My dear friends, saying Goodbye is always difficult. Shakespeare’s phrase captures the feeling for “Parting IS such sweet sorrow.” I thank God, and I thank you for the privilege of serving as the bishop of the Central Texas Conference for the last ...
The season of Advent marks the beginning of the church calendar (not New Years Day!) and calls us into a deep journey of faith to a Bethlehem stable. William H. Petersen, the founder of The Advent Project, comments, “The call is for the Church to ...
In his annual – and final – Advent message to the Central Texas Conference, Bishop Lowry focuses on the witness and example of who New Testament scholars regard as “the first and the ideal disciple” – Mary, the mother of Jesus. In his message, ...
On Thursday evening Nov. 4, I drove to Rockwall, Texas, and joined with a widely ecumenical small group to listen to a presentation by Ed Stetzer. For those of you who do not know of Ed, he is what I would term a moderate Southern Baptist. As his ...
As I read through Dr. Timothy Tennent’s probing book For the Body (which I highly recommend), I came across the following sentence: “The church is God’s divine work built on the foundation of Christ.” (For the Body, p. 190) This high holy ...
Psalm 100 peeled its beauty in my heart and mind on Sunday. Make a joyful noise to the Lord, all the earth. 2 Worship the Lord with gladness; come into his presence with singing. 3 Know that the Lord is God. It is he that made us, and...
These are indeed unprecedented times. The gravity of the season in which we find ourselves can be devastating – and is for many. It only takes a quick scan of your newsfeed to become overwhelmed by the images of hospitals setting up COVID care ...
In the heat of July, our family vacation finds us back in West Virginia (our future retirement home near family living in the D.C and Boston areas). As churches and Christians across the country slowly open back up, we have found ourselves ...
On June 21, at the 2021 annual meeting of the Central Texas Conference (CTC), I delivered what I believe will be my last episcopal address to the CTC – “Way, Way Back to the Future: Envisioning a New Spring,” I have been sharing a printed version ...
Jesus had made a promise. “…I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Advocate, [helper] to be with you forever. This is the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him. You know him, because ...
With Mother’s Day right around the corner, I can help but thank God for the mothers by which I’m blessed – my mother, the mother I am married to, the mother we raised, and the mother we cherish as a daughter-in-law. When my mother would play catch ...
The Search for a New Center About four years ago, when visiting one of our Central Texas Conference Churches, I sat in the back row. At the close of the service, a young lady sitting next to me walked up and professed her faith in Christ for the ...
Imagine the following true story and place yourself in it. You are kidnapped sometime in your teenage years. Hauled in chains to a different country, you are sent to work in hard and dangerous labor – slave labor. Much of your time is spent alone,...
As we move through Lent, we are all struggling with issues of re-opening. The WIG remains our mission with an emphasis in discipleship formation through small group ministry, outreach to the community/mission field, and professions of ...
In C. S. Lewis’ epic tale, The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe , one of the first creatures the children encounter is Mr. Beaver. Beaver has great wisdom and insight even in a time of the land frozen and in the grip of the White Witch. Quite soon ...
In the turmoil surrounding us and the uncertainty of the church’s future (both coming out of the COVID-19 pandemic and a possible General Conference vote on the Protocol), I do not want us to lose sight of our need and commitment to work on ending ...
As I did four years ago (and four year prior to that, and…), I ask the Christians of the Central Texas Conference of the United Methodist Church to pray for our newly inaugurated President and Vice-President, our Senators and Representatives in the ...
The signs and sounds of Christmas are all around. This year, the decorations came early. Locked down by COVID-19, we collectively, Christians and non-Christians alike, longed for a season of hope, joy and peace. Driving through our neighborhood, I ...
We make much, as we should, of the mission of the church “to make disciples of Jesus Christ for the transformation of the world.” Such a mission comes directly from the call and claim of the risen Christ as reported in the closing paragraph of ...
The Martyrdom of Polycarp is a famous story in early Christian literature and lore. Polycarp was an early Christian bishop and probably had a close (student to teacher) relationship with John the Apostle. As a revered older figure of leadership in ...
