Author Archives: Intentional Faith

The New York Times featured an article this week by Sarah Perez on the “bold and controversial” privacy changes made by Facebook since December. The article warned Facebook users to check their privacy settings on the popular social network, even if they opted to keep their personalized settings when prompted by Facebook to do so.Continue reading “FaceBook Alert”

Many churches years ago had mourners benches. Charles Allen in his book God’s Psychiatry said "Today we want God’s blessing without the pain of God’s purging. We want sermons on how to win friends, how to have peace of mind, how to forget our fears. But we must remember that Christ came to make menContinue reading “It’s Not Supposed to Be Easy”

In his book Fuzzy Memories, Jack Handey writes: "There used to be this bully who would demand my lunch money every day. Since I was smaller, I would give it to him. Then I decided to fight back. I started taking karate lessons. But then the karate lesson guy said I had to start payingContinue reading “Who Is Your Bully?”

The Economy’s Impact on Churches: How Churches Have Adapted     [January 25, 2010] After enduring some of the worst economic conditions in modern history, many businesses, families and other charitable organizations are coming out of panic mode and adapting to the “new normal.” A Barna Group study with 1,114 pastors and church executives, conductedContinue reading “The Church and the Economy: Adapting”

A reporter asked George Bernard Shaw if he could live his life over, and be any person he has known or any other person in history, who would he be? Mr. Shaw replied, "I would be the man that George Bernard Shaw could have been, but never was." Be a little more like the personContinue reading “If You Could Do It All Over Again”

The Four Stages of Growing a Team Every church or ministry leader will benefit from understanding the key stages of team development (both paid and volunteer). The four Stages of team development were originally identified by educational psychologist Bruce W. Tuckman in the mid-1960’s. Still valid today, they are: Forming Storming Norming Performing Forming isContinue reading “4 Stages of Team Growth”

Several years ago, I was in a Bible study in which we were studying the Sermon on the Mount. It was most interesting because of the diversity of people we had in the study. You remember that passage, "Blessed are the peacemakers…" The discussion centered on the situation in the world today. On the warsContinue reading “Thomas Morgan Asks a Good Question”

There is a story about a little girl who proudly wore a shiny cross on a chain around her neck. One day she was approached by a man who said to her, "Little girl, don’t you know that the cross Jesus died on wasn’t beautiful like the one you’re wearing? It was an ugly, woodenContinue reading “His Touch Changes Everything”

The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy.    Martin Luther King Praying that you stand tall.  Michael.

In the 2008 annual Honesty and Ethics of Professions poll conducted by Gallup, 56 percent of Americans rated the clergy’s honesty and ethics very high or high. In 2009, that figure dropped to 50 percent. Gallup says the reason for the drop is unclear, but the current rating is even below where it was earlierContinue reading “Honesty/Ethics Ratings for Clergy Drop”