years since I was able to share the day with my mom in person, there is something achingly sad…

Within the last few weeks, I’ve heard reports of renewal bubbling up in a couple of churches in the southeastern U.S. (I hesitate to use the term “revival”, because right now, the people who are experiencing this particular nearness of God here are primarily Christians. In my head, “revival” is something that explodes out of…

…and there hasn’t been for at least a year and a half. When we moved into our townhouse in June of 2006, one of the things I liked about our location was the fact that there were single-family houses across the street. And a good number of those houses were full of noisy kids. The…

Tagged! In real life, it means someone is gonna slug you right between the shoulder blades as you’re running away from them. In cyberspace, it means that a fellow blogger links to you and asks you to tag 6 of your buds (something impossible to do on the playground). This game: 6 random things about…