We look back with a mixture of scorn, dismay, and amazement. It was Nov. 27, a.d. 1095, when Pope Urban II launched the first Crusade to “retake the Holy Land.” At the time, when Pope Urban finished his sermon calling for the First Crusade, there ...
As I write this blog today, I am, along with so many of you, in anguish. The shooting of Jacob Blake by police in Kenosha, Wisconsin, followed by the gunning down of Joseph Rosenbaum and Anthony Huber pierces the heart. Stunned incredulity at ...
Retired Central Texas Conference Pastor Richard Chaffin read an unusual line from Scripture as we listened intently around the grave of Pastor Tom Wood. “There was a man sent from God, whose name was John.” (John 1:6, NRSV) Pastor Tom Wood...
While “sheltering in place,” Jolynn and I have enjoyed a return to “Sunday night at the Movies.” A few weeks ago, we watched the great old action flick “Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade.” Early this week, I came across an arresting reflection on ...
An Honor The following announcement was recently shared by Bishop Bob Farr, President of the South Central Jurisdictional (SCJ) College of Bishops, and Brian Hammonds, SCJ Episcopacy Committee Chair: “The Council of Bishops has affirmed the actions...
Among the many, many acts of faithful discipleship by CTC churches who are reaching out in the name of Christ during the COVID-19 pandemic is one shared by West District Superintendent Lisa Neslony. According to Lisa, Oakdale UMC is driving around “...
With firm conviction, Bishop Gerald O. Glenn of The New Deliverance Evangelistic Church in North Chesterfield, Virginia, held in-person worship on March 22 despite warnings about the need for social distancing. In the service Bishop Glenn declared, ...
The Pandemic swept through the world. It is said that 5, 000 died in one day in Rome. Anyone with resources and means fled from major cities and sought sanctuary in remote locations. Social distancing was practiced long before the term was ever ...
Moderators Note: A video version of this blog from Bishop Lowry is available at the end of this post. Charles Wesley’s great resurrection hymn rings out: “Christ the Lord is ris'n today, Alleluia! Sons of men and angels say, Alleluia! Raise your ...
Last week (March 20), I shared a guest blog from Professor Peter Bellini Associate Professor of Evangelization at United Theological Seminary. Dr. Bellini has written a follow-up to that piece he titled “10 Guidelines for Christian Living in These ...
While much of the United States is focused on the impeachment trial of President Trump taking place in the U. S. Senate, I am in Israel on a Holy Land pilgrimage. The same day this writing is scheduled to be posted, we will be at the site of a ...
The earliest creedal affirmation of Christians is the simple phrase, “Jesus is Lord.” Such a confession stood in sharp contrast to the central claim of the Roman Empire with its assertion that Caesar is Lord. At the heart of discipleship lies the ...
As I have indicated in previous blogs during this time of crisis in The United Methodist Church, I find myself being driven back to core purposes for The United Methodist Church. In doing so, I cannot avoid wrestling on a deeper level than I have in ...
Among the many insightful statements from Gil Rendle (recently retired Sr. Consultant for the Texas Methodist Foundation) is the comment, “the narrative [stories of faith transformation] change before the metrics do.” Recently, we began our Fall ...
I returned home from a month of renewal leave last Monday (Aug. 19), and quickly found myself re-immersed in the regular routine of the episcopal office. There were predictable emails awaiting me about this initiative or that problem. A slew of ...
I returned to work the first of July after a week off in Northern Virginia with our daughter, son-in-law, and two grandchildren. While the grandchildren (6 and 3-years-old respectively) left me exhausted, it was a good kind of exhaustion. For a ...
This Blog is part three of a three-part blog series pulled from my 2019 Episcopal Address delivered on June 11 to the lay and clergy members of the 109th Annual Meeting the Central Texas Conference of The United Methodist Church. To view the video ...
This Blog is part two of a three-part blog series pulled from my 2019 Episcopal Address delivered on June 11 to the lay and clergy members of the 109th Annual Meeting the Central Texas Conference of The United Methodist Church. To view the video of ...
This Blog is part one of a three-part blog series pulled from my 2019 Episcopal Address delivered on June 11 to the lay and clergy members of the 109th Annual Meeting the Central Texas Conference of The United Methodist Church. To view the video of ...
