What Are You Doing For Lent?

Lent begins tomorrow and I’m  give up junk food until Easter. It is a small sacrifice and serves as a reminder of Jesus’ forty days spent fasting in the wilderness. 
I first led my church to observe Lent about five or six years ago and each year it seems to grow in practice. We use Lent as a [...]

Rebel With A Cause

Tomorrow I begin a new message series at Sweetwater River Church titled “Rebel With a Cause.” This will be the longest series I’ve done in over a year- 21 weeks- and will take us through the book of Romans. I’m excited for this series because I’ve become convinced that too many people don’t have a [...]

Military Funerals

I came back from a military funeral this morning. San Diego is a Navy city so I get the opportunity to attend and/or participate in military funerals from time to time. This one was for the father of a man who attends my church.
You cannot sit through a military funeral and not be moved. There’s [...]

Leadership Mix

I just had a meeting with our nominating committee to select new deacons. We are blessed with some great people who will make great leaders- we are going to expand our board one or two slots.
The nominating process made me think about some of the variables that make a great leadership team:

Seasoned leaders mixed with [...]

What I’m Reading

These are some of the books on my nightstand:
“Lost and Found: The Younger Unchurched and the Churches That Reach Them” by Ed Stetzer. I got this book free on the condition that I post a book review on my blog. I’m looking forward to reading it.
“The Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius”. St. Ignatius is the [...]

Verses Worth Memorizing

As I promised the people of Sweetwater River Church, here is a list of verses from the Bible for memorizing. This is not a list that covers every possible topic. What I did was go through the New Testament portion of my Bible , reviewing all the vereses I have high-lighted over the years. I [...]

Diversity

Whenever I use the word “diversity” I think of the old SNL skit where a Sean Connery impersonator is playing Jeopardy. The clue is “diversity” and his response is “I believe, Alex, that it is an old, wooden sailing ship.”
Add words like inter-cultural, multi-cultural, and multi-ethnic into the mix and it can become confusing to [...]