We begin the season of Lent tomorrow evening with a special Ash Wednesday service in the sanctuary at 6:30 PM starting our forty-day journey toward Easter. Sunday, we start a new sermon series focusing on Mark’s gospel called “WHY JESUS?” In the coming weeks, I challenge you to read Mark’s gospel on your own, in its entirety. It’s the shortest of all four gospels and was the earliest to be written, dating somewhere between 65 to 70 A.D., roughly 35 years after the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. The other two......

Read More

Happy Valentine’s Day! For many years, we have had a great tradition at Woodmont of our 5th graders going through the “Disciples Class” leading up to Easter. Other churches call this “confirmation” but in the Christian Church, this is when we baptize our young people into the life of the church. Over the course of about six weeks, we talk to them about faith, baptism, love, spirituality, what it means to be a Christian, making a confession of faith, getting baptized, and becoming a part of the church. This group will make......

Read More

This Sunday, Feb. 5, we will begin a new sermon series on Paul’s short letter to the Colossians called “RELATIONSHIPS MATTER.” Relationships matter in life, but they are complicated and can be challenging. They are the source of great joy, happiness, and fulfillment as well as great pain, heartache, and disappointment. The quality of our lives will always be tied to the quality of our relationships. John Gotttman says that the only empirical evidence in his research between couples whose marriage lasts over the years and the ones that don’t boils down......

Read More

I was recently invited to serve as Chaplain of the Day for the Tennessee General Assembly to open their session. The thought that I shared with our state lawmakers before giving the prayer was this: only one thing can keep you from getting along, deliberating, debating, and working with each other to lead our state. That one thing is having contempt for each other. Contempt has become a great spiritual challenge facing American society at this moment in history. Bill Haslam talks about this in his book Faithful Presence. Harvard professor Arthur......

Read More

Happy New Year! I am writing this while flying back to Nashville from the Fiesta Bowl where we watched TCU defeat Michigan to advance to the National Championship next week in Los Angeles. It was an amazing experience ! I never dreamed I’d get to see my school go play for a national championship! Get ready, Georgia fans, because we are ready for you! We are entering a brand new year, and a new year is a time to start fresh and cast vision. I will begin a new sermon series this......

Read More

Christmas Day has now come and gone, but Christmas is only the beginning. 2022 is quickly winding down. This is a great week to reflect and set some goals I want to thank everybody who has supported Woodmont this past year! Your generosity and and presence makes our mission and ministries possible. Jesus was born in a stable and laid in a manger because there was no room for him in the inn. But I would argue that for many today, there is still no room for Jesus. We’re too busy. We’re......

Read More

Walk Thru Bethlehem was an incredible success. Thousands walked through the village to experience this amazing outreach of our church. Thank you to everybody who worked so hard this year! This week, we will ordain two of our staff members. Farrell Mason’s ordination is in the sanctuary Thursday evening at 5 p.m. and Jenny Simmons’ ordination is in the chapel Sunday at 3 p.m. Members are invited to both. We celebrate both of these incredible ladies! I have always loved the Christmas season. I love the parties, the lights, the trees, the......

Read More

Walk Thru Bethlehem week is here and the church is very busy. We are excited to bring this major ministry back this year. We are now accepting nominations for church leadership. New terms begin July 1, 2023. This is an extremely important process in the life of our church. Leadership always matters! John Maxwell says that “everything rises and falls on leadership.” He says: “PEOPLE determine the potential of the organization. RELATIONSHIPS determine the morale of the organization. STRUCTURE determines the size of the organization. VISION determines the direction of the organization.......

Read More