Disqus - Latest Comments for John

Re: The Professional Ministry

John — Wed, 22 Oct 2008 17:00:31 -0000

Professional ministry in the church today is difficult. Ministers are seldom afforded sufficient time to do their jobs. The demands on ministers far exceeds the explicit expectations of the job. I find this the most frustrating part of my job: not being able to do it.

I suspect that is an unusual problem for ministers compared to other professionals. In other professions, your provide your service or skill, and you are paid for it. I know it isn’t always quite that simple. But for clergy, exactly what is expected of us varies wildly from congregation to congregation, season to season. I would say that in my experience I generally spend half my time on my stated job description, and the other half of my time on a wide variety of tasks outside of my actual job description and training.

I dunno. Most professional jobs that I have held are like this. Expectations vary widely and there's never enough time. That's just working life.

Re: Methodist blogroll

John — Tue, 07 Mar 2006 08:14:11 -0000

Welcome to the Methoblogosphere!

Re: Battling arrogant eschatology

John — Sat, 11 Mar 2006 22:47:28 -0000

right now, I'd be ready. I'm always ready. And if a Christians has an attitude that he isn't ready then he isn't living an authentic life. The end of the world should be the least of his concerns.

Re: Dropping Bibles on the starving

John — Mon, 20 Mar 2006 12:48:33 -0000

It's a bit unrealistic, as you say, to be top-notch satire. But it is carefully written enough (e.g. subtle jokes like pie-eating contests) to be worthy of linkage.

Re: Nothing more than pious tourism?

John — Mon, 05 Jun 2006 13:28:36 -0000

That reminds me of a previous church where the youth group took a 'mission trip' to the Bahamas.

Re: ‘The time, Alex. What’s the time?’

John — Sun, 09 Jul 2006 17:57:17 -0000

This is one of my favorite movies.

Re: Trek update

John — Sun, 17 Sep 2006 15:29:01 -0000

That's good news. I was worried that they were going to mangle TOS, just like George Lucas did when he updated the original SW trilogy.

Re: It ain’t rocket surgery

John — Sun, 24 Sep 2006 17:59:56 -0000

Yeah, unfortunately with Borowitz's page, there's no permalink on the top entry until he creates a new one.

Re: DVD

John — Sun, 22 Oct 2006 16:34:02 -0000

Anything with Peter Ustinov has to be good.

Re: Sleep? Who needs it?

John — Fri, 03 Nov 2006 10:41:07 -0000

this motto.

Re: The real reason for blogging

John — Thu, 18 Jan 2007 19:39:02 -0000

Yeah, that's just about right.

Re: Church of missing the point

John — Sat, 27 Jan 2007 21:16:53 -0000

Yup. Now let's show this cartoon to the Perpetually Outraged. "Oh, this sitcom made fun of Christians. We must get it cancelled!"

Re: Kimmel sticks around

John — Wed, 21 Feb 2007 23:29:49 -0000

Unnecessary Censorship.

Re: Â¿Habla usted espaÃ±ol?

John — Wed, 21 Feb 2007 23:31:01 -0000

My parents just came back from a mission trip to Nicaragua. Mom taught sewing and Dad taught concrete pouring.

Re: Maybe Gort will vaporize the producers

John — Fri, 23 Feb 2007 16:07:40 -0000

Fort Apache with Andy Dick?

Re: Maybe Gort will vaporize the producers

John — Fri, 23 Feb 2007 16:08:22 -0000

Love your new blog subtitle. Very clever.

Re: A novel approach

John — Sun, 11 Mar 2007 19:33:32 -0000

I harass thee. Go and produce another Eberon novel.

Re: The reviews are in

John — Tue, 13 Mar 2007 14:53:22 -0000

How many of them were spam?

Re: Aqua Teen April Fool

John — Mon, 02 Apr 2007 05:29:25 -0000

Yeah, ATHF needs to draw to a close. I'm a big fan, but this season has gotten really, really wierd. Like that episode where that, uh, thing happened to Carl -- man, that was approaching sickening.

The plots are losing narrative coherency even by ATHF's standards.

Re: I changed my mind

John — Sat, 14 Apr 2007 15:25:03 -0000

That was great!

Re: Well, except that I don’t have a new car ….

John — Mon, 23 Apr 2007 22:53:30 -0000

The car is in the mail.

Re: Good question ….

John — Wed, 25 Apr 2007 21:08:21 -0000

I've wondered the same thing.

Then again, I can't figure out why anyone watches American Idol.

Re: The “R” is for “risque,” apparently

John — Mon, 21 May 2007 11:36:35 -0000

DAR -- why, it's as bad as a UMW convention!

Re: A philosophical question

John — Tue, 22 May 2007 15:02:00 -0000

I fully agree.

Re: I “completely” agree.

John — Sun, 27 May 2007 20:11:48 -0000

What bother's me are incorrect use's of apostrophe's.

Re: Back to workout

John — Wed, 05 Sep 2007 18:15:43 -0000

tiny gyms. I selected a rust-filled iron dungeon where at least 80% of the equipment is literally older than me, and it shows. But I'm grateful to have that, at least. Give me dumbells and a bench, and I'll get it done.

Re: The force was with them

John — Mon, 24 Sep 2007 09:08:57 -0000

here.

Re: Prayer stations

John — Sun, 11 Nov 2007 15:49:07 -0000

So it's like a friendly Google-bombing?

Re: C. of E. Productions Presents

John — Wed, 21 Nov 2007 08:19:46 -0000

It just shows that you have good taste.

Re: Ahead steam factor one

John — Mon, 26 Nov 2007 20:35:20 -0000

My favorite part was their Red Shirt casualty.

Re: Brush with greatness

John — Wed, 20 Aug 2008 09:28:39 -0000

That's pretty cool! He was wonderful in Planet of the Apes.

My only brush with fame is that Bob Dole once personally told me to shut up from the floor of the U.S. Senate.

Re: No. No. No.

John — Sat, 20 Sep 2008 00:05:26 -0000

I agree. It's as outrageous as proposing to write a sequel to the Bible.

Re: Gotham Knight

John — Sun, 05 Oct 2008 06:10:07 -0000

I saw it a couple of weeks ago and really enjoyed it.

Re: Culture Making

John — Sun, 05 Oct 2008 06:14:09 -0000

But I’m a blogger, and thus accustomed to over-simplistic blithering.

Great line!

Re: Change we can believe in

John — Mon, 13 Oct 2008 17:40:24 -0000

Not with you there. If it was Zorak at the top of the ticket, maybe.

Re: UK Methodists Frappr!

John — Sat, 11 Mar 2006 22:01:52 -0000

I didn't know that there were so many!

Re: Google This

John — Sat, 26 Nov 2005 04:44:27 -0000

Trying to remember the combination on that padlock that you haven't opened in a year. Wouldn't it be cool if you could search your own mind with Google?

Re: Google This

John — Sat, 26 Nov 2005 10:38:31 -0000

How about Google Where Did I Put My Darn Car Keys?

Re: Happy Anniversary to Me!

John — Mon, 17 Apr 2006 10:45:29 -0000

Happy blogiversary!

Re: Why Does Quitting Your Job Bother Other People

John — Sat, 01 Mar 2008 14:23:10 -0000

To answer the question in your post title, I think that it's often about control. Perhaps your former employer is grieving over its inability to dominate you anymore.