Back in April many of you helped choose the topic for a blog series I was hoping to do during the summer months. And you chose the topic of mentoring in the church. You’re probably wondering what does “dancing Jesus” have to do with any of this? Let me explain. I’ve grown up various evangelical…
Traditions and Today's Youth
I was listening to a Mark Driscoll message on a run recently and heard him say something pretty close to this and yesterday I posted it on Twitter (I can’t find the original talk to verify the exact quote): Every church needs to decide if it will embrace its traditions or its kids. Most churches…
Song Retirement
After church yesterday Jay and I had a quick conversation about a song we’ve done a lot of at Sunset over the past 3 years. The response from the congregation yesterday felt less than was usual in the past, and the overall feel of the song over the past few times we had sung it…
Fortuitous Bouncing
Now that I’ve turned in my post course papers for my summer course, I am officially free from seminary for one month. I try to avoid places in life where I’m not learning so naturally I started looking through my book library to see what I had stashed away to read…nothing. There was nothing. So…
Grace in the Ordinary
We miss something remarkable when happiness is our pursuit, because happiness is a brief vapor at her very best. What’s more, there is something beautiful about getting what you get, something lovely in the mess, something divine in the ordinary. And the something is grace. Grace to smile in sickness, to dance in death, to…
Hymns Aren't Just a Thing of the Past
Many people are of the opinion that churches should only sing the “hymns of the faith” (whatever that means). 3 funny (or odd) things about that: Most hymns aren’t really “hymns.” Hymns in a musical sense have no chorus, but a lot of “hymns” do. The Bible speaks about singing a new song, and I…