Skip to main content

Posts

Showing posts from April, 2013

Good to Great to Good

Isaiah 43:16-21 Psalm 126 Philippians 3:4b‐14 John 12:1-8 Sermon audio is available her for up to one month Just as there is an entre genre of literature devoted to self help, there is perhaps an equal amount of information available for institutions that feel a need for redevelopment. There are books to tell you how to find the Tipping Point between ideas and fads. There are books that tell you how to work smarter instead of harder. There are books that tell you why some organizations are simply good, while others are great . Our staff is reading one such book, Good to Great and the Social Sectors by Jim Collins, and one thing has become clear to us. No matter how effective we can be at doing i’s and crossing t’s – no matter how decent and orderly we do our work – nothing matters without a clear sense of mission and shared priority throughout the congregation. Nothing we do matters without a clear understanding of who we are as a community of Christian disciples. Now, one mig

New Beginnings

Joshua 5:9‐12 Psalm 32 2 Corinthians 5:16‐21 Luke 15:1‐3, 11b‐32 Sermon audio is available here for up to one month. In the congregaIon I served before coming here the officers and staff all received an assessment of gifts through a company that specialized in organizaIonal dynamics. Many of you have probably done something similar if you work in a management capacity with a large firm or corporaIon. It was very insightful, and I think it helped us all understand each other’s motives and perspecIves. Without boring you with the details of it, one thing that I learned about myself (that everyone who has had a five minute conversaIon with me already knows) is that I am a change maker. What I did not realize at the time is that most people are more interested in consistency than change. Not only that, but change without purpose is really very self serving. So, there you have it. That is my Achilles' heal exposed. That is the disgrace that God rolls away from me again and again. Fi