So, we had our fabulous Easter Celebration Worship yesterday at The Fount! We joined with our sisters and brothers of Free Life and sang our hearts out to the Lord! The choir did an amazing job, with singers from The Fount, Free Life, and Surf City. I brought the sermon...

You may have heard of people “deconstructing” their Christian faith and wondered what it was. Perhaps a son or daughter, or a grandchild has announced that they are deconstructing their faith or have already done it. What does that mean? Essentially, “deconstruction” in the context of one’s faith means that...

Yesterday, Sunday, October 8th, I preached a sermon titled “Oh No He Di’n’t!”, having the congregation shout out the title whenever I said something that Jesus clearly did not say. It was fun, because it gave us the opportunity to play a little. But the problem is not fun; it...

Last week I was blessed to spend my annual “week-away” retreat. This year, I went to the Mary & Joseph Retreat Center in Rancho Palos Verdes, overlooking the LA basin from 1200 feet. It was beautiful, cool, and conducive to what my soul needed: to rest, rejuvenate and restore. I...

Last week was a really busy week with a lot of press coverage of our disaffiliation plight and follow-up contacts. This week, I’m hoping things will quiet down somewhat. It is good to have publicity and perhaps add some pressure to our annual conference to negotiate an exit route that...

In our disaffiliation from the UMC journey, we have run up against a LOT of institutional mindsets, mindsets that regard the life of the institution (in this case, the annual conference) as of primary importance, even over against the life of the congregations seeking disaffiliation. There are 22 churches in...

I read “Breaking Point” from the Colson Center frequently. Recently, the blog featured the topic of fathers, which I found very helpful! Instead of putting it into my own words, and to help you to subscribe to the blog (if you want to), I m going to link directly to...

We’ve been unpacking some lessons learned from planting a church within the Disney (World) employees by Steven Barr, the founder of “Cast Member Church”. You can read the entire article here: Five Lessons Learned From a Church Embedded in The Walt Disney Company – Fresh Expressions So far we’ve looks...

I read an article recently by Steven Barr. He and his wife, Lucia, planted the Cast Member Church at Walt Disney World 11 years ago, which has expanded to six continents and reaches thousands of people, all employees (“cast members”) of the Walt Disney Company. The article gives five things...