“At this point I have 12 full time and 7 part time pastoral ministry staff. I suppose, for a Catholic church, we have a mid to large size staff. For Evangelical churches our size we have an incredibly small staff. All of our part time positions could easily be full time ones, and some of […]
Category: Making Church Matter
“To my loyal blog readers, here’s my promise to you: you will always get the inside scoop, and you’ll get it first. And just to prove it to you, keep reading. Yesterday, May 1, Tom Corcoran (my associate) and I delivered to our publisher the complete manuscript for our next book, Tools for Rebuilding, to […]
“Not so long ago our staff was small enough that everyone reported to me. As we’ve grown we recognized the need to change that: Now, out of a staff of twenty something (full and part time positions), only a handful of people report to me directly. I have come to call them the “Strategic Oval” […]
“Part of our Lenten journey this year included some clear challenges. One in particular, that will probably be remembered in Nativity lore, concerned mission and ministry. I made the comment: “You need to get up out of the pew and serve, or you need to get up out of the pew and give us your […]
“Since 2005 we have taken our celebration of Christmas to the Maryland State Fairgrounds, which happen to be here in Timonium. Last year we moved our Easter celebrations there too. We started out in a facility called the “Exhibition Hall” with about 1500 seats. Last year we moved to another building called the “Cow Palace” […]
Even though all is not well in the Catholic Church these days, we’ve been here before. One particularly low point came in the early 1200’s: Rome was addicted to intrigue, belabored by scandal, besieged by enemies, and plagued by intractable problems. Just about that time a young man, who desired greatly only to serve God, […]
I love the story and life of Abraham. As we read in Genesis, although he is considered our father in faith, his faith is by no means perfect. At times he openly disobeys God. Other times he acts out of fear and cowardice. Another time, he tries to force things rather than wait for God […]
About three years ago, my associate Tom started saying we should write a book. I dismissed the idea. I had no idea of how to write a book, or where to begin. The project seemed beyond my reach or ability. But he kept advocating for it. Eventually he did better than that, he started writing. […]
This weekend we are kicking off one of the centerpiece message series of the whole year, and one like no other. That’s because it’s based on a book. Our book: Rebuilt Ave Maria Press, Notre Dame Indiana, February 2013 This weekend we’ll be introducing the general approach of the book and what we are […]
We’re calling the release of the book the book “launch.” Release sounds like getting out of jail, launch sounds more dynamic, the start of a dynamic process or event. Officially the book is available on February 25 online on Amazon as well as Barnes & Noble. Additionally, it will be available and on display in […]
