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“Crowds are a worse danger, far worse, than drink or sex.”
I’m finishing up Eugene Peterson’s wonderful memoir, The Pastor, a book I’ve anticipated eagerly since I first learned of it last year. About halfway into the book, in a chapter titled “Company of Pastors,” Peterson includes a letter he wrote to a colleague who was leaving his church for one “three times the size of…
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Weekend Reading
Lauren sent me this article, “Jesus is Not Post-Racial,” in which the author describes the challenges of finding a church home faced by interracial couples. So even in a faith community that holds diversity and multi-culturalism in high regard as a core value, and boasts a congregation made up from every tribe, race, nation, and…
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Church Planting Lessons: Ask Dumb Questions
New Community Covenant Church in Bronzeville is quickly approaching our first anniversary of weekly Sunday services. Michael Washington suggested that I capture some of the stories and lessons from this first year before they retreat too far into the past. Good idea Michael. Over the next couple of weeks, in no particular order, I’ll post…
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Preparing a sermon with Post-it notes
One of the upsides, I’ve been told, of not (yet) having been to seminary is that I’ve been forced to find my own ways to prepare a sermon. Most of the time I’m OK with this, but occasionally I wonder, “Is there a right way to do this?” I have enough education and preaching mentors…
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Weekend Reading
The Atlantic has compiled a list of online resources to track developments from the Japanese earthquake. If the allegations are even mostly true, it’s infuriating to know that people live in fear in America of this sort of scenario. According to congregants’ legal testimonies gathered by the coalition, agents banged against the side of the…
David W. Swanson
Pastor and Author
David W. Swanson 