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First Principles and Like-Mindedness
I’m in Sterling, VA (just outside of Washington, DC) for a new church development training conference. I’m here with a group of leaders from the Presbytery of Chicago, not necessarily because we have a...
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Move New Church Development to the Top of Your List
This evening is the conclusion of a stimulating new church development training conference I have been attending for the past few days. I must say that I’m pretty exhausted yet filled up with ideas,...
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Presbyterian Priorities
Photo by Redvers When I served as a commissioner to the 219th General Assembly this past summer, I was assigned to one of the two Social Justice committees. We recommended passing a number of studies...
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Dreaming of a Blues Church
Photo by Larry Johnson Today the Chicago Tribune published the final installment of Howard Reich’s excellent series on Chicago blues. I first noticed the series a month ago, with the publication of the...
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A Denomination in Decline
This post comes directly from the PC(USA) Mid Councils Commission report (18-19). I wrote this section with input from commission member Karen Dimon. I am posting discrete sections of our report as a...
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Into the Deep
Photo by Alan Wright I preached this sermon yesterday at our afternoon jazz service. The scripture reading is Luke 5:1-11. My son is finally getting comfortable enough in water to enjoy swimming. My...
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The Vine is Dying
Photo by Hans Kylberg I’m growing increasingly frustrated and impatient with mainline Protestant churches like the one I serve, the Presbyterian Church (USA). At every level of our system, from...
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BBQ Church is Happening on Sunday
The Holy Smoker at work What I Did on My Summer “Vacation”… Friends and readers of this blog will know that BBQ has become one of my passions in recent years. As a Southern boy who likes to eat, I’ve...
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Not So Sweet 16 for the PC(USA)
In addition to the new Pew report on US religious trends, this week we also received the 2014 statistics report from the Presbyterian Church (USA). This data shows what decline looks like in the...
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Control vs Organic Growth
yes, this is church On his blog yesterday, Seth Godin offered several examples of organizations or movements that have achieved organic and viral growth. Here is his brief analysis of what these groups...
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