Scripture

Walking By the Spirit

This weekend brings an end to summer, an end to our final summer message series.  We’ve been discussing the Holy Spirit and we called the series “The Other Guy” because the Spirit can sometimes seem like the forgotten member of the Trinity. Bottom line, the Spirit is a person.  And you can have a relationship […]

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Making Church Matter

A Title

As many of you know, my associate Tom Corcoran and I have been working on a book for the past year, working especially hard these past weeks, with final edits. We have also been in discussion with our editor about a title.  It was an interesting process and probably two-dozen titles were actively discussed and […]

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Making Church Matter | Scripture

What is Going On? Part III

This is the third and final segment in my a reflection this past week asking the question, “What is going on?” as in, “What is going on in churchworld?” Things no longer seem to be going well in many, many different slices of church life across the country, and why that is so, or how […]

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Making Church Matter

What is Going On? Part II

Currently I am asking the question, “What is going on?” as in, what is going on in churchworld? A sampling of some of what prompts the question. In a certain region of one diocese four very different parishes have suddenly been merged into one. Aside from the grief and pain of losing their own parishes, […]

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Making Church Matter

What is Going On? Part I

I was away for most of the weekend for my beautiful cousin Laura’s wedding. Beyond the joy of the event a wedding in my family will provide sermon illustrations for months to come, so it was a wise investment of my time. One of the many great things about this wedding (a truly great wedding […]

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What's new at Nativity

What’s Left of Summer

Yesterday I came to the obvious and nevertheless astounding fact that fall is just around the corner. Our kick-off weekend is less than a month away (September  8 & 9).  Here are a few things I want to get done in the remaining days of summer… 1) Fall Preparations The obvious work of summer for […]

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Scripture

The Same Power

And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit Acts 2.4 We have begun our second series of the summer, taking a look at the Holy Spirit, the overlooked and misunderstood person of the Blessed Trinity.  The Spirit is a person, by the way, and we can have a relationship with that person, and we […]

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What's new at Nativity

Christmas is Coming!

Well, I’m back from vacation and attempting to become fully engaged (with moderate success). Here are some of the things I’m currently working on: 1) A new message series. Again this summer, as we have the past two summers, I am not speaking most weekends. That gives me a break and allows me to do […]

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Making Church Matter

Vacation Blogging Part IV

I am currently on vacation. Please enjoy the second half of this vintage post. Talk to you next week. 7 GREAT PRACTICES CONTINUED By nativitypastor : July 1, 2009 This past Sunday we published four of the seven “great practices” we had found in successful Churches. Below are the final three practices. Take a look. […]

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Making Church Matter

Vacation Blogging Part III

I am currently on vacation, please enjoy this vintage post. 7 GREAT PRACTICES By nativitypastor : June 28, 2009 As we gathered together with Parish staff and leadership last week we spent some time looking at things we’ve learned from others, especially the very best practices of some of the most successful Churches in America. […]

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