Dean David Watson of United Theological Seminary will serve as the Guest Teacher for the 2019 Central Texas Annual Conference meeting. At the 109th annual gathering of the Central Texas Conference, we have the special privilege of having one of ...
This coming Sunday night we will open the 109th gathering of the Central Texas Conference at First United Methodist Church in Hurst. Worship is central to who we are and what we are about. The Psalmist writes... 1 Shout triumphantly to the Lord, ...
I want to emphatically encourage every church in the Central Texas Conference to send at least two people to the Laity Summit planned for 9 a.m. – 3 p.m. Sunday June 9 (just before the start of Annual Conference 2019). Mike Ford, our outstanding ...
The question lingers from a sermon delivered by Dean David Watson. “When people look at your Facebook page or your Twitter profile, do they know you are a Christian? Okay, you say, I have repeatedly posted Bible verses with colorful, flowery ...
It is the morning after St. Patrick’s Day and I find myself musing about what this great Christian hero would teach us. I invite us to get past green rivers, green beer and the wearing of the green for there is a towering Christian who stands both ...
Later this week, Bishops and delegates to the Special Called session of General Conference 2019 will gather in St. Louis. It is not an understatement to assert that this General Conference will have a crucial role in determining the future of the ...
As I write, it is a Sunday afternoon and I have just returned to my office from sharing with Mooreville United Methodist Church in worship. While with those good and faithful people, I saw the Holy Spirit at work. But I am ahead of myself. Though ...
When I began writing my blog back in 2010, I entitled it This Focused Center based on a version of 2 Corinthians 5:14-15 from The Message (a paraphrased translation of the Bible by Eugene Peterson) “Our firm decision is to work from this focused ...
Gil Rendle in his newest book, Quietly Courageous, poses the question of whether many of us operate from a stance of functional atheism. That is, do we believe in God in some vague intellectual sense but engage in ministry as if God does not ...
As we watched the evening news together (as is our custom), Jolynn and I were sitting together on the couch holding hands. Halfway through the broadcast, Jolynn shook her hand loose and asked, “Are you upset?” Her question was spot on. I was ...
While on renewal/study leave, I am reprinting (with permission) a blog Rev. Mike Ramsdell, Executive Director for the Smith Center on Evangelism, Mission & Church Growth posted on June 13. Rev. Ramsdell’s understanding of the way mission and ...
Next week, I will be on renewal leave for a time of study under Dr. Kenneth Collins, Professor of Historical Theology and Wesley Studies at Asbury Theological Seminary. For some time, I have been concerned that for many American Christians (and ...
As I move through Lent, my days are crowded with appointment-making, struggles around the future of the church, the ever-present paperwork required to keep a large organization (i.e. The Central Texas Conference of The United Methodist Church) going ...
Take a quick test. What comes to your mind when you roll the word “discipline” over in your head? I submit that it is easy (even at the new age of 68) to remember the times of discipline for bad behavior at school. The phrase “in need of discipline” ...
I drove down to Kerrville, Texas for our family Thanksgiving gathering wearing my “Chicago Cubs World Series Champions 2017” jersey. That’s right; the shirt read “2017” not “2016.” It was a gift from Howard Martin back in early September at the ...
Somewhere in my wanderings and travels this past summer I ran into a powerful new song, "No Longer Slaves" (written by written by Brian Johnson, Jonathan David Helser, Joel Case and put out by Bethel Music). The lyrics are: You unravel me, with a ...
In my last blog, I noted that I had been recently asked to review and write a publication "blurb" for two new books, Scripture and the Life of God by Dr. David Watson, Dean at United Theological Seminary and The Band Meeting: An Invitation to ...
A series of recent readings have left me in deeper reflection about how we reach a new generation with the gospel of Jesus Christ. Dean Craig Hill’s observation (taken from a professor of his when he was a seminary student over arches my reflections....
Last Fall Bishop Ken Carter, The Florida Conference, wrote a series of blogs on “Fresh Expressions of the Church.” Taken as a whole they are outstanding and well worth reading. As a part of my own recent writing about deeper discipleship centered on ...
While we wrestle with deep divisions about much in The United Methodist Church these days, we are in strong agreement that our collective mission is “to make disciples of Jesus Christ for the transformation of the world.” Such a great grand mission ...