A Peculiar Prophet

When I came to the North Alabama Conference three years ago, I knew that I was coming to one of the leading Conferences in United Methodism....

WORDS FROM BIRMINGHAM JAIL To an acculturated and accommodated church, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. wrote these words. He wrote them to us in ...

I'm concerned about a book about the church that uses the word enterprise in the title, a word borrowed from business. But I sure want t...

Easter keeps happening, even though we are now four weeks after Easter, every time someone is converted to Christ. The Christian life comes ...

The Cabinet and I have been pondering our role as personnel officers of the church. It is our job to recruit, evaluate, and to place clergy....

One of our talented young candidates in ministry, Christopher Barnett, is at Oxford University writing a dissertation on Soren Kierkegaard. ...

“The Main Thing is to keep your eye on The Main Thing.” That’s what I heard a distinguished business leader say awhile back. It is so easy...

Preparing to preach on Easter I note some curious truths. The first to experience Easter, and the first to preach Easter were women (take th...

Maundy Thursday Tonight we begin the enactment of a story, Jesus’ last hours. I don’t know what most impresses you about the story of the ar...

Bill Easum, our consultant in ministry in North Alabama, has a provocative word about the need to empower the laity to do ministry: “You kno...

Most contemporary accounts of leadership imply that the leader is the one who asks questions, moves toward answers, and clarifies where we a...

Two people meet one another on the sidewalk. Their eyes meet. Will they greet one another, encounter one another, or only pass by silently? ...

United Methodists join with the majority of the world’s Christians in celebrating the sacraments of signs of God’s near and present love to ...

During the Season of Lent, for the next three weeks, I’ll focus my e-mail messages on worship as the central art of church. Frankly, I just ...

In the past month, I’ve met with a couple hundred of you to think about “The Cross of Christ.” Our discussions have revealed the cross is at...

“Take thou authority to preach the Word….” These were the words under which many of us were ordained into the pastoral ministry. The issue o...

George MacLeod, founder of the Iona Community of Scotland, said that he took the job of cleaning the community's toilets so, "I wil...

When I was courting The Rev. Carl Parker’s daughter (who eventually became my wife, Patsy) Mr. Parker was serving as a District Superintende...

A few years ago, a friend of mine returned from one of those National Council of Churches trips to the Soviet Union. Two weeks had made her ...

It took until February 1965 for the Alabama voting rights movement to spread from Selma to less populated environs. Martin Luther King visit...