I like sports… a lot. I’m not so good at playing sports anymore, but I certainly enjoy watching whether it’s my alma mater’s college football team, high-light reels of Kobe, Lebron, and Durant in the NBA, or cheering on my teen neighbors playing rec ball. I’m also intrigued by how often topics in sports intersect with following Jesus and leading others. How scripture uses athletic metaphors from the 1st century is hardly coincidental. Continue reading
Author: kevinpounds
Questions that matter most
Since I began my first ministry leadership position over twenty years ago, the metrics for success have seemed to shift somewhat from church to church. How many people are on the church membership role? How many people did we baptize? How many people attended the weekly worship service? How many people did we connect with through an outreach event? How many people were assimilated into small groups? In every case we were measuring numbers. Don’t misunderstand me: numbers matter because they represent real people with real names who really matter to God. The bigger issue revolves around what do these numbers mean? What are we really measuring? Continue reading
Finding religion in Vermont
Today the 7 Days Newspaper, known as Vermont’s independent voice, published an interesting article on finding God in Vermont. Here’s an excerpt from the article Continue reading
Spring!!!
Today, March 20, marks the first day of spring. For many across America this means the onset of warmer weather, longer days, singing birds, blooming flowers, and Easter just around the corner. Yesterday afternoon my family and I decided to “celebrate” the coming of spring in true Vermont style by building a snowman. Continue reading
The Shrinking 40%
I recently came across this post by Tim Stephens of Granger Community Church: 10 Hard Questions Every Planter Needs to Ask. A couple of paragraphs grabbed my attention:
Just about every church in America can be described by three words: “Come to us.” That is it. Continue reading
Jesus & His inner circle leaders
I’ve been thinking a lot lately on who Jesus chose to be His twelve apostles and how He approached developing these inner circle leaders. Here are a few observations that standout Continue reading
The Family Sabbath
I’ve had a busy ministry week. Continue reading
Is Vermont like Livingstone’s Africa?
You may have heard the name David Livingstone before. He was a famed British missionary, explorer, and abolitionist of the 19th century whose accomplishments included being the first European to discover Victoria Falls and travel across central Africa from the Atlantic to Indian Ocean. One fact that does not escape many modern day missionaries is how Livingstone learned winning converts was more difficult in Africa than in his British homeland: he saw only one convert during the 1840s.
This past Monday I was snowshoeing with one of BCC’s college students when he asked, “Do you think doing ministry in Vermont is like it was for David Livingstone in Africa?” Continue reading
Social Justice Pharisee
I cannot easily dismiss the fact that at times I am a social justice Pharisee.
I have provided food to the hungry.
I have opened my home to the homeless.
I have given coats to those without adequate clothing.
I have befriended those frequently forgotten from foreign lands.
I have found myself not so different from those whom Jesus rebuked Continue reading
Pastor invited & disinvited from praying at inauguration
This morning I read several articles that caught my attention concerning Pastor Louie Giglio being invited and apparently disinvited from speaking at this month’s presidential inauguration. I respect this guy a great deal and believe he handled the situation with incredible candor. Several articles from the NY Times cover the controversy (listed at the bottom of this post) and Atlanta news 11 Alive has a thorough video and article on what occurred:
http://c.brightcove.com/services/viewer/federated_f9?isVid=1&isUI=1
Some “master of the obvious” observations Continue reading
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