Monthly Archives: September 2005

Last week Bishop Huie met with leaders from churches all around the Texas Conference in a series of district and bi-district gatherings. She and conference treasurer Elijah Stansell presented an overview of the work of the Strategic Mapping Team, material … Continue reading →

Sunday sermon is now available – It’s Learning From John Wesley: Money. The main text is Matthew 6:19-34, but I start with Ephesians 6:10. The pivot text is Matthew 6:24 – “You cannot serve both God and Money [Mammon].” I … Continue reading →

I’m going through a challenging time right now. I usually approach the world through knowledge and I find myself in a place where my knowledge is woefully inadequate. Tomorrow I will be fasting and praying for wisdom. Tonight, though, I … Continue reading →

FUMC Pittsburg has Charge Conference in just over a week. Here’s my communication to them about the meeting. When: Next Sunday, September 25, at 9:00 a.m. Because of this odd hour, we will not have Sunday school that day and … Continue reading →

Another point Carol Lytch draws from Smith and Lundquist ( (“What Teens Believe,” Christian Century, Sept. 6, 2005) is one I made early this summer. In Lytch’s words, “teenagers… are not a people apart, an alien race about whom adults … Continue reading →

When UMs talk about growing and exciting UM churches they tend to point to Ginghamsburg, Church of the Resurrection, and Windsor Village. I’ve heard almost no mention of Granger Community Church (in Indiana) in UM circles, though I hear about … Continue reading →

I ran across MTD, or Moralistic Therapeutic Deism in Carol Lytch’s article, “What Teens Believe” in the Christian Century. In this areticle she reviews Christian Smith and Melinda Lunddquist Denton’s work with youth, published in their Soul Searching: The Religious … Continue reading →

Within modern philosophy (of the past couple of generations), there have been (broadly speaking) Realist and anti-Realist approaches to knowledge. The Realist claims that we have varying degrees of access to a world outside of us – that our knowledge … Continue reading →

It is Senator Pat Leahy’s turn to climb onto the pedestal that is the Confirmation Hearings of John Roberts. (Why U.S. Senators need the extra time on the pedestal, I do not know) In his speech, which is still going … Continue reading →

One of the silly things bandied about since 9-11 has been that Islam is a “religion of peace.” Certainly peace has a place in Islam. As far as I can tell, peace has a place in most of the things … Continue reading →