Recent Posts
What I Learned This Summer, Part 4
Last week I wrote about how the Synod of our denomination – the Christian Reformed Church in North America (CRCNA) – adopted an audacious 10-year strategic plan for church planting. The goal is that our denomination of about 900 churches would plant 1,000 new churches in the next 10 years. How would that even be possible?!?
A couple of quotes from the report that Synod adopted:
What I Learned This Summer, Part 3
Earlier this summer, the Synod of our denomination – the Christian Reformed Church in North America – met in person at Calvin University in Grand Rapids, Michigan, from June 12–18. Every Synod is a unique, one-off mix of delegates from around the USA and Canada tasked with providing leadership and oversight for the nearly 900 churches in our denomination...
What I Learned This Summer-Part 2
In mid-July, I was able to spend a couple of great days with a group called “The Adaptive Leaders Cohort” which convened in Evins Mill, Tennessee – about an hour west of Nashville. This was a group of a dozen church and non-profit leaders from all over North America (from California to Philadelphia, I was the only Illinoisan there, although there was an Iowan repping the Midwest, too)...
What I Learned This Summer
A month ago, I was able to spend three great days at the University of Saint Mary’s in Mundelein at a summer academy designed to stretch Christian leaders. The theme of this gathering was “Spiritual Rebirth: Recovering Hope for a Dying Culture.”
Retreat! I Like You
As the month of August dawns and our collective energies are pulled into the imminent beginning of the next school year, I hope that you’ve been able to...
Summertime Boredom 3
The dog days of summer are here! There’s nothing like some 95-degree days from mother nature to slow us down a bit. While we can be grateful for the gift of modern air conditioning that graces pretty much every corner of the USA (looking at you, Europe!), the long, hot days still have a unique power to slow down our appetites, thoughts, and frantic pace. This is to be embraced as one of the great gifts of summer.
Whether you’re sitting by a pool, or a porch, by a cottage or campsite or your couch, summer invites us to sit and linger a little bit longer. Please, friends, say “Yes” to that invitation...