Matthew | September 30, 2010
This line from the title comes from my friend Rusty Pettus. He was joking when he stated it, but I really liked the truth of the comment. He was talking about post liberal preaching in a southern context. The line seems rude, mean, inconsiderate, but this is the world speaking more than the word of [...]
Matthew | September 29, 2010
Sometimes it seems that if a minister has the desire to grow a congregation, there are people in the church that make him feel guilty about this desire. Sometimes it seems that those who seek to grow the congregation are given the motivation of selfishness and personal glory. This attitude is seen in the comments [...]
Matthew | September 28, 2010
Hiking season is coming to an end this year. The hiking boots are being placed in the closet until the end of May. It was a wonderful year of amazing epic adventures. The goal of the year was to accomplish 10 summits, but 12 sounded better. We climbed some easy hills like Mt. Sherman as [...]
Matthew | September 27, 2010
The preacher is not the leader of the congregation, and the preacher is just like every other member, but it just so happens that he preaches. And preachers are not held to a higher standard than the majority of the members. Yes, yea, everyone who preachers realizes that there is a leadership component to being [...]
Matthew | September 23, 2010
The Bear Valley Lectureship begins tonight. I will not be there, but I hope to attend the lectures on Friday, and there are lectureships on Saturday, but hey the preach needs one day off, I am just going on Friday. It will be nice to see some old friends and make some new friends. I [...]
Matthew | September 22, 2010
I have a lot of friends in the church that speak highly of Josh Graves. So I was interested in reading his book. I always enjoy reading works by people I have meet, and I meet Joshua at the Pepperdine Lectureships last year. Also, his wife and my wife grew up together in West Virginia. [...]
Matthew | September 21, 2010
I try to go to the gym most days. It is a routine that I have loved for some time. It has changed through the years, the times, the routine, the goals, but for one thing is that I do it. It has not always been easy. One week I was going to Denver Seminary [...]
Matthew | September 20, 2010
It seems that I am always talking to someone on a search committee in congregations. Not that I am looking, or applying for positions. Wanted to clear that one right up, I am super happy at Castle Rock, and we are growing and doing great stuff, but every now and then I will talk to [...]
Matthew | September 8, 2010
As a minister, you do not have positional authority because a lot of members consider you just like them, but it so happens that you preach. You do not have congregational authority because the elders can fire you whenever they want. But you do have God’s authority as you preach His word. So how do [...]
Matthew | September 7, 2010
I thought this book was about influencing groups, which it was to a certain extent. But the book was more about the various levels of tribal behavior that are found in organization. This part was helpful, as you have five major levels of a organization. The language of the organization seems to indicate which level [...]
