Healthy Congregations and Effective Leaders in Every Place Making Disciples of Jesus Christ for the Transformation of the World
On March 24, 1980 when Romero was murdered as he preached on John 12:24, he became the grain of wheat that fell to the ground, died, and bore much fruit. One of these fruits was his vision of the priesthood of all believers. He insisted that every Christian has a role to play during times… Continue Reading→
For he grew up before him like a young plant, and like a root out of dry ground; he had no form or majesty that we should look at him, nothing in his appearance that we should desire him. Isaiah 53:2 As our long Lenten journey nears its end and the “Alleluia” of Easter and… Continue Reading→
Since our Christian Unity & Interreligious Concerns team met for the first time this past year, Oscar Romero has been on my mind. We knew the 40th anniversary of his martyrdom was just over the horizon, and we wanted to find ways to celebrate his witness in a way that could strengthen awareness for ecumenical… Continue Reading→
The men who were holding Jesus in custody taunted him while they beat him. They blindfolded him and asked him repeatedly, “Prophesy! Who hit you?” Insulting him, they said many other horrible things against him.” Luke 22: 63 – 65 (CEB) In our Social Principles “we affirm that all persons are individuals of sacred worth,… Continue Reading→
In 2011, I went for the third time to La Providencia Chapel where St. Oscar Romero was killed. Our guide, a Catholic sister, invited the group composed of Methodist pastors from the US, Mexico, and El Salvador, and two professors from Duke, to take our shoes off and make a circle around the altar and… Continue Reading→
“Do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will bring worries of its own. Today’s trouble is enough for today.” Matthew 6:34 (NRSV) On a spring Sunday afternoon, church league softball practice had ended. As we were gathering our gear, I looked into the bleachers where the youth director of the church I was serving was… Continue Reading→
It was the last day of our trip. Our group left Ahuachapan and made our way toward San Salvador where we would spend the day on the hallowed grounds where Oscar Romero preached and was ultimately killed. When a group of 15 people enter a space and a hush falls over the crowd, whispers subside,… Continue Reading→
“Make a joyful noise to the Lord all the earth. Worship the Lord with gladness; come into his presence with singing.” I have always enjoyed reading Psalm 100 aloud. This amazing psalm of thanksgiving and praise always fills my heart with singing! Following a pilgrimage with Bishop Ward, fellow Cabinet members, and pastors participating in… Continue Reading→
“Why art thou cast down, O my soul? And why art thou disquieted within me? Hope in God: for I shall yet praise him, who is the health of my countenance, and my God.” Psalms 42:11,43:5. The Psalmist states this verse twice. Recently our Cabinet and Residency in Ordained Ministry (RIOM) group made a visit… Continue Reading→
Many years ago, I was at a meeting in El Paso, Texas with other general church agency board members. As part of our morning agenda one day, we visited the Lydia Patterson Institute to experience the ministries they offer. That afternoon had us traveling over the border to Juarez where we visited the site of… Continue Reading→
But our citizenship is in heaven, and it is from there that we are expecting a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. Philippians 3:20 (NRSV) As I journeyed to the Mexican/American border, I encountered my brothers and sisters of the faith. I did not encounter criminals and I did not encounter Republicans or Democrats. My encounter… Continue Reading→
“Very truly, I tell you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains just a single grain; but if it dies, it bears much fruit.” John 12:24 (NRSV) “Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.”… Continue Reading→
“This, then, is how you should pray: Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name, your kingdom come, your will be done, on Earth as it is in heaven. Give us today our daily bread, And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver… Continue Reading→
I am sitting in a chair under a covered shelter in El Salvador, listening to the rumble of thunder and hearing the rain as it falls on the terra cotta roof. The scenery is beautiful— mango, lime, banana, cashew, coconut, and a host of other fruit trees dot the landscape. Flowers of all colors display… Continue Reading→
It’s an interesting and perhaps faulty observation, but the Coronavirus pandemic seems to have diverted much of our attention and our energy away from issues just recently consuming a lot of our passion, the issue of immigration being one of these. Five weeks ago, I was in McAllen, TX with Cabinet colleagues, our bishop, and… Continue Reading→
Oscar Romero was trained by his father as a carpenter. That’s far from the only thing he shared with his Lord Jesus Christ. When he became a bishop in El Salvador, he was thought to be too conservative by some of his Liberation Theology colleagues. But the assassination of a close friend transformed him into… Continue Reading→
My wife and I first enjoyed Costa Rica with a Mission Work Team in 1995. We were brand new at First UMC, Wilson. Our team’s task was constructing a building for a Methodist Church school in a remote mountainous area. Being a part of that team in a poor area doing things with needy, delightful,… Continue Reading→
Some people brought children to Jesus so that he would place his hands on them and pray. But the disciples scolded them. “Allow the children to come to me,” Jesus said. “Don’t forbid them, because the kingdom of heaven belongs to people like these children.” Then he blessed the children and went away from there. … Continue Reading→
In many ways, Lent is a season of dust, and in many ways, this season of The United Methodist Church seems like a season of dust. So many thoughts, feelings, proposals, uncertainties swirling around us. Sometimes it feels like it’s hard to see clearly, hard to know where we are standing at any given moment…. Continue Reading→
“Very truly, I tell you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains just a single grain; but if it dies, it bears much fruit.” John 12:24 (NRSV) Sometimes people plant seeds without realizing it, and they help God bring to fruition something beautiful. Many years ago, Debbie transferred to… Continue Reading→
