Category: Bob’s Blogs

  • Grace in College Football

    Grace in College Football

    With the new playoff system in college football, the decisions on team rankings and playoff games are now up to a committee. Is there room for grace in this process?

  • Why I Don’t “Get” Ferguson

    Why I Don’t “Get” Ferguson

    If I’m really honest with myself, I just don’t “get” what’s happening in Ferguson, MO. And most of us who are watching all this on the news don’t either. And we need to realize it.

  • Moving to California in 3 Easy Steps

    Moving to California in 3 Easy Steps

    Moving from Nebraska to California included quite a few adventures. And it started before we moved…

  • Airline Nightmare

    Airline Nightmare

    Ok. So, maybe it’s not exactly a true nightmare. Stuff worse than this happens all the time. And, this sucks. And I have my own blog where I can vent. That’s the space I’m in. So I was flying home from a Continuing Education thing in San Diego yesterday. It was good, and I was…

  • Bible-Based Sermons

    Bible-Based Sermons

    There seem to be two basic ways that preachers organize their sermons. One group is “topical,” taking a topic and using several scripture texts to support it. The other is “textual,” taking one scripture text and exploring how it applies to the world today. Do you prefer one to the other? I do…

  • On the “Guaranteed Appointment”

    On the “Guaranteed Appointment”

    Many United Methodist clergy are feeling some wonder at how a recent decision by General Conference to end the tradition of “guaranteed appointments” for clergy might affect their futures. Some see hope and others don’t. And many see a broken promise.

  • Tweeting Customer Dissatisfaction

    Tweeting Customer Dissatisfaction

    Know ahead of time that I’m ranting. I know it. I own it. I’m staying at the Doubletree hotel in Orlando for a training event, and found on my arrival that the curved rod holding up the shower curtain was pulling out of the wall in such a way that I could see the threads…

  • Being More Christian: Loving the LGBT Community

    Being More Christian: Loving the LGBT Community

    I’ve been a member of a church my whole life.  My grandfather was a pastor, his brother was a pastor, and there were others before them.  And now I’m a pastor.  I serve a fairly large church in Grand Island, Nebraska.  The good life.  On a stick. I’m also a United Methodist.  My grandfather &…

  • Mainline Hope

    Mainline Hope

    In the midst of membership decline among many mainline denominations, there’s hope & possibility.

  • The “E” Word

    The “E” Word

    The perception of evangelism seems to me to be pretty bleak. Is it possible to think of evangelism as anything other than a four-letter-word?