I feel most at peace and at home when I am in the hills. There is childlike joy that leaps inside me when I walk a mountain trail, awaiting the mystery that lies behind each bend. When someone tells me they “get more” from a day on the lake than a day in church, I […]
There is a difference between being accessible and being available. Accessibility is the ability to be accessed. For a pastor to be accessible means that their door is always open, their phone is always on (and they always answer), they are always willing to say, “Yes,” when you request their time and presence. Pastors today […]
Every pastor has had the experience of preaching a sermon only to notice that one or more congregants have fallen asleep. Perhaps they are just resting their eyes, we try to tell ourselves. They are prayerfully blocking out distractions so that they can hang on every word. Then their chin droops down to their chest […]
These past couple of weeks I have been watching rug cleaning videos on youtube.1 I understand this may sound like watching videos of paint drying! Why sit and watch a twenty minute video of someone cleaning a rug? Yet the experience is surprisingly satisfying. The rug cleaner begins by unrolling the rug. We see all […]
The Local Pastor 