I fear no evil, for you are with me. Psalm 23:4 Today is the twentieth day of the forty-day Lenten journey. At this halfway point, it is good to pause and meditate on Psalm 23, appointed for Sunday worship. At the heart of the psalm, halfway through, we read this confession of faith: I fear no… Continue Reading→
“Jesus said to her, “Everyone who drinks of this water will be thirsty again, 14 but those who drink of the water that I will give them will never be thirsty. The water that I will give will become in them a spring of water gushing up to eternal life.” 15 The woman said to… Continue Reading→
It has been many years since I traveled south of the US border; my last trip was in 1988, on a mission trip to Hidalgo, Mexico. However, in recent years, God has put people in my life who have been border-crossers. These faithful missionaries have helped me across perceived and real borders that frame my… Continue Reading→
“When Jesus saw his mother and the disciple whom he loved standing beside her, he said to his mother, “Woman, here is your son.” Then he said to the disciple, “Here is your mother.” And from that hour the disciple took her into his own home.” John 19.26–27 Crying always makes me see differently. Clear figures… Continue Reading→
“Let us not forget: we are a pilgrim church, subject to misunderstanding, to persecution, but a church that walks serene, because it bears the force of love.” Saint Oscar Romero There is much to be stressed about in our churches. Conflicts abound. Misunderstandings crop up, and when they do, they can leave one reeling. Archbishop… Continue Reading→
For once you were darkness, but now in the Lord you are light. Live as children of light—for the fruit of the light is found in all that is good and right and true. Ephesians 5:8-9 (NRSV) In his letter shared with the Ephesian church, Paul concentrates on the themes of salvation by grace through… Continue Reading→
Jesus said, “Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these.” A few years ago during my 35th visit to El Salvador, my mission team was delivering food parcels to poor families. We visited with two young families living together in a… Continue Reading→
“We don’t see these people as problems. They are our family.” Quoted from David Medrano Diaz, a Methodist pastor in Matamoros who builds relationships with the residents of this tent city. This quote stopped me in my tracks. As I gathered myself, I reflected, how are we intentionally keeping the most vulnerable within our lives… Continue Reading→
Speak up for those who cannot speak for themselves, for the rights of all who are destitute. Speak up and judge fairly; defend the rights of the poor and needy.” Proverbs 31:8-9 Recent news in our community revealed horrid conditions in a local assisted living facility, one poorly managed by people who not only neglected… Continue Reading→
“Very truly, I tell you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains just a single grain; but if it dies, it bears much fruit.” John 12:24 (NRSV) I love to eat. Being a farm boy, oftentimes I am reminded of just how the food gets from the seed to… Continue Reading→
Make a joyful noise to the Lord, all the earth. Worship the Lord with gladness; come into his presence with singing. Psalm 100:1-2 We gathered on the back porch of a house that was located in a “colonia,” in the outskirts of McAllen, TX. A “colonia” is a neighborhood in border communities of people who… Continue Reading→
“Very truly, I tell you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains just a single grain; but if it dies, it bears much fruit.” John 12:24 (NRSV) Isn’t God the master of all seed planters? With the wisdom of hindsight, I can look back at my life that… Continue Reading→
The voice spoke to him a second time, “Do not call anything impure that God has made clean.” Acts 10:15 (NIV) Nomenclature matters. The name we give something either enlarges or constricts how we view it. For Peter, dividing humanity into Jews and Gentiles limited his imagination about the possibilities of God’s work in and… Continue Reading→
“Very truly, I tell you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains just a single grain; but if it dies, it bears much fruit.” John 12:24 (NRSV) The U.S./Mexico border is a place of where the powers of death press lives to the brink. And yet, within that… Continue Reading→
“Whatever your task, put yourselves into it, as done for the Lord and not for your masters (or not for humans).” Colossians 3:23 Ever since I discovered the book The Long Loneliness just before I went to Duke Divinity School, I’ve wanted to be Dorothy Day when I grow up. I admire the vision… Continue Reading→
“Again he said to them, “To what can I compare God’s kingdom? It’s like yeast, which a woman took and hid in a bushel of wheat flour until the yeast had worked its way through the whole.” Luke 13:20-21 (CEB) I’ve been thinking a lot about this short parable from Jesus. The image of the… Continue Reading→
The lady who had shepherded me through my then ten-day stay in El Salvador, Maria, walked me the three miles to her home. Her home was a shed made of tin on three sides and closed in by a black plastic tarp on the fourth. She and her husband and two grandchildren have a single… Continue Reading→
The Holy Spirit has been at work well before we arrived and continues to illuminate our experiences as our group travels together. Yesterday, Bishop Schnase of the Rio-Texas Annual Conference of The United Methodist Church, welcomed us and introduced us to this area of southeast Texas. If you have a chance, take a look on… Continue Reading→
On my last trip to El Salvador, I was walking down a dirt street in a village near Ahuachapán. As we approached a house, I was taken aback by a large feathered animal. I’m no stranger to seeing chickens and roosters running around households. But I’ve never seen a rooster like the one in that… Continue Reading→
Very truly, I tell you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains just a single grain; but if it dies, it bears much fruit. — John 12:24 (NRSV) Today we dare to receive upon our foreheads ashes in the sign of the cross. Let us wear the ashes clear-eyed, bravely,… Continue Reading→