faithrunner

This Side Up! I write and teach about leadership. There are as many definitions of leadership as there are those who try to define it. But, if the essence of leadership is influencing a group of people to reach a shared goal, then Sarah Morris, the Director of This Side Up Family Center is a leader . She is what I would classify a servant leader because her leadership is clearly for the benefit of the families the Center serves, not herself or her family. How do I know this about Sarah and her small group of volunteers and partners?   Liberty Mutual, Dallas, hosted for a second year their Like My Community social responsibility project. Through the use of social media, local non-profits, who were nominated by the agents of Liberty Mutual, invited their supporters to "like" them on the company's facebook page .  Sarah and her dedicated band of supporters out "liked" all the other non-profits , and This Side Up Family Center walked awa...

Calvin Miller I first met Calvin Miller via snail mail. I had read The Singer while in seminary, and his poetic imagery of Jesus as the Troubadour singing the song of God's love cut to the core of my beliefs about who I was as a follower of Jesus. The line that became Ground Zero for my revitalized relationship with Jesus and perspective on the church was: Life is the Song and not the Shrine. I wrote Calvin a note about what his book meant to me, and he wrote back--as he did I think everyone who wrote him.Our friendship had begun. I had stayed in touch with Calvin since that first letter through other hand-written notes, so when he came to Southwestern , I asked if I could take him to lunch. He accepted, and I was surprised when we walked out to the parking lot and got into his red Fiero . Pastor, seminary professor, artist, author, driving a red sports car? But when you got to know Calvin you learned his taste was demonstrated as much by that car as it was by his art a...

Who Are We Really? I got an email from a family friend the other day telling me of her struggles as a wife and mother to get and stay in shape. Her main question was, "How do we restore our bodies, regain that strength and health with a Godly focus on the way?"  She is not alone in her struggle. Our culture floods our psyche with images of what a "healthy" body and "successful" person looks like. Walk through the grocery store check out line and the images on the men's and women's health magazines make you wonder what the other people in line are thinking about you. Men wrestle with health and body issues, too. Right guys? So, is there anything we as Christ followers can do about this? Here were four things I told her that may help you:   Make sure your identity is grounded in who you are in Christ Jesus . In Christ you are the adopted son/daughter of the King, and the demonstration of His love for you is his Son's sacrifice for y...

I have been on a study leave for the past two weeks, and I am happy to be back online and in community with the people who are Legacy Church and with you in the blogosphere. As I re-entered my routine, the media-hyped, social phenomenon of Chick-fil-a occurred . So much can be said about the misconceptions and perceptions of who said what and who did what, that my 400-word post won't cover it all. But, I do have one thing to say to my fellow Christians: You can't reduce your relationship with Christ to whether or not you eat at a particular fast-food restaurant on a certain day.  As I said, I'm fresh off a study leave in which I was immersed in Paul's Letter to the Galatians under the tutelage of Dr. JMG Barclay . The Apostle wrestled with a group of Christ-followers who insisted those who followed Jesus had to do certain public things to show you trusted Jesus. His conclusion?   For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision has any value....

Despicable Me USA Today recently reported on a study that concluded, "... U.S. society since 1960 has become increasingly focused on the self ." I'm not sure we needed a study of 750,000 plus books written in the US the last 52 years to verify the shift from 'we' to 'me;' but, quantitative evidence helps the sometimes skeptical who may not be paying attention . Individualism is a prominent trend in our culture--and a threat to the church as it was created to be. Let me jump to my question for discussion, "What does this trend have to do with the church, either the local church or as a movement of God's people?" My first response is for us to look at the language of our worship songs and sermons since 1960 . (Anyone out there looking for a PhD or DMin project?) My hunch is that our worship choruses have more "I's" and "Me's" than "Us's" and "We's." I do believe that trend ...

Mayan Calendars I have no scoop here. The buzz about the world ending on December 21, 2012 , has been around a while now. Movies , websites , and documentaries have all examined the Mayan 'Long Count' calendar that ends 12-21-12. Interpreted, it means, "The ancient, obscure calendar runs out, so time must run out." My question is, "So, why is the Mayan calendar the definitive dating of the end of things? " Many calendars have and do exist. For example, according to the Christian calendar it is AD 2012, or 2012 CE. That would also make it 1433 AH in the Islamic calendar and 5772 in the Jewish calendar . The Jewish New Year begins in September, and the Islamic New Year is in November. The Christian New Year is in January. Throw in the Chinese calendar, and it is 4710 , the year of the Dragon, and that new year will fall between late January to middle of February depending upon the lunar cycle. Before we get to my point, where did the three maj...

A blessing is ... ...an unearned, unexpected gift from either someone you know or a stranger that causes you joy or happiness. Most of us think of it as the prayer before a meal or some words a priest says over us. The blessing we received was neither of those. Kim and our family played in an unearned, unexpected gift given by Legacy Church last week. As part of their gift for our 25 years of shared ministry , they blessed us with two full days at Great Wolf Lodge in Grapevine, TX . No. Not just Kim and me, but our entire family! The event turned out to be more than time away from ministry and a Sunday off from preaching. It truly was a blessing ; a gift that gave us great joy that will linger for years to come. The first day of our waterpark adventure began on Kim's and my 37th wedding anniversary date, June 28 (1975) . We have celebrated our wedding anniversary many ways, but spending it at an indoor waterpark with thousands of our closest friends was a ...