When I grew up in Panola County, Texas, I knew no Jews and no Muslims. However, when I was a student at Centenary College in Shreveport, La., two of my favorite professors… read more

As a kid I was pretty normal. I played sports with my friends, enjoying all of the exciting kids’ stuff young people do. As I stumbled through adolescence and into my… read more

The numbers are simply against a good portion of our small North American congregations. North American Protestantism has always been a small-church experience. While most of the… read more

Enough statistics ABOUT worship; how about statistics IN worship? Sound crazy? Maybe. But maybe not. At a recent chaotic and unfocused council meeting, my associate pastor Peter… read more

The other day my secretary came in with the mail. In the stack was a hand addressed envelope with my name on it and in the return corner it showed that it was sent by a former… read more

Yesterday, one of the really solid pastors that I am fortunate enough to work with called me. The conversation went something like this, “Clif, we just got updated numbers… read more