For some people I know, “Follow Your Heart,” is something like a life mission statement. They’ve had too much of being told that you need to think things through, or being told what others think you should do, or feeling like you need to make others happy with your decisions. And so they come to […]
The Power of the Table
SavvIt was a very unusual Sunday morning for Cyndi and me. We were staying with a pastor friend in a Brooklyn brownstone that looked like it came right out of the Cosby show. Parking is a nightmare so everyone walks everywhere, including to church. We set out on Sunday morning for the ten block march […]
Disciple-Making Next Steps
Conversations around the church these last two weeks sound like people excited about connecting. Connection has been happening on Wednesday nights at The Table as people meet and are challenged to discuss how Sunday morning’s call to imitate Christ gets traction in our own life. Connection has been happening as our new pastor, Pastor Bill, […]
We are hiring the Hackmans… again!
Two years ago the Session, after a nationwide search, hired Larry and Megan Hackman as Assistant Pastors for Chapel Hill. They represented all kinds of “firsts” for us: the first graduates from Gordon Conwell Seminary, the first woman pastor on our staff, our first clergy couple and, in fact, the first clergy couple in the […]
Evening Worship at Chapel Hill
If you didn’t hear my sermon last Sunday, I urge you to do so. It sets the stage for all we are going to be doing in the weeks, months and even years to come. (Sermon) In sum, I spoke of my deepening sense of what it means to be a disciple of Jesus…and invited you […]
I Was Surprised
It was wonderful…and very surprising…sabbatical this summer. As I stood on my very first Paris Metro ride, heading for our hotel, I noticed a woman looking intently at me and then nodding her head toward the man next to me. I suddenly realized that he was trying to pick my pocket and she was warning […]
Hidden with Christ
This past week we took a few moments during a staff meeting to share if there were any Scriptures through which God had been speaking to us. It was an encouragement to me to hear what some of our staff have been dwelling on—what God is doing in people’s hearts through his Word. It was […]
Provoked to Study
Ellis and Larry shared their reading lists with us recently. I felt a bit insecure sharing and preparing my own for 2 reasons: 1) I’m reading many of the books they’re reading; and 2) the ones that differ are controversial and provocative books helping me clarify my own understanding of some critical theological concerns within […]
Up, In, Out
We describe our call as a church in 3 directions: UP, IN, and OUT. Each direction represents a relationship and an action. We live UP as a community of worship in relationship with God. We live IN as a community of discipleship in relationship with one another. And we live OUT as a community of […]
A Self-Confessed Bibliophile
I love books. My first job was for a bookshop. In fact, my wife and I (before we were married) spent five weeks one summer working for the bookshop at two of the biggest Christian festivals in the UK. This might sound great, until you realize that it required us to spend the whole time […]