Monthly Archives: June 2006

An Anniversary (of a kind)

Posted on June 21, 2006 by Richard Heyduck

The first day of Vacation Bible School started earlier than planned, last year. A little before 6 am we got a call that the Feed Store (our recently renovated youth building) was on fire. I rushed down to the church … Continue reading →

Posted in Local church, United Methodism | 2 Comments

American Church in Crisis

Posted on June 21, 2006 by Richard Heyduck

Outreach Magazine features an article on the crisis in the American church. Since their focus is evangelism and church growth, the crisis under consideration is the decline in church attendance across the country and a failure in every state but … Continue reading →

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Out of (our own) Control

Posted on June 13, 2006 by Richard Heyduck

An old high school friend visited my church Sunday. He’s traveled extensively in the Muslim world over the past 10 years, and shared some of his experiences with the people. After his stories of spending time in jail in the … Continue reading →

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The Divine Conspiracy: The Mystery of Israel

Posted on June 12, 2006 by Richard Heyduck

Dan Brown’s biggest mistake in The DaVinci Code was forgetting that Jesus was Jewish. We will never understand Jesus unless we consider what God was up to in the Old Testament.

Posted in Podcast, Pursuing Jesus, Spirituality, Theology | Leave a comment

What’s the largest Turnip you’ve ever seen?

Posted on June 8, 2006 by Richard Heyduck

The 2006 session of the Central Texas Annual Conference is now over. We concluded on a hot Wednesday afternoon in Waco. Hot as it was outside, it remained fairly cool inside. the closest thing to dissension was a couple of … Continue reading →

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The Divine Conspiracy

Posted on June 7, 2006 by Richard Heyduck

I’ve finally managed to upload the audio for the Divine Conspiracy sermon series (yes, I stole the title from Dallas Willard – but the content has nothing in common). This is my response to Dan Brown’s The DaVinci Code. In … Continue reading →

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Truth or Inspiration?

Posted on June 5, 2006 by Richard Heyduck

People like to hear stories of success and happiness. I’m ok, you’re ok. That’s part of the genius behind movements as diverse as the Chicken Soup series and Guideposts. I was talking to a pastor friend tonight whose Annual Conference … Continue reading →

Posted in church growth, Leadership, Local church, United Methodism | 3 Comments

2006 Episcopal Address

Posted on June 3, 2006 by Richard Heyduck

Things are BIG in Texas. I’ve heard many times that the Texas Annual Conference is the largest in the denomination (it’s not – either in terms of membership or area covered). We have the largest churches (we surely have some … Continue reading →

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Do They Really Mean It?

Posted on June 3, 2006 by Richard Heyduck

The first night of Annual Conference (when we had a youth service) some folks (not youth) were passing out buttons. The buttons featured the United Methodist marketing slogan, “Open Hearts, Open Minds, Open Doors,” but added an additional line: “… … Continue reading →

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