Finding Oneself on the Other Side of a Pandemic

More than any other time, I am hearing people say phrases like “I need to find myself again,” or “I feel like I don’t know who I am anymore.” Some are changing zip codes, switching careers, ending marriages and relationships in a pursuit to “find themselves” and where they fit in this world. Perhaps one […]

Televised Sports, Church Gatherings, and some Good News

College and professional sports completely shut down in March of 2020 and people, including me, believed when televised sports returned that people would long to watch again – perhaps as an escape from reality or from a hunger to feel connected with other fans. To the joy of sports fans, ESPN released the Michael Jordan […]

A Tale of Two Pandemics (And Being Compassionate About Both)

The definition of a pandemic, according to the dictionary, is a “disease that occurs over a wide geographic area.” CoVid clearly meets that definition as the virus has spread across the globe, and over 200,000 people in the US have died. And as we all have recognized, CoVid is not the only struggle that people […]

5 Thoughts from Gathering in the Middle of a Pandemic

The church I serve gathered again last weekend for large gatherings – outside with chairs set up in a physically distanced format. It has been a progression for us. In June we began gathering in homes. In July we launched smaller gatherings in neighborhoods throughout Orange County. In August we started using our largest campus […]

Colliding Data Points and Why Your Church Leaders (Likely) Aren’t Idiots

Your church leaders are likely not idiots. Yes, of course, that is possible. There are foolish leaders in all types of roles, and all of us are fully capable of making unwise choices. But just because your church leaders are not making the same call you would make does not mean they are idiots. When […]

The Psalm that Has Challenged Me the Most in this Season

Early in the midst of the Covid-19 pandemic, Justin Taylor blogged about Psalm 131 and linked to Christian counselor David Powlison’s article in the Journal of Biblical Counseling. I was already scheduled to teach Psalm 131 so I devoured the article by Powlison and threw myself into the Psalm – which has been so good […]

September 11, the Coronavirus, and Ministry

I was on the phone with my good friend Ed Stetzer a few nights ago, asking for his perspective on the impact of the Coronavirus on our culture and the Church. Ed is much smarter than I am on these sorts of things, and he articulated that there have been five culture-altering events in the […]