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Killing the Wisdom of Youth
Think back to your junior year of high school. Remember the things that made your blood boil: what you really cared about. Have it? Now write down some words that come to mind. Just take about 2 minutes to do this exercise. Now look at the list. What do you notice? Who are you now…
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Giving Thanks When the Holiday Doesn’t Deserve Them
I kind of hate Thanksgiving. I do love my family, the festivities, watching the Detroit Lions, the parade. I especially love the food. Oh, I love the food. For the longest time, my favorite food in the whole world was stuffing. It still comes close. No, the reason I hate Thanksgiving is the holiday’s origin.…
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Just Cut the Church Programs
For several weeks I’ve been writing about engaging different groups in church. Then I wrote about dealing with time constraints and what it means for planning. Now, I am making a personal appeal for an entirely different approach: it is time to get rid of our programs. As Phyllis Tickle adeptly outlines in The Great…
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6 Keys to Engaging Seniors in Church
Growing up, my favorite people in church fell into the “senior” category. They were the most engaged in my life and were so happy to see me. I wasn’t a nuisance, even when I was incredibly embarrassing to my parents. I was so profoundly loved by the seniors at Trinity Episcopal in Alpena, Michigan. This category,…
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Bullying Isn’t Free Speech–Even in Michigan
Matt’s Safe School Law, otherwise known as Michigan’s “anti-anti-bullying law” is an embarrassment and juvenile. It is the pre-emptive self-defense of bigotry, and just like the nation’s first foray with the Bush Doctrine, this has a profound effect on people’s real lives. It hurts people. Real people. Not mythical, hypothetical, potential people. Real, living people…
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How about we occupy the church?
Of course the teens should occupy the church; but not just teens. Us! We should occupy the church! We should demand a better church! We should lay claim to our leadership of an institution that today only benefits some! Brian Kirk asks in a column for Patheos: “Should we help teens occupy the church?” which…
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5 Keys to Engaging Mid-Lifers in church
One of my good church friends is Jimmy*. Jimmy is a Baby Boomer, served in Vietnam, runs a small business he owns. He, like many of his generation, grew up going to church and spent the middle twenty or so years not. Jimmy and I would talk about what matters…
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Halloween, All Saints’, & too much candy
A web-friend was recently asked about Halloween and what he thinks about it as a Christian. His response, as expected, was thorough, honest, and appropriate. Mine, is well…perhaps a little less so. I don’t really dig on Halloween & Church. Not because I think it is demonic or sinful or whatever. And it is not…