I’ve been getting great feedback on the Preacher Geek posts so I’ll keep sharing one a week. My goal with these posts is to give preachers some ideas for upcoming sermon series. Some of these ideas are based on things I’ve done in the past and some are from my “someday” file. If someone grabbed […]
Archives for January 2011
Let Your Life Speak
Here’s my first video blog. It’s far from perfect, but as you’ll see, that’s part of the exercise. (Next time I’ll turn my camera sideways) 🙂 In this video, I tell a great story from Parker Palmer’s Let Your Life Speak: Listening for the Voice of Vocation
January 27, 2011 by 2 Comments
An Emotional Pop Quiz
I could tell he was listening to my side of the phone conversation from across the room. I lowered my voice, but he kept listening. He moved closer as soon as I put away my phone. “Excuse me. I couldn’t help but overhearing your phone call. Are you a pastor?” I told him I was […]
January 25, 2011 by 1 Comment
Thin Places (Part Four in the Preacher Geek Series)
Here’s an idea for a teaching series I’ve had ever since I read a book on Celtic Spirituality that talked about “Thin Places.” Thin Places are sites where heaven and earth intermingle. The veil between them is thin. The Celts had a number of thin places that they considered to be holy ground. The idea […]
January 24, 2011 by 5 Comments
One Reason Your Jokes Bomb
The speaker steps to the podium and begins. “Good Evening. It’s great to be here tonight. By here, I mean up here on this stage. I have sat where you all are sitting many times and wondered what it would like to stand up here and look out at such a crowd. Now that I’m […]
January 20, 2011 by 4 Comments
The Secret to Being Miserable in all Circumstances
I’ve been working on developing a framework of “organizational wisdom” for churches that can help them do a better job of discerning and then deciding their next best steps to accomplish their mission. One of the ideas I’m exploring is that many of the wisdom principles taught in the book of Proverbs apply to groups […]
January 19, 2011 by 4 Comments
Preaching on Work (Part 3 of the Preacher Geek Series)
If you want to preach some material that your church probably hasn’t heard before, do a series on the theology of work. In fact, I can almost guarantee you’ll be stepping into frontier territory with your first sermon. Most Christians have never been encouraged to think about their work–what they spend 40 to 60 hours […]
January 17, 2011 by 3 Comments
A Mean Prayer
Dear God: You know I’m not very good at prayer. I try, but my small words always get stuck on big ideas. I’m trusting you know what I need–and what my prayers mean–even when I don’t. I’ve read my Bible a few times and there are lots of things in there that bother me. Some […]
January 12, 2011 by 2 Comments
The Difference Between Good and Bad Decisions
I recently heard a great quote about decisions from Tom Selleck’s character on Blue Bloods: That’s the thing about decisions. You usually don’t have to talk yourself into making the right one. How true this is! It’s caused me to pay more attention to the things I’m trying to talk myself into as I chart […]
January 11, 2011 by Leave a Comment
Preaching the Beatitudes (Part 2 of the Preacher Geek Series)
One of the preacher’s worst nightmares–besides working with a church that actually expects him to practice what he preaches–is to plan a six week series of teachings that turns out to be only five-and-a-half weeks long. By that, I mean that the preacher runs out of material before he gets to the end of the […]
January 10, 2011 by Leave a Comment
Telling Stories, Asking Questions, Learning Lessons