Revitalize Your Church

“I’m Tigger!” little Suzie shouted as she jumped up and down in the back seat of the car.  Her frazzled mother repeatedly asked her to stop bouncing.  “Be a nice little Tigger and sit down.”  “Precious, Mommy wants you to stop being so active right now.  Be a good girl and buckle up!”  Sweetheart, this is getting on Mommy’s nerves!” Finally, realizing that her requests had fallen on deaf ears, Mother pulled to the curb and screeched to a halt. “This is IT!” she shouted, “I’ve had ENOUGH!  If you don’t sit down and start behaving this minute, you are going to regret it, young lady!” Instantly, the little girl stopped bouncing and settled down. “That’s much better.” Said Mother. As the car pulled from the curb, Susie muttered under her breath, “I may be sitting down on the outside, but I’m bouncing like Tigger on the inside!” As a pastor, one of my jobs is to help people behave themselves.  I have witnessed the tragic results of...

Sometimes we let a little thing No larger than a midge's wing Destroy a whole day's happiness. We give it leeway, more or less, And let it buzz and nip and sting, Till one gets cross, and two get mad, And three or four are hurt and sad. And then, next day, on looking back, We spy the microscopic beast. Alas, alack! Was that what started all the fuss? That mite? We should have thought at least It was a hippopotamus! -- Nancy Byrd Turner, 1880-1971, Public Domain)

An excerpt from my book, Filled Up, Poured Out: How God’s Spirit Can Revive Your Passion and Purpose  : Northern Wisconsin is Lutheran and Catholic territory, and this means two things: Lutefisk before Christmas, and Lent before Easter. I didn’t know much about either growing up. Until moving to Hayward , I had never heard of Lutefisk, and figured Lent was stuff you trap in the dryer. Living in the Northwoods, I’ve discovered that Lutefisk is a piece of cod that passes all understanding. (Actually, it’s a rather unappetizing, gelatinous Nordic dish made from dried, salted whitefish and lye .) We’ll let the Lutherans keep it. Lent, however, is something we’ve happily pilfered from our more liturgical brethren. We start with Ash Wednesday, forty days before Easter. I smudge ashes on the foreheads of willing parishioners, repeating, “From dust you’ve come, to dust you shall return.” For a few years, I drove over to St. Joe’s a couple days before the Lenten season and borr...

"Think of the world you carry within you," said poet, Rainer Maria Rilke. My friend Emily, a student at Kingswood University, reflecting on this quote, re-phrased:  "Think of the Christ you carry within you."

1.  Intelligent boards don't mind making complex decisions and they don't want the decision made for them ahead of time. 2.  The higher the engagement and leadership horsepower, the less likely rubber-stamping will be satisfactory.  They will not settle for the first, simple solution.  They need to think it through. 3.  Intelligent boards need good information in order to make good decisions.  This requires a good amount of homework on someone's part, and a clear presentation of options at the meeting. 4.  The best way to frustrate (and lose) intelligent board members is to clog the agenda with trivial non-essentials.  Every meeting should be built around the highest priorities. 5.  Hearty, constructive, debate, expressing differences of opinion is a good way to discover the best answer.  This requires at least some measure of emotional health on the part of all the participants. 6.  Understand that stress and anxiety from...

Last week, at Janet Johnson's funeral service, her cousin, Pat,shared this beautiful observation, "Janet might have had a disease, but the disease did not have Janet." I was astounded by that powerful comment.  Too often, people allow themselves to be defined by their difficulties.  This breeds a victim mentality.  Because troubles abound, we can find all kinds of reasons to be unhappy and discontent with life.  In the end, however, those reasons are just excuses.  The key isn't what happens to you - but rather, how you respond to what happens. Here's an important question:  do you really want to be defined by troubles and negative experiences?  If you wish to be miserable, then just go ahead and let life's painful situations  dictate your attitude and perspective. If, on the other hand, you know you're made for more than that -- then there's a better way.  It starts deep within your soul.   Speak the truth to yourself. ...