Recently, as friend and I met for a coffee, we talked about a sermon that both us recall from a Sunday morning a couple of years ago. What was remarkable was that both of us remembered that day and that sermon. We both agreed that we have heard many sermons but remember very few.
The setting was a small congregation that met in an abandoned school building. The structure was being used by several organizations but on Sunday mornings it was home to this small Vineyard congregation.
The service was began with the traditional singing, prayer and announcements. When the sermon-time came, the pastor read from the letter that the Apostle Paul wrote to Titus. He made a few introductory comments and then opened a discussion that everyone was invited to participate in.
I was intrigued by poignancy and wisdom of those who spoke! Equally intriguing was the enthusiasm that the audience had in their new-found ability to participate.
Monologue from the Greek and soliloquy from the Latin both mean speaking alone. Schools are finding that speaking alone also results in “learning alone.” Information delivered by lecture is one of the least efficient tools of learning.
What have schools discovered that churches haven’t?
If you have some awareness of the recent news, you know that the U..S Supreme Court is considering whether 
A subject that takes much of my thinking and research is that of helping hurting people. At first blush, you might think that helping someone is not a complicated matter and that it is unhelpful to over-think the matter. In the words of the Nike commercial, you might say, “Just do it!”
Near Raleigh, Mississippi on the morning of June 7, 1964, the White Knights, a newly formed chapter of the Ku Klux Klan, gathered in the Boykin Methodist Church and voiced their “Amen’s” to this prayer led by their Grand Chaplain:
The