Presbytery of Giddings-Lovejoy Transitional Leader Rev. Dr. Craig Howard choward@glpby.org Blended Church Imagine a congregation holding worship in a multi-use space instead of a traditional sanctuary. The ceiling shows steel cross beams and large round lighting. The walls are concrete block with sound proofing to offset the tile floor. Instead of pews bolted to the ground, the movable chairs…
Presbytery of Giddings-Lovejoy Transitional Leader Rev. Dr. Craig Howard choward@glpby.org In the book, Team of Teams, General Stanley McChrystal writes about building the teams that had great success in the Iraqi war. McChrystal writes that a strong team has certain characteristics including trust, communication, cohesiveness, and purpose. He writes, “(a team) is about individuals who have critical roles…
Giddings-Lovejoy Transitional Presbytery Leader Rev. Dr. Craig Howard choward@glpby.org Responding to Anxiety One of the many joys of my work is meeting with pastors of the presbytery. Once a month a group of pastors who serve congregations in Illinois gather for lunch, fellowship, and a little bit of business. The Eastside Pastor fellowship are men and women, young and…
Giddings-Lovejoy Transitional Presbytery Leader Rev. Dr. Craig Howard choward@glpby.org Lenten Feast I spent my Christian development in the Pentecostal church. Lent was a time of fasting and prayer. The pastor would challenge us to fast for 40 days (one meal a day, not including weekends). The church would be open each day for prayer. It was a time to seek…
Giddings-Lovejoy Transitional Presbytery Leader Rev. Dr. Craig Howard choward@glpby.org First Lesson: Mathew 7:24 – 27 Second Lesson: Hebrews 11:1 – 3 Rebuilding Foundations Our lessons today are concerned with building upon foundations. In the gospels, Jesus is saying that if we build a house without a foundation, when the rains come and flood rises, and the wind blows, the…
Giddings-Lovejoy Transitional Presbytery Leader Rev. Dr. Craig Howard choward@glpby.org Numbers Game One of the toughest things about starting up my insurance agency was x-dating. An x-date is a 3×5 card with the information of a potential policyholder, and the date their current insurance expires. This was back in the bad-old-days before caller id, and before all of the rules to…
Giddings-Lovejoy Transitional Presbytery Leader Rev. Dr. Craig Howard choward@glpby.org Sabbath I had the opportunity to go to Israel last November with a group called Interfaith Partners for Peace. It was a group of 30 people, 15 Rabbis and 15 Christian Pastors. Our goal was to visit with political leaders, business people, and educators in Israel and Palestine. We…
Giddings-Lovejoy Transitional Presbytery Leader Rev. Dr. Craig Howard choward@glpby.org Future Church On Sunday, I had the pleasure to visit our church in Ferguson, just north of St. Louis. In his sermon, pastor Michael Trautman challenged the congregation to take repentance seriously. “Repentance transcends the social/political structures we are faced with,” he said. Michael spoke of repentance as being…
Giddings-Lovejoy Transitional Presbytery Leader Rev. Dr. Craig Howard choward@glpby.org Doing Something Right In his book, The One Minute Manager, Kenneth Blanchard writes, “Help people reach their full potential, catch them doing something right.” This applies to organizations too! In my first week as your Presbytery Leader (ok, I’m supposed to put “Transitional” on the front of that but you…
Rev. Erin Counihan Giddings-Lovejoy Presbytery Moderator Every two years, a whole lot of Presbyterians gather in one place to do the business of church, worship, and spend a little time together. We call it General Assembly (GA) and in June 2018, for GA223, they’ll be coming to St. Louis to do that, right here, in our hometown. But what if…