We had some technical difficulties with our online presence for the last couple of weeks.  So many of you may have tried to click through to a blog post only to have it come up with an error. The problem has been fixed.  Below are the last few blog posts in case you missed one. […]

As you begin a new year with resolutions of better health, stronger finances and healthier relationships, I’d like to share the following benediction with you. I can’t prove it, but it seems to be one used by missionaries in India. May the Lord disturb you and trouble you, May the Lord set an impossible task […]

In less than five months I and others from East Ohio will be at General Conference in Portland, Oregon. During those ten days we will be asked to vote on literally hundreds and hundreds of issues. My committee assignment is the committee dealing with local church property, including endowments. But as you would expect there […]

A month ago or so this country tried to lose its mind when Starbucks unveiled its annual Holiday Cup that was plain red. In a startling victory of common sense, “It’s just a cup” overwhelmed social media and quickly quashed the notion that this disposable vessel of overpriced caffeine was the end of Christianity as […]

Now that your stewardship campaign has passed, it’s time to put stewardship away for the next 9 months or so, right? Hopefully not. Between now and next fall this is what I suggest you get busy with: What did you learn from your campaign? How did this year compare to last year? Are there any […]

I posted this December 2013 and 2014 and I’ve received so many positive comments about it, I thought I’d bring it out again.  Keep this in mind as you begin your festivities. A friend was telling me about the annual Christmas parade in a small town in Amish country.  He said it was in no […]

I often get a comment like “We haven’t done a stewardship campaign in decades. We don’t need to, we always pay the bills.” Or sometimes it’s “We don’t really talk stewardship in our church, it makes people uncomfortable.” Or my favorite is “We don’t want to be the church that always talks about money.” All […]

In a marketing email I received last week, I read the following: Two people pass a beggar on the street. One sees a lazy bum and feels indignant. The other sees a victim of circumstance and feels compassion. Same beggar, same street, different perception.  To each relationship we bring a lifetime of our own experiences, values, […]

The Board of Directors at the Foundation has spent the last year in a strategic planning process.  We are a much different organization than when I got here seven years ago and we were trying to get a handle on what exactly our role should be. My elevator speech has always been that the Foundation […]

I posted this last December and I’ve received so many positive comments about it, I thought I’d bring it out again.  Keep this in mind as you begin your festivities. A friend was telling me about the annual Christmas parade in a small town in Amish country.  He said it was in no way a […]