In 1912, Dr. William Leslie went to live and minister in a remote corner of the Congo as a medical missionary. For 17 years, he labored. He and his wife carved a rough patch out of the jungle to serve as their base. They endured a hurricane, which struck the night before one of their children was born; they faced …
A January 4, 2017 Washington Post article by David Haskell highlighted a Canadian study noting the trend of decline for liberal churches. Further, Haskell pointed out the 2015 Pew Research Center study that mainline protestant churches are shrinking by 1 million members annually. Specifically, Haskell noted a study of 22 mainline congregations in the province of Ontario. The conclusion: “Conservative …
The strains of Vanessa Carlton’s 1,000 miles song filtered through the airport. Of course, I’d have never known it was Vanessa Carlton but for my daughter Jessica. I stopped and paused. I remembered her last month at home before getting married. It was time to move the piano—her piano. It was the piano she used during her teen years to …
A 6am flight means a 330 wake up call, out the door at 4, drop off the rental car. A 6am flight made necessary by an impending ice storm. I wanted to get home. But I couldn’t help but notice the Hertz bus driver with his venti coffee. I suspected he was a dark roast guy, no cream, no sugar. …
While I don’t remember much about my childhood, the days before memory came, I remember my bumblebee sting. They tended to hangout by the big tree in our yard. I must’ve been three when I came crashing in on their party, and they did what bumblebees are supposed to do. They stung me, many and sharply. But it was the …
In the giving world, the supposed magic standard is to spend no more than 10% of your budget towards overhead. Similarly, I hear some foundations and some donors describe and prescribe that 10% is their benchmark for qualifying an organization. The theory is that donors don’t want to pay for light bills, but instead want to pay for programs and …
Let’s face it. Few saw this coming—the defeat of Hillary Clinton by Donald Trump. Even some of the most balanced people I know suggested that the business and financial world was preparing for a Clinton presidency. Call it what you will, but the benefit of Clinton presidency was that many expected “more of the same” particularly as it related to …
Pastors and money—it’s not a subject you hear a lot about. But the July/August 2016 Christianity Today noted a survey from the National Association of Evangelicals on Pastors and their money. Here are some of the interesting findings: 29% had no money in personal savings 33% had less than $10,000 in retirement 92% worry about their retirement savings 84% worry …
As of the time of this writing, President Obama delivered his farewell speech. It was one final speech to attempt to sum up eight years of work. Not surprisingly, there are many gathering on both sides of the aisle to assess his legacy. The USA Today (January 10, 2017) described it as “Obama Leaves A Complex Legacy.” An opposing editorial …
How do you read the bible? As literature? As story? As a lesson book? For me, sometimes I read the bible as war–as struggle? What do I mean? It seems that most of our lives are filled with the constant battle to make sense of our lives, how we fit into this world, into the vast expanse of time and …
