(This post is a gamble for me. My alternative titles for it are, “False Humility” and “Internal Exclusion and Embrace: The Schizophrenic Within.”)
One of the funniest slams on me in the last few years came from a friend I’ve known since high school. We tease each other mercilessly. She and her husband were talking about [...]

Posted in finding myself 5 Comments »

Early morning…April 4…shot rang out in a Memphis sky
Free at last…they took your life…they could not take your
Pride.
Pride (in the name of love), U2

14 days later, I was born.
I’ve spent time in the last few years reading about the decade before my birth. Not having lived through the monumental shifts of the sixties makes it [...]

Posted in bible/theology, finding myself 4 Comments »

What does it say about me that I couldn’t get a Christmas letter out before Christmas this year, but I was able to cut, export, upload, and blog about a three year old unfinished Christmas video?
Psychoanalysis requested and welcomed via the comments.

Posted in finding myself 2 Comments »

Ok, so imagine this: our entire pastoral team, after Tuesday’s team meeting, goes to the Golden Leaf for Thai food. In a freak accident, we are all killed because they garnished with arsenic instead of curry.
What would happen at NFC?
Would all the people suddenly rise up, and all of a sudden take complete responsibility for [...]

Posted in NFC, church thoughts, finding myself, leadership 15 Comments »

My confession? I like to preach. In fact, there are times like the last two Sundays where I feel like it’s part of what I was born to do. I love speaking the truth that God is present. I love, absolutely love, when I can speak about God’s unending, unconditional love for us.
Why is that [...]

Posted in NFC, church thoughts, finding myself 14 Comments »

I’m sitting in a local coffee shop reading (three things at once: The Present Future, 7 Practices of Effective Ministry, and A PRE-RELEASE COPY of Doug Pagitt’s and KP’s new book, Body Prayer…I’m cool like Bob). Anyway, I’m sitting here, and there are three college students, 2 girls and a guy. They’re talking loud, so [...]

Posted in comedy attempts, finding myself 5 Comments »

I’m a Quaker because Quakers have opened up experiences with God in me that have changed my life. I’m a Friend because Friends, at our best, combine a passionate, alive, and vital experience of God with a fearless engagement of destructive social structures in the hopes that God’s redemptive love might be visible. I’m a [...]

Posted in bible/theology, finding myself, quaker 3 Comments »

I want to write a little more about my brief conversation with Andrew on Saturday night. I was telling him that it seems like I’m called to do something that most American emerging church folks have given up on; it seems like I’m called to stay within an established church and follow where Jesus is [...]

Posted in church thoughts, finding myself, leadership 7 Comments »

And the sense of the meeting is that you want to hear about the insights I’m having lately into my psyche…why, I’m not so sure, but here we go.
I’ve been reminded again that our self-perceptions are often formed very early in life, and they persist, even though we change. As much progress as I think [...]

Posted in finding myself, leadership No Comments »

I’m not in therapy…yet. But they say a good therapist is one who listens and lets you get it all out. I’ve got some things to get out, and I might as well do it here.
I’ve got to quit going to funerals. Check that: I’ve got to stop being sick in bed all week, [...]

Posted in finding myself, this blog/blogging 2 Comments »