This Wednesday, September 6th, I will be meeting one-on-one with Bishop Dottie Escobedo-Frank at her Pasadena office at 1:00 PM. The purpose of this meeting is for me to express to her the impossibility of the disaffiliation policy of this annual conference for those churches wishing to disaffiliate from the...
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...
One of the hardest struggles I have had in my life of walking with Jesus has been to develop and maintain a substantial discipline of staying in the Word. I know that might shock some, since, as a pastor, all I have to do is preach once a week! So,...
Intergenerational Support in the Congregation and Further In the times of church attendance decline that we see across the nation and globe, the amount of younger generational people who are transitioning away from organized religion as a whole, and the many people who embark on the process of “deconstructing” their...
The Church Council, at its meeting on July 16th, approved a proposal to grant me two consecutive days off each week. Many may not be aware that pastors are typically only given one day off a week. Contrary to the popular “belief” that pastors only work one day a week!...
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...
This past Sunday, June 25th, I mentioned in the sermon that as many as 2/3 of Christians have had or are having problems with an addiction to pornography. That is a startling number! But I also shared that as many as 50% of pastors suffer from the same addiction! This...
I write this in the aftermath of the meeting of the California-Pacific Annual Conference of The United Methodist Church, meeting in Los Angels June 14-17, 2023. During the session, attempts were made by myself and your Lay Leader, Ted Smith, to ask the bishop and the conference trustees to reconsider...
In our culture today, we are encouraged to work on ourselves. We use language like, “self-love, me time, and self-care”. We are told to make sure we are okay and good before helping others. There is a saying that goes, “you cannot pour from an empty cup”. Well, that is...