I had the opportunity to bring the message yesterday on the story of the sisters Martha and Mary. What follows are excerpts of that sermon. I have removed some of the more contextual pieces that would only really make sense for the congregation that this sermon was preached for. I titled the sermon, “Why do we do what we do?” It was preached on July … Continue reading “Why do we do what we do?” – Sermon on Luke 10:38-42
Happy Canada Day to all Canadians! To the rest of you, Happy July! This post is the second post featuring a long list of different stories and links which I have not blogged individually about. I had originally planned to do this weekly or bi-weekly, but at least at this point, the rhythm of this is monthly. We’ll see if I can make this happen … Continue reading Lots of Links
Some of my favorite blogs provide regular posts with a simple series of links and brief annotations. In this vein, and in the spirit of sharing information and collaborating I would like to begin to provide my own links regularly about once a week. I need to come up with a good name for this regular post, so any ideas are welcome. My hope is … Continue reading Weekly Links
For me leadership involves a constant willingness to be asking the questions. One of the challenges though that comes with this is figuring out what the questions are that need to be asked. You can always start with the standard questions that shape and form any story: who, what, where, why, and how? But after those starters, I have a few that I have found … Continue reading Asking the Questions
The Lutheran World Federation (LWF) hosted a virtual conference on Diakonia* today (June 5, 2013). The conference included participants from around the globe (including from the Philippines, Sweden, Norway, Germany, Switzerland, Mexico, the United States and many other locales). For purposes of shared learning and collaboration, I wanted to catch some of the resources from today’s conference. I have linked to a few that particularly … Continue reading Diakonia Conference Resources
A pastor friend of mine posted the following question today. “With regard to new people coming to church: Do we want to assimilate or integrate? Assimilation means that ‘you’ will come and become like ‘us’ (or the other way around). Integration means that we will both be transformed and the Spirit will create something new among us.” The post went on to have an extensive … Continue reading Assimilate and Integrate
In the previous post I mentioned some thoughts that came out of the article, “Moon Shots for Management.” There are a couple other quick thoughts that I would like to mention in the following two posts. First, there is the idea that incentives need to provide for the long term! “Stretch executive time frames and perspectives. Compensation and incentive systems often truncate executive time horizons … Continue reading Need for the Longer Term View
I had the pleasure of being able to take some time out of my work day to attend chapel at Luther Seminary yesterday. I felt it was important to do so as this was the final chapel service of the academic year, and it was a special one of “Farewell and Godspeed” for a place itself that is in the midst of great transition and … Continue reading Leadership and the Church- Yesterday, Today, and Tomorrow
Continuing in my series of reflections from reading Anthony B. Robinson’s Transforming Congregational Culture, today we turn to chapter four which he titles, “From Assuming the Goods to Delivering the Goods, Part One: Worship.” This chapter offers some thoughts, perspectives, challenges, and questions around what is worship. Robinson makes a number of assertions in this chapter and asks some very important questions. I was particularly struck … Continue reading “From Assuming the Goods to Delivering the Goods”
I have decided to pick up and read a decade old book, Transforming Congregational Culture, by Anthony B. Robinson.* As I move through this book, I intend to write a few posts along the way about either quotes that resonate with me, or about pieces I see that have especially changed (good or bad) since Robinson wrote this. So, in this line of reflection, from the beginning … Continue reading “The Challenge We Face, Part I”
Timothy Siburg 