Listening is a key component to effective communication in improv, to the work of collaboratively making scenes up on the spot.
Read MoreCome see what is happening at Haw Creek Commons.
Read MoreIt scares me to go out on stage.
Read MoreI first went to The Dietrich Bonhoeffer House, an intentional Christian community of the Missional Wisdom Foundation's Epworth Project located in Old East Dallas, in December of 2016.
Read MoreYou already belong. Be who you are.
Read MoreLast week, I had the privilege of traveling with my wife and our friend, Ryan Klinck, to just outside of Philadelphia to participate in the opening worship service of the Eastern Pennsylvania Annual Conference.
Read MoreImprovised comedy begins with “Yes, and.”
Yes.
I agree to the name you just gave me, the relationship you clarified, and to the situation you established.
And.
UMC LEAD is excited to announce that registration and the speaker application for the 8th annual LEAD Conference are now open. This year’s conference will be held in New Orleans, Louisiana from January 13th-16th, 2019. The host hotel will be The Troubadour and the host church will be St. Mark's UMC.
As a personal spiritual discipline of late, I have been taking improv comedy classes at the Dallas Comedy House. In improv class we begin with a few warm-ups. They move the body and get the blood flowing, they help lower our defenses and embrace the playfulness of the environment, they get us engaged. They help us practice saying yes, being present, and supporting one another.
Read MoreI thought of the many times I had puzzled over the ancient Sunday Gospel Reading Cycle. I had prayed the cycle for many years; I found it deeply meaningful and loved it profoundly.
Read MoreThe Parable of the Sower
A Book Review by Larry Duggins
As I was searching for an audio book to ride with me on my annual summer trek to Asheville, I stumbled upon The Parable of the Sower by Octavia E Butler. I was hoping to find something written by someone who has a different life view than my own and Ms Butler was an African-American author winner of a Hugo, a Nebula award and a MacArthur Fellowship. Pretty strong credentials.
Read MoreMatthew’s gospel was written to the Messianic Jews of Antioch two to five years after the destruction of the Great Temple of Jerusalem and the massacre of all its priests. The Temple, its rules and priests had represented the center of their lives, and now many were certain that God had abandoned them.
Read MoreTo Those Who Are Concerned…
Read MoreEyes blinded by tears—more than that—blinded by fear, blinded by dreams crushed as fine as the dust under her feet as she walks.
Read MoreTwo Views on Homosexulaity, the Bible and the Church
A Book Review by Larry Duggins
As part of my personal analysis of the Way Forward issues, I went in search of a good book that fairly deals with the various arguments around the human sexuality issues without screaming at me about them.
Read MoreReturning from Camino
A book review by Larry Duggins
Alexander Shaia is a wise and experienced man with a fascinating combination of lived and acquired knowledge. He has studied hard to build a wonderful base of psychological, theological and anthropological knowledge, and he has tempered those with the life experience of an immigrant and a pilgrim.
Read MoreThe Ahadi Collective hosted a Meet the Makers event on Memorial Day weekend to engage with the community and share their work, products, and stories. Promotion began weeks before through multiple avenues and platforms.
Read MoreThe highest point on the island of Iona is a peak called Dùn I (I = “ee”). While this climb, and the accompanying 360 degree island view, is available to anyone, pilgrims climb it as part of their pilgrimage around the island. It serves as a celebration point, a mountaintop moment, for it can be difficult to scale, and even harder, sometimes, to then find your way back down.
Read MorePaul Tillich's The Courage to Be gave me language to articulate a knowledge that is deep within me.
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