We are accepting leadership nominations at Woodmont for two more weeks. Here is the link to nominate. Woodmont has a great history of strong leadership, and we are grateful for that. I recently recommended a book titled “Tempered Resilience” by Tod Bolsinger to our leaders which talks about how leaders are shaped and formed during challenging times. We have certainly been living in challenging times. Leading any organization in normal times is never easy. Leaders are criticized, second-guessed, doubted, projected upon, blamed, ridiculed, and much more. Leading over the past two years......

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This Sunday is Homecoming Sunday at Woodmont! Summer is quickly drawing to a close, school is back, and we are now ready for fall kickoff. I feel renewed and refreshed after a sabbatical and I’m looking forward to seeing all of you. Our children will move up to their next grade level and fall programming will kick off. We have decided to hold off on our children’s moment until after Labor Day because of the rise in Covid cases. Parents will continue to take children straight to their classrooms before worship. I......

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Woodmont family, Our leadership has been very diligent in working to keep our congregation safe during the Covid pandemic while also allowing our ministries and worship services to continue. We are certainly aware of what is now going on with the Delta variant and we are watching the data closely. Masks are strongly encouraged for those who are unvaccinated and those at greater risk of infection. Children ages 3-11 who are still not eligible for the vaccine will continue wearing masks inside the building. This has been somewhat challenging to enforce, but......

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I’m entering the final few weeks of my sabbatical. We will welcome two very special guests to our pulpit. This Sunday, August 8th, my friend and new Belmont president Dr. Greg Jones will preach. Greg is the former dean of Duke Divinity School and a widely recognized leader and theologian in America. On Sunday, August 15th, we will welcome Dr. Lee Camp, ethics professor at Lipscomb University. I look forward to being back for Homecoming Sunday, August 22nd to begin a new fall series called “Questions of Faith” based on specific questions......

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During the first part of my sabbatical, I have been able to rest, reflect, renew, plan, and spend meaningful time with family. We are now in the Outer Banks with Megan’s family. I miss seeing everybody and have enjoyed tuning into to worship online. It occurs to me that one of the great ironies of ministry is that all the important things pastors are called to do – preach, teach, counsel, write, administrate, lead a staff, do weddings, funerals, navigate a pandemic – do not always lead to a spiritually balanced place.......

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Sigmund Freud famously remarked, “Life as we find it is too hard for us; it brings us too many pains, disappointments, and impossible tasks.”  Freud says, “We are threatened with suffering from three directions: from our own body, which is doomed to decay; from the external world which may rage against us with overwhelming and merciless forces of destruction including earthquakes, floods, and other natural disasters.”  But finally, he says, “we are threatened with suffering from our relationships to other human beings.  The suffering that comes to us from this source is......

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This past Sunday, June 20, we voted to approve both our proposed operating budget and our new leadership slate for the upcoming church year. This coming Sunday, June 27, we will install our new leaders at the 10:45 AM service. Our final “Leadership and Character” class will be this Wednesday night, June 23, with Hunter Mobley at 6:30 PM in the chapel. Thank you once again to everybody who made a commitment to support Woodmont’s ministries for another year. On Sunday, I shared with you the words of one of my Princeton......

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Former Tennessee Governor Bill Haslam is a rare breed in American politics. He is a moderate Republican willing to work with the other party to get things done for the common good. He is also a strong Christian who claims that his faith inspired him to first serve as Mayor of Knoxville and later as the Governor of Tennessee. He has just published an insightful new book titled “Faithful Presence: The Promise and Peril of Faith in the Public Square.” Just as Dwight Eisenhower warned of the “Military Industrial Complex” back in......

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I want to thank everybody who has made a commitment to support Woodmont’s ministries for another year. So far we have received 350 commitments totaling $2,707,169. We are still hoping for additional participation in our “Rising Strong Together” campaign. The pandemic has created significant challenges for churches and faith communities. Clergy and faith leaders have a multitude of questions as we emerge from this unprecedented time, not to mention severe fatigue and exhaustion. Will the church return to where it was pre-pandemic? Are people still afraid of Covid or simply out of......

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This Sunday, May 9th, which is Mother’s Day, we will formally dedicate our new building at 10:30 a.m. We have already moved into this beautiful space and it has been a tremendous blessing for our church as we continue to come back from the pandemic. The new Chapel is being named “Carpenter Chapel” to honor five generations of Carpenters and Drowotas who have provided strong, visionary leadership and