Central UMC Blog

You go nowhere by accident. Wherever you go, God is sending you. Wherever you are, God has put you there. God has a purpose in your being there. Christ lives in you and has something he wants to do through you where you are. Believe this and go in the grace and love and power of Jesus Christ...

Lamar and I went for a walk in the woods near our home this weekend. The trees, the briars, the woodland blooms, the nearby pastures and a single red barn reminded me of who I really am, a child of God, created to enjoy His world and to be a witness for him. Whenever something weighs on my soul...

I am not an experienced or trained journalist, but I had a sacred privilege of interviewing two graduates of Central United Methodist Church’s Celebrate Recovery recently. I was asked to tell their story on the Lay Leader blog to help capture the attention of church members and, if...

Flash Mob: a large public gathering at which people perform an unusual or seemingly random act and then disperse. It is quiet in Sabadell, place de Sant Roc in Spain. The people come and go, walking, chatting, riding their bicycles over the stone pavers. Church bells peal in the background. A...

Central United Methodist Church is 184 years old. Now she is at a crossroads although she may not realize it yet. So she writes a letter to her younger self—about her past and about the possibilities of her future. Can this letter to herself help clarify a path forward? Dear Central...

The Sunday after “Paris” an unusually tall Korean pastor stepped up to the podium and quietly faced his audience. Not young and not old and with only a hint of an accent he gently began to read the following passage: You have heard that it was said, you must love your neighbor and...

I was lost in thought this morning, trying to capture in words a vision of our church’s future facilities that would arrest your attention. Maybe I could even help you know something about the members of our church who have been tasked with suggesting a Master Plan for development 15-20...

There is a chapter in John Ortberg’s book Soul Keeping[1] entitled “The Soul Needs Satisfaction.” The premise of the chapter is that the soul always wants more. We are often concerned about what we do not have, and maybe never will have. We can become resentful and never...

"Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways submit to him, and he will make your paths straight" (Proverbs 3:5-6) “Don’t remember the prior things; don’t ponder ancient history. Look! I’m doing a new thing; Now it...

I started to title this blog segment “The Devil is in the Details.” The phrase is familiar to us isn’t it? But a little research showed me I was wrong to use the phrase. While the idiom usually serves as a caution to pay attention to small details to avoid failure—the...