Category Archives: Spirituality

My First Church Job

Posted on May 31, 2007 by Richard Heyduck

The summer of 1983 was my last summer before Seminary (I was finishing college in December, and starting seminary in January). Since I was headed to a career in ministry, I figured I ought to get a ministry job. Everyone … Continue reading →

Posted in Spirituality, United Methodism | 2 Comments

The Bishops are Seeking Leverage

Posted on May 23, 2007 by Richard Heyduck

In his Christian Chaos: Revolutionizing the Congregation Tom Bandy says, The primary link between congregation and denomination and denomination is pastoral relations, the key membership of the pastor is with the denominational judicatory, and the most powerful positions in congregation … Continue reading →

Posted in church growth, Current events, Leadership, Local church, Spirituality, Theology, United Methodism | 10 Comments

Cover Your Ears!

Posted on May 10, 2007 by Richard Heyduck

How do Christians decide who not to listen to? Which heresies, mistakes or habits take a person beyond the pale? I received a mailing from UM Action a few days ago complaining about homosexuals being put in charge of worship … Continue reading →

Posted in Current events, Leadership, Politics, Spirituality, Theology, United Methodism | 4 Comments

What’s Wrong with Men?

Posted on May 9, 2007 by Richard Heyduck

Clearly something is wrong with men. Clue #1: In some areas of Muslim culture men have come to understand themselves as so susceptible to the evils of lust that women must be so covered up that they are indistinguishable from … Continue reading →

Posted in Current events, Leadership, Spirituality, Theology | 3 Comments

Grace for Preachers & Leaders

Posted on May 8, 2007 by Richard Heyduck

Living in the boonies as I do, I frequently have to drive an hour or more to visit people in the hospital. Often I take the time to use my mp3 player. As I drove to Tyler today, Mark Driscoll, … Continue reading →

Posted in Current events, Leadership, Spirituality, Theology, United Methodism | 1 Comment

Anxiety and Care

Posted on May 2, 2007 by Richard Heyduck

One of the books I’m reading now is M. Robert Mulholland’s Invitation to a Journey: A Road Map for Spiritual Formation. It’s an excellent little book. On page 86-87, in the midst of his discussion of the peace and rejoicing … Continue reading →

Posted in Current events, Islam, Politics, Spirituality | Leave a comment

Looking for Youth Workers

Posted on May 1, 2007 by Richard Heyduck

We’re losing our longtime youth director in June as he makes the transition to pastoring. Here are some of the thoughts I’ve had as we figure out what comes next. Thinking about Youth Ministry Why churches hire youth leaders: Availability: … Continue reading →

Posted in Leadership, Local church, Spirituality, Youth Ministry | 4 Comments

Spiritual Maturity

Posted on April 18, 2007 by Richard Heyduck

Some folks think maturity is a simple function of age: the older you are, the more mature you are. A quick read of any newspaper would disabuse us of that notion. We find countless accounts of people of all ages … Continue reading →

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Humility

Posted on April 13, 2007 by Richard Heyduck

Humility is a Christian virtue. One good way to know what humility looks like is to look at Jesus. When we look at Jesus we see someone who was confident and sure of himself. He did not wallow in self-doubt … Continue reading →

Posted in Bible, Spirituality | Leave a comment

Wearing Religious Genes

Posted on January 15, 2007 by Richard Heyduck

Let’s imagine for a moment that there are four theories of the nature of truth. The correspondence theory, the coherence theory, the pragmatic theory and the Nietschean theory. Very briefly: The Correspondence theory says that a statement/idea is true if … Continue reading →

Posted in Current events, Spirituality, Theology | Leave a comment