Category Archives: Uncategorized

October 25, 2019 · 12:52 pm

Off We Go . . .

For the past six weeks (40 days) our congregation has been engaged in The Red Letter Challenge.  We’ve taken a fresh look at the words of Jesus and what it means to “put them into practice”.  To date we’ve examined four primary themes within the teachings of Jesus (Being, Forgiving, Serving and Giving) and this Sunday we will add the fifth – Going.

Each of the Gospels (including the two volume set of Luke-Acts) ends with a command, or commissioning, for the followers of Jesus to “go” with the good news of Christ Jesus.  We may be most familiar with the words found in Matthew 28:18-20, the Great Commission, where the connotation is “as you are going” about your life, or your routine, “make disciples”.

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August 20, 2019 · 3:57 pm

The FOMO Distraction

I was recently listening to a podcast (EntreLeadership: Simplify Your Life with Digital Minimalism) on which the presenter, Cal Newport, explained how Social Media apps are designed to promote greater and greater user interface. He used an example of a person who may spend up to six hours per day on their mobile device. Of course this six hours is spread out over a day’s time, built up over many check-ins, viewings and scrolling. But six hours, or even three hours, in one day devoted to one’s phone is a lot! To the point where such usage distracts us from other things in life. These distractions may include our work, our family, and even our faith.

There is a name for this kind of distraction: FOMO – fear of missing out. It’s the fear that keeps us checking FaceBook, Twitter, Instagram and SnapChat to see what our “friends” and “followers” may be doing. It’s the fear that they may be living a life that is much more interesting, or exciting than ours; and that they may be doing it without us!

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June 19, 2019 · 10:32 am

5 Ways to Overcome Common Obstacles to Change

Daniel M. Cash and William H. Griffith

The following article is an excerpt from our book The Changing Church. This article is soon to be published by the Lewis Center for Church Leadership in their online newsletter Leading Ideas.

Leading is a challenge in the most tranquil of circumstances within congregations today. When you add the layer of introducing or working toward change on top of the myriad of things already required, “challenging” may feel too soft a word. But there are ways to lead past the common internal and external obstacles to change.

  • Know that relationships are key.

Being a person of impeccable integrity is without question a need in any public leadership role, most especially in the church. Taking time to know and love the people whom you lead, including those who are at times hard to love is also important. In a word, it comes back to relationships. Good leaders, leaders who earn the right to lead change, know that relationships are key — building them and maintaining them. Mobilizing the right people to support the change initiative is far easier when one already has a solid relationship with those people.

  • Over-communicate.
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May 6, 2019 · 3:32 pm

Something Like a 500 Year Rummage Sale

“Phyllis Tickle, in her book, The Great Emergence, quoting Anglican Bishop Mark Dyer, suggests that about every 500 years the church has undergone a significant change. She refers to these periods of change as “rummage sales” and states that we are in the midst of such a period today. Tickle identifies former 500 year rummage sales as The Great Reformation (Oct. 31, 1517), The Great Schism (1054—Greek Orthodox and Roman Catholic), the leadership and influence of Gregory the Great (540–590—following the fall of Rome and start of the Dark Ages), and the Crucifixion of Christ, which led to the birth of the Church at Pentecost.

I, (Dan), despise rummage sales, but it seems to be my fate in ministry to have served congregations that used them for fundraisers. Here’s my view on how they work. People bring their junk, their cast-offs, the stuff they want to get rid of (rummage) to the church and clutter it up. A committee spends an inordinate amount of time sorting through it all and arranging the rummage for others to peruse. Then, on the day of the sale, folks come with an eagerness to riffle through other people’s junk, finding prizes they simply cannot live without and paying pennies on the dollar to haul it away.

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March 6, 2019 · 12:25 pm

Our Father . . .

A word of introduction: Earlier this year I challenged the congregation that I partner with in ministry, First Baptist – Columbus, IN – in a sermon on the Lord’s prayer to use this prayer as a guide in their own prayer practice from that day until Easter. I know some have taken my challenge as they have reported to me what their experience has been thus far. It is my intent to blog through this familiar prayer of Jesus during the Season of Lent, in hopes my reflections further encourage participation in the challenge. We will further engage as a congregation in the study of Jesus’ prayer through a post-Easter engagement with the book The Revolutionary Power of the Lord’s Prayer by Alice Greene.
Now – on to this week’s blog . . . . .

They are among the first words spoken by a child – “da da”, “papa”. Easy perhaps in their short syllable and repetitive sound, but important for the intimacy and relationship they signal. When Jesus responded to his disciple’s request “teach us to pray” (Luke 11:1), this is the first word he gave them. In the common Aramaic language of his day it’s the word “Abba.” Most often it is translated “father” but to our ears this is perhaps a bit too formal. No, this is “da da” or “papa” God. It conveys an approach of complete trust and affection that we too soon grow distant from, embarrassed that others might think we’ve a childish faith or devotion.

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