http://thebody.tlumc.org/blog Thoughts about God, Jesus, worship, and our journey together as followers of Jesus. Wed, 15 Oct 2008 19:46:40 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en I am very excited to be participating in The Five Practices of Fruitful Congregations at TLUMC. I look forward to sharing this time of focus on what the church is and should be with this congregation. I am trusting that God is going to do amazing things for TLUMC in ... http://thebody.tlumc.org/blog/2008/10/15/five-practices-starts-this-sunday/ We had our Worship Design Team meeting tonight, and there was energy in the room - great, creative energy. We have much in store during this Simply Christian series this fall. The themes for this series are in some way very basic, very simple. They are about the building blocks of ... http://thebody.tlumc.org/blog/2008/09/23/wow/ I took a worship webinar today through Worship Leader Magazine. It was led by Bob Rognlien who wrote a book called Experiential Worship (check out his website here). His basic premise is that worship should be guided by what we often call The Great Commandment - Mark 12:30, "Love the ... http://thebody.tlumc.org/blog/2008/09/18/complete-worship/ I've been thinking a lot about politics lately. Hard not to with the DNC a few miles up the road and preempting all of our primetime TV. I'm not typically a political person. I vote and I care, but I'm not one who talks politcs a lot or even pays ... http://thebody.tlumc.org/blog/2008/08/27/politics/ Several weeks ago, at a social gathering, a 20-something man who had just found out that I was a pastor asked me this question: Yes or No: Do you believe that everything happens for a reason? I wanted to give a longer explanation. But I was pressed to choose answer A or ... http://thebody.tlumc.org/blog/2008/08/15/why/ Those who have know me well know that there are times when I find God-moments in weird places. I've illustrated sermons with Simpson clips, clips from Brian Regan's comedy, and once with one of the final scenes from Steve Martin's The Jerk. I don't always endorse the vehicle, but God ... http://thebody.tlumc.org/blog/2008/04/04/i-shoulda-aske/ I got this in an email, and resonated with the idea of a simple faith, so I share it here: I envy Kevin. My brother Kevin thinks God lives under his bed. At least that's what I heard him say one night. He was praying out loud in his ... http://thebody.tlumc.org/blog/2008/03/14/god-lives-under-the-bed/ Leonard Sweet, in one of the regular podcasts I listen to, introduced me to the word floccinaucinihilipilification (Napkin Scribbles, “Are You Addicted to Floccinaucinihilipilification?” 2/21/2008). Apparently, it’s a favorite of word lovers, crossword puzzle addicts, and serious Scrabble players. According to Wikipedia, “it is the longest non-technical word in the ... http://thebody.tlumc.org/blog/2008/03/12/%e2%80%9cdo-you-suffer-from-floccinaucinihilipilification%e2%80%9d/ Jesus spoke to me today. The voice belonged to a guy in my gym. I don't know his name, but his words were straight from God. I woke up discouraged today. Nothing specific. It was just "one of those days." Even the sermon podcast I was listening to on the ... http://thebody.tlumc.org/blog/2008/01/28/jesus-spoke-to-me-today/ In the benediction of his January 6 sermon podcast titled "Grace and Peace," Rob Bell says this: We find it absolutely totally unacceptable that somebody in our midst would be struggling with an addiction, despair, an eating disorder, drugs, alcohol, cutting themselves, financial hardship and would not have people around them ... http://thebody.tlumc.org/blog/2008/01/18/42/