“The Blessings of Belonging” was the title and the tenor last Sunday’s sermon. I leaned hard into these two undeniably positive words and followed Paul’s soul stirring strategy of tying them together. Blessings – those things in life that we are fortunate to possess, participate in, experience, or have bestowed upon us without a hint of entitlement. Belonging – being significantly united with people by virtue of ideals, interests, pursuits, convictions, community, and family. The linking of the two is especially powerful, beautiful, and life giving. This is especially true of one’s faithf ..read more

This week we commemorated Phil Potratz’ retirement after 39 years of ministry, with 16 of those right here at FBC Murfreesboro. Once again, I join you in expressing our appreciation for Phil’s life and ministry among us, and our love to Phil, Karen, and the family. It was a joy to interview and pray for Phil during our morning worship, and in turn, have him pray over the church he has loved and served for so well for so long. There was also a wonderful turnout for the afternoon reception, with a steady line for over an hour and a half. During that time, we were pleased to present Phil with so ..read more

Like you, I have been just short of transfixed on the unfolding events in the Holy Land ever since the brutal Hamas attack on Israel last Saturday. “Attack,” I suppose, is too mild a word for the carnage instantly inflicted on innocent villagers and revelers gathered in the spirit of love and unity. Atrocities the world has been both able and forced to witness in real time. Barbarous savagery born of utter evil. Merciless, remorseless, limitless infliction of pain and death. Once again Jews have been beset by agents of hate without regard for Hebrew life, personal or collective. Oddly, my fir ..read more

Yesterday’s worship brought our eight-week series “Life is a Circus” to its conclusion. While we really didn’t set out to make it a grand finale, it was a particularly moving service that I believe reflected the best of who we are as a church. The baptism of Hayden Anderson, with Great Grandmother looking on from the organ bench was touching. Hayden’s request that Heather go with her into the water reflected both her appreciation of Heather’s role in her decision and our value of women in pastoral leadership. It was beautiful. Not knowing this would be his daughter’s baptism Sunday, Bryan h ..read more

Beginning next Monday, FBC will become home to one of the most impactful organizations in the Middle Tennessee area. Possibility Place is a free standing local non-profit organization whose mission is to provide possibilities for adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities. And they do that mission well, and directly impact nearly fifty clients over the course of the week, as well has providing much needed hope and respite for their families.  We have a history of sharing in this kind of caring initiative, aimed at a population that is often overlooked and can fall thro ..read more

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Morning Thad. And Happy Birthday. Just for fun, see if this story sounds familiar to you. Within days of his thirty-seventh birthday, a young man enters significant new employment.  Fifth job, fourth state in his fledgling, emerging, fifteen-year career. Previous posts, with their varied degrees of pleasantness, left him with skills and scars, as well as a heightened sense of professionalism and perspective. Credentials and credibility, resolve and resilience. And a modicum of hope. The journey seemed longer than it was, and less direct than it could have been. Yet, the arrival seems pun ..read more

Dear Gabriel, Those may be the two truest words I have ever written. You are Gabriel; a name your parents did not choose, but suits you well. And you are indeed dear. Dear to me, and to all of us fortunate enough to count as “familia.”  And, in time, to many others. Gabriel is a strong, beautiful, happy name, taken after one of the Bible’s two named archangels. (By the way, you have an uncle named Michael, after the other one. So, on the angelic front, the Moneys are now fully represented.) That’s fitting. In the Old Testament, Gabriel means “God is My Strength.” In the Gospels, he is the ..read more

May has always been a favorite month of mine. There is something about the full-on arrival of spring that, unlike April, one can trust not to have days of cold, wintery reversion. As a kid, May would mark the end of school and the beginning of summer. May always harkens me back to anniversaries of meaningful mileposts. I graduated college and was ordained on a first day of May. So was the day Lisa and I bought our first new car together. It was Derby Day in Louisville and no one else seemed to be shopping for one; so, as I recall we got a particularly good deal. Princeton conferred a doctorat ..read more

THIS, I CANNOT NOT LEAVE ALONE “Bless everything you can bless and leave the rest of it alone.” Glen Money; until now It has been nearly three decades since I have felt that my primary Christian and ministerial identity was Southern Baptist. I suppose I have come to see myself as a Baptist minister from the South, with feet and hands in more camps than just the one I was born into. Yet, over these years, I have pastored, with both intent and integrity, churches that partly or primarily identified as Southern Baptist. How have I done that? First, I embraced this as a practical reality of past ..read more