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A Judge’s Biography
I started reading Sonia Sotomayor: The True American Dream this weekend. It was written by Antonia Felix, who doesn’t hide her admiration for the 111th Supreme Court Justice. So far, I’ve read about her mother’s impoverished beginnings in Puerto Rico, … Continue reading
Posted in Mark's Blog, Mark's Currently Reading
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Questions Raised by Books
I just started reading Deep Church by Jim Belcher. Belcher is a pastor, a trained theologian, and friend to the Emerging Church movement. His book tries to bring all of his backgrounds together in proposing a new (or, really, old/basic/classic) … Continue reading
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The Best Basis for Hope
Christian hope is not built on “hoping” something good will happen in the future. The power of our hope is its foundation on what God has done in the past and is doing right now. In my meditation this morning, … Continue reading
Posted in Bible and Theology, Mark's Blog, My Personal Journey
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Summarizing The Strategically Small Church
I just finished The Strategically Small Church. I hope I get the opportunity to work through this book with a local congregation sometime. O’Brien says the title refers to a change of attitude from “we’re just a small church” to … Continue reading
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Another Startling Economic Reality
Brandon J. O’Brien quotes Tom Sine who estimates that those born in the 1930s spent 30% of one income on a mortgage; those born in the 1980’s need 50% of two incomes to support buying a house. I remember that … Continue reading
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What do we equip for?
As long as I can remember, many local congregations have made a priority of the Ephesians 4 ministry of “equipping the saints.” Unfortunately, most of us artificially restricted what we equipped people for. Mostly, we just equipped folks for doing … Continue reading
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Is the church for the rich?
I read in my favorite blog that the richest American’s now earn almost a quarter of American income, making us worse in economic distribution than the Banana Republics of Central America. This distresses me for two reasons: #1, I’m not … Continue reading
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Still Looking . . . Still Believing . . . Now Trembling
Someone asked me today about my job search. I don’t have any realistic expectations of landing a ministry job before the first of the year. That realization this week re-focused my job search and surfaced my first real trepidation. The … Continue reading
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Deciding on Programs #2
I found a dynamite quote in The Strategically Small Church in my reading this afternoon. O’Brien quotes Jim Belcher, pastor of Redeemer Presbyterian Church as saying, “synergy between the people’s heart and the pastor’s heart” produces church activity that changes … Continue reading
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Deciding on Programs, #1
Everyone who pastors a church smaller than 500 people owes it to themselves to read Brandon O’Brien’s The Strategically Small Church. He believe in church growth — just that healthy churches plant other churches, rather than continuously growing larger. In … Continue reading
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