Article: 9 Surefire Ways to Make Your Church Ineffective

There was a major shift in thinking that has contributed to the polarized times we live in right now. Sometime in the 1990s, truth became relative. What do I mean by that? For a very long time, we could agree on what is true for everyone and there was very little discussion about these truths….

On August 9th, 2014 Michael Brown was fatally shot by a Ferguson police officer. The event set off a series of both protests and then rioting. The subsequent riots wreaked havoc on this suburb of Saint Louis, Missouri.  What you will read below were my reflections of that moment in time. I believe they are…

Hi everyone, I am in my hotel room in Chicago, Illinois just hours away from my second church council meeting at the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA). Just like last time (and possibly every time) the agenda is packed with lots of items. All of it important as we try to live out our…

I read an interesting anecdote by Joani Schultz the Chief Creative Officer of Group Publishing. This is what happened (in her own words)… A crazy rumor erupted on our wedding anniversary cruise. Before we even boarded, a just-met passenger whispered, “The new CEO who just purchased this cruise line is a passenger!” Of course, my…

Last week (Thursday, Friday and Saturday) I was in Mesa, AZ for our annual synod assembly. Community Lutheran Church is connected to a larger church body known as the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA). Within the ELCA, we are located within a synod (think area or district) in which we are connected to other…

If you have worshipped with us in the past two weeks you heard me announce that we are doing work on discovering the Core Values of Community Lutheran Church.  Our Core Values are separate from but complementary to our Mission Statement of: Real People, Inclusive God, Radical Grace, and Inspired Growth.  Our Core Values already…