The Ten Cities

A couple weeks ago I clicked on a link that took me to an article published in BusinessWeek.com entitled, “America’s top 10 Unhappiest Cities.”   The article computed their unhappiness quotient, if you will, on the basis of such things as the incidence of depression, suicide rates, violent crime, and unemployment.  Before I list the cities …

What about Them? Reflections on Mark 1 and beyond … Part 2

At the beginning of Jesus’ ministry, as Mark tells it, it seems he make a critical decision to leave one place of highly fruitful ministry to go to other places.  This was good news for folks in the other places, but bad news for the people who “missed the ministry of Jesus by a day.”  …

What about Them? Reflections on Mark 1 and beyond … Part 1

If you’re going to be in ministry—a person or church joining Jesus in his ongoing mission—you are going to disappoint people from time to time.  You will not—cannot—satisfy all the expectations that people have. Every time we travel out of the U.S. we have new adventures in disappointing people.  We walk through a marketplace and …