The wire services are buzzing this week with news about United Methodist related (for now) Claremont School of Theology’s launch of a new cross-training program for Jewish, Christian and Muslim leaders. Earlier this year, the United Methodist University Senate decided to withhold denomin...

During my experiences as a youth minister and as an employer, I’ve had a number of opportunities to mentor teenagers and help them develop their work ethic. Sometimes I run into a situation where a kid doesn’t take a job seriously– maybe because it doesn’t pay a lot, perhaps ...

I believe that if something was important to Jesus during his earthly ministry, then it ought to be important to us. This morning, as I was reading from Matthew, a couple of verses really spoke to me. These verses come right after an incident where Jesus expelled a demon, drawing this criticism ...

I was reading from Hebrews today and these verses caught my eye: But someone has testified somewhere, “What are human beings that you are mindful of them, or mortals, that you care for them? You have made them for a little while lower than the angels; you have crowned them with glory and h...

When we first experience faith in Jesus Christ, or when we try to take our faith to the next level, a couple of things usually happen. As God’s kingdom increases in our lives, the enemy’s kingdom dwindles. This creates tension, because when kingdoms start colliding and competing for ...

Ladies and gentlemen, this one’s going to be all over the place, because I’m writing it on the fly– as I’m studying scripture. Sometimes all it takes is one verse to produce a great Bible study. When I’m studying, I usually start with an entire passage, but I almost ...

There’s a lot of ignorance in the church when it comes to evil spiritual beings. Most Methodists would rather not talk about such things, and they don’t. Many mainline folks either don’t believe in a real Satan or they just try to stay out of his way and leave him for charismat...

In A Plain Account of Christian Perfection, John Wesley includes some Q & A sessions from his preacher’s conferences. In 1745, these questions made the list: Q. Is [inward sanctification] ordinarily given till a little before death? A. It is not, to those who expect it no sooner. Q. ...

Christian perfection was probably John Wesley’s most controversial teaching. I recently started reading more of what Wesley had to say about the topic, even to the point of ordering a print copy of A Plain Account of Christian Perfection so I can mark it up! ( I know it’s free on th...

Many of us don’t know how to deal with sin, our own or anyone else’s. Some of our pastors never mention the word. They choose to ignore sin, or they pretend it doesn’t exist. Bad idea. If the United Methodist Church is a place where we only affirm each other, and where we all r...