Can We Talk?

           Why is effective communication so hard?
            Lots of times I have wanted to say to someone (and I’m sure there have been many more times when someone has wanted to say to me):
“I know you believe you understand what you think I said, but I’m not sure you realize that what you heard is [...]

Refocusing On The Methodist Message

           Just this week I was reminded of the importance of focusing on the important things of life.

            Our family was on vacation and decided to do something we had never done before…go whitewater rafting in the North Carolina mountains.
            We lived in and around the mountains of Western North Carolina for ten years, but [...]

Meet Bishop Larry M. Goodpaster

At the Friday evening, July 18, session of the 2008 Southeastern Jurisdictional Conference of the United Methodist Church, it was announced that the new Bishop of the Western North Carolina Conference will be Larry M. Goodpaster (effective, September 1, 2008). Bishop Goodpaster will take over for Bishop Lawrence McCleskey who is retiring effective August 31, [...]

The Making Of A Bishop

           This past week, July 16-19, 2008, was the occasion of the 2008 Southeastern Jurisdictional Conference of the United Methodist Church, which met at Lake Junaluska, NC.
            Some 500 delegates came from North Carolina, South Carolina, Virginia, Florida, Georgia, Tennessee, Alabama and Mississippi.
            Our son John was a delegate representing the [...]

Breaking The Law

          Some years ago I was driving through Mountain City, Georgia on my way back home to North Carolina when I was pulled over by a Georgia State Trooper in the middle of town. The officer approached my car and asked me politely, “Do you know why I pulled you over?”
     [...]

What About The Change?

          This past Sunday (July 13, 2008), I preached on the story of the sower and the seed from Matthew 13:1-9, 18-23.
            I was captured by the idea that God is an extravagant sower of seed into our lives regardless of whether we are “hard, rocky, thorny, or good soil.” I preached [...]