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I have been traveling all summer and so blogging inconsistently–when school starts in a couple of weeks I will try to blog at least a couple of times a week. I am off to Brazil later today to help conduct an Elder-Link program. Since i will be talking to leaders I thought I might share [...]

In Amish life the cows have to be milked everyday.I have a few cows in my days also but not nearly as many as I often think. All the work doesnt get done and life goes on perfectly well. How do we evaluate if we have had a good day? Most of us base it [...]

So after a month of Discernment–we had a formal induction–full of ritual. Everyone verbally affirmed their willingness to live our rule and signed the covenant we had made.They were given their tunic, had their feet washed by me and the other leader, were given the Franciscan Tau cross we all wear, were anointed with oil and [...]

People are often curious as to what I read(I have no idea why) and lately I have been on a great roll-a whole series of wonderful books–so for what it is worth here it is for the last month or so: The Good Soldiers–It will be to the Iraq war what “the things they carried [...]

It was clear we had 20 guys who loved Jesus passionately but many of them didnt really know each other well so we decided to jump-start our community with a lockin–that went from about 6 at night to 3 in the morning.In those 9 hours we took giant strides toward becoming real band of brothers.We [...]

Constant travel has made posting a challenge this summer.I had a great time witht he brothers and sisters in Singapore and today begin guiding the program to train spiritual directors under the auspices of Lipscomb’s Institute for Christian Spirituality. The first rule for spiritual direction is this:you aren’t going to be anyone in the direction [...]

A quote from “The Forgotten Ways Handbook” by Alan HIrsch: “The dangerous stories of Jesus are alive in his people, and in a very real way,we must actually become the gospel to the people around us.When we look at the phenomenal movements,we find that these groups found a way to translate the grand themes of [...]

As you see on our crest, and by our closing yell, the number for TXA is “1″. There is the obvious meaning–we want to be united as a group–we want to be ONE-and I believe we are at that point where every member of the group tries to put the need of the others over [...]

In its early days, TXA has developed just a few rituals but they are highly meaningful to us.WE have an opening chant:”Let everything that has breath praise the Lord” and a closing chant: “All praise to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit. As it was in the beginning, is now, [...]

I want to share with you one of my favorite short stories in its entirety.It is written by the Russian absurdist Daniil Kharms. “Now one day a man went to work and on the way he met another man, who having bought a loaf of Polish bread, was heading back home where he came from. [...]

“You need a song, a passage of scripture and a paragraph from a book to sustain your ministry.” Everyone knows some passages of scripture are more important than others. If you dont believe this, I have a quiz on II Chron. for you. The most obvious text I could give as the center of my [...]

I continue to give a quick history this summer of the formation and first few months of the TXA Monk Warriors. After we had our first communion I gave the monk warriors a weird assignment–I gave them a metal pole about 4 ft long and asked if someone could keep it in their hands for [...]

my friend Chris Altrock gave me permission to share this from his blog–a beautiful prayer based on the Sermon the Mount. Enable me, God, to be poor in spirit, mournful, meek, and hungry for righteousness. Empower me, Jesus, to be merciful, pure, peaceful, and willing to suffer for what is right. Energize me, Spirit, that [...]

“You need a song, a passage of scripture and a paragraph from a book to sustain your ministry.” Now for the Song… The song that has been the theme for my ministry usually surprises people. Those who know my love for classical music assume it will be a classic hymn, but it isn’t quite that. [...]

After receiving invitations, 20 freshmen guys decided they wanted to pursue this covenant together.We began a month long period of discernment before formal induction and the signing of our vows.At our very first formal meeting in my living room we read a selection from “The Martyrdom of Polycarp” to remind us of those christians who [...]

Thanks to Doug Clayton for sharing this with us! The sermon on the mount is not an ideal; it is a statement of what will happen in me when Jesus Christ has altered my disposition and put in a disposition like his own…” (Oswald C). May you and your young charges be blessed in living [...]