A State of Mediocrity?

Steve Brown July 15th, 2010

This morning, I read and graded "integration" papers from a course for Doctor of Ministry students at the seminary. The course was titled: Thriving & Surviving Pastoral Ministry.

I just finished reading the paper of one of my pastor students who wrote (referring to me):

The class helped me think about surviving and thriving. I like Steve. I like his attitude about the ministry. He has survived well. And he has thrived, it would seem. He has served churches, written books, had a ra … (Read More)

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God Doesn't Need Protecting or Defending!

Steve Brown June 21st, 2010

I just discovered something I can hardly wait to tell you.

Are there certain Bible texts that make you wince? You know the ones I'm talking about… Bible teachers and mothers use them to make us feel guilty. Both want us to be good. They figure the best thing to do is to make us memorize Scripture that will keep us up at night until we either get in line or become atheists.

I call those "law enforcement texts."

I avoid them except when I'm doing the "lucky dipping.& … (Read More)

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Where Is Jesus In This?

Steve Brown January 20th, 2010

I read Charles Sheldon's book, In His Steps, years ago. It was written in 1896 and is the book where the whole WWJD thing started. If you've read it, you know that it's a story about a bunch of Christians whose lives were changed as a result of a tramp who visits their Midwestern church, challenging them to live out what they say they believe. The tramp dies, but his message changes the world of those people. The book is the story of what happens when Christians start asking the q … (Read More)

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It really is going to be okay!

Steve Brown December 14th, 2009

I'm writing this from the Billy Graham Training Center at The Cove in the mountains of North Carolina. I'm at this wonderful conference center teaching two seminars-one for pastors/leaders and the other for "normal" people.

They house the speakers in log cabins (there are three or four of them) up on a mountain overlooking the natural cove while the people who come to the conferences stay at two fairly large and nice hotels. The log cabins are closed except to authorized pers … (Read More)

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Everything Else is Small Stuff!

Steve Brown November 4th, 2009

A friend of mine sent me a copy of a letter submitted to the St. Petersburg Times (Florida) in response to the paper's query about how readers would "fix the economy."

One letter was addressed to the President of the United States and suggested that, instead of giving billions of dollars to companies who will squander it, the president should send a million dollars to each person in America over a certain age in the work force. It would include millions of people.

It sounds like, … (Read More)

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Now Go and Tell Someone!

Steve Brown October 15th, 2009

Last month I told you about my lousy job-thinking God commissioned me to keep people from sinning. It was a lousy job because I wasn't very successful at it and people, no matter what I said or did, kept on sinning. Then I realized that the teacher wasn't doing that great either.

Now let me tell you something else. I not only had a lousy job, I had (and still have) a job I really ought not to be doing. If I were God choosing someone to do what I do, I wouldn't even be on the list … (Read More)

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