PatrickMead.net

An article in Outreach magazine prompted my staff and me to think about how to re-imagine the church. In the first century, “kingdom” language was highly effective. The people had been waiting on their Messiah for centuries. Politics and religion were intertwined in confusing and dangerous ways. In their own homes, but occupied by a [...]

Allow me to ramble…
Today’s worship was a blessing. I did a special class (part one of two) on women in ministry and worship and survived without needing Kevlar or 2nd Marine backup. At the end of my sermon in the third AM service, named Mosaic, I called up a man who has been attending for [...]

I just flew in from Dallas yesterday (Me to pilot: “Sir, was that a landing or were we shot down?”) and will head off to Ohio tomorrow to do a men’s retreat. I won’t take Northwest Airlines this time (company motto: “We’re not happy until YOU’RE not happy”) but will point my Hyundai southward into [...]

There are times I think the entire world has disappeared down the rabbit hole into Alice in Wonderland territory.
The Pope reads a medieval poet’s view that Islam breeds violence and evil. Muslims disagree with this so much they shoot a 60 year old nun who is helping the poor in a hospital (they cheer as [...]

A change of pace blog today….
Yesterday a man passed me in his Toyota Prius. He had a goatee, a smug look…. and a huge Harley Davidson sticker on his bumper. A Prius and a Harley… aren’t those two natural enemies in the wild?
It’s another dark, rainy day in Michigan; definitely fall weather. I find myself [...]

On September 11, 2001 I was playing golf with friends from my congregation. We were in Conway, SC playing The Witch. While still on the front nine a man rode up to us in a golf cart and said, “Someone’s flown planes into the Twin Towers and attacked the Pentagon. They’re evacuating Washington!” And then [...]

While we are on this topic, one of the sadder incidents I have seen unfold was brought back to me a couple of years ago… and every month since. I will not mention this man’s name, for I still love him and want him to come to a fuller and truer understanding of God, grace, [...]

Here we go again. I am used to being “written up” [for those outside of our religious circles, that means having articles published against me, my congregation, or something I've said]. Sometimes, I deserve it. I make no claim to always being right about everything. What pains me, however, is that most of the time [...]

It wasn’t exactly “Pirates of the Caribbean” but I just got back from a couple of day’s worth of island adventures. I was invited to speak at a conference/annual meeting of the FBI National Academy up on Mackinac Island.
Mackinac (for you non-Michigan types, it is pronounced ‘mack-in-aw.’ I think it’s from an Indian word meaning [...]