pastord-thoughts.blogspot.com
pastor d's thoughts: October 2014
http://pastord-thoughts.blogspot.com/2014_10_01_archive.html
Meditations on life and ministry. Monday, October 27, 2014. Cool temperatures, bright sunlight, frisky breezes, crunchy leaves. Raking, bagging and dragging leaves. Cutting back the thorny rose canes. Trimming back the shrubs. Dumping clumps of shriveled summer plants. Mothballing the mower. Gassing up the snow-blower. Firing up the furnace and flushing the boiler. Shorter days, longer nights, setting the clocks back. Acorn squash, butternut squash, pumpkin pie and apple cider. Thursday, October 2, 2014.
pastord-thoughts.blogspot.com
pastor d's thoughts: March 2014
http://pastord-thoughts.blogspot.com/2014_03_01_archive.html
Meditations on life and ministry. Thursday, March 13, 2014. One of the realities of pastoring a small church is the fact that you are going to be hit up for money frequently. I have found this to be true in both rural and urban ministry. People you don't know will stop by the church or parsonage or will call on the phone and try to get you to give them money. Preferably cash. I've been approached four times just recently. A man who came to the church this evening when he saw the lights on because of a la...
pastord-thoughts.blogspot.com
pastor d's thoughts: Wrong Side of History
http://pastord-thoughts.blogspot.com/2015/05/wrong-side-of-history.html
Meditations on life and ministry. Friday, May 1, 2015. Wrong Side of History. I recently read an essay by former president Jimmy Carter (originally published in 2009) explaining his decision to leave the Southern Baptist Church over their historic practice of excluding women from the roles of pastor or deacon in the churches or as chaplains in the military. Unfortunately, many people, especially young people, who (like Carter) have grown up in churches and have been taught the truth of God's word are now...
pastord-thoughts.blogspot.com
pastor d's thoughts: Freedom of Conscience
http://pastord-thoughts.blogspot.com/2015/07/freedom-of-conscience.html
Meditations on life and ministry. Wednesday, July 15, 2015. It doesn't matter much to me whether or not the United States of America was founded as a "Christian Nation." What matters to me is that this country was founded with the ideal of "Freedom of Conscience.". That is all changing now. We are no longer free to follow the dictates of our conscience without fear of government reprisals. You believe that homosexuality is immoral? We see the first fruits of this change taking place already. business...
pastord-thoughts.blogspot.com
pastor d's thoughts: Dump Gulls
http://pastord-thoughts.blogspot.com/2014/11/dump-gulls.html
Meditations on life and ministry. Tuesday, November 18, 2014. Birds are wonderful creatures - incredibly complex, amazingly diverse. We are not near any ocean, but we frequently see flights of sea gulls. I imagine that they come down from Lake Erie, about 70 miles to our north, but I'm not sure about that. But not around here. Often I see gulls flying high overhead in the early morning light. They fly resolutely in a southeasterly direction. Are they migrating? No They are headed toward the county land-f...
pastord-thoughts.blogspot.com
pastor d's thoughts: Jesus And Clark Kent
http://pastord-thoughts.blogspot.com/2015/01/jesus-and-clark-kent.html
Meditations on life and ministry. Monday, January 12, 2015. Jesus And Clark Kent. Jesus came into the world to save sinners. But he didn't come as a superhero. He came as a humble bundle of human flesh - a completely dependent, stinky, crying baby - unable to communicate - needing to be carried everywhere - helpless. The recognition of Jesus as a fully human person is important. His death for human sinners was a real human death. He was not sustained on the cross by superhuman (or supernatural) a...Jesus...
pastord-thoughts.blogspot.com
pastor d's thoughts: November 2014
http://pastord-thoughts.blogspot.com/2014_11_01_archive.html
Meditations on life and ministry. Tuesday, November 18, 2014. Birds are wonderful creatures - incredibly complex, amazingly diverse. We are not near any ocean, but we frequently see flights of sea gulls. I imagine that they come down from Lake Erie, about 70 miles to our north, but I'm not sure about that. But not around here. Often I see gulls flying high overhead in the early morning light. They fly resolutely in a southeasterly direction. Are they migrating? No They are headed toward the county land-f...
pastord-thoughts.blogspot.com
pastor d's thoughts: July 2014
http://pastord-thoughts.blogspot.com/2014_07_01_archive.html
Meditations on life and ministry. Wednesday, July 30, 2014. Woe to those who call evil good and good evil, who put darkness for light and light for darkness, who put bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter! Woe to those who are wise in their own eyes, and shrewd in their own sight! This is not talking about putting sugar in the salt shaker or salt in the sugar bowl. Killing an innocent infant is good, but killing a convicted murderer is evil. Also in the news. It would be a huge mistake to see this as a li...
pastord-thoughts.blogspot.com
pastor d's thoughts: The Getting People to Attend Church Business
http://pastord-thoughts.blogspot.com/2015/04/the-getting-people-to-attend-church.html
Meditations on life and ministry. Monday, April 6, 2015. The Getting People to Attend Church Business. I read an article today about the top factors that attract and keep people in churches. The answers were the usual suspects - Friendliness, Children's Programs, Worship Experience/Music, and Preaching. The article noted that only 4 in 10 Americans attend church regularly. The band, the clowns, the lions and elephants would bring people in, for sure. But so what? We are supposed to be in the discipleship...
