Category: Blog

19 elementary students, two teachers, one 18-year-old, and one grandma – all dead in Texas, just hours after I flew with my three kids and wife out of Houston. Everybody has an opinion on how and why this happened. They raise topics like gun control, mental health, school security and what not. The bottom line…

I wrote another piece for the United Church of Christ’s Center for Analytics, Research & Development, and Data (CARDD) Blog. The simple, well-intended question “How are you doing, pastor?” needs a lot of parsing. Hopefully, this more detailed look at what clergy persons are dealing with can be helpful for congregations, pastor relations committees, church councils, committees…

Drinking is up 60% during the pandemic. How do we promote systemic change on all levels of the church that reduces our contribution to alcohol abuse? Shaming is not the answer, neither is permissiveness. Read more in my latest piece for the UCC Center for Analytics, Research & Development, and Data. If you are experiencing…

We received some extra cash from the IRS this month. I had to move it into savings right away, because in our situation the new advances are not really advantageous. Getting cash in parents’s hands is a good idea for the country and for people who we actually need that extra cash for necessities now.…

This year, I’m going back to the origins of the Declaration of Independence and the Second Continental Congress, by taking a look at the Continental Association which was ratified by the First Continental Congress in 1774. The first two provisions are remarkable: 1. That from and after the first day of December next, we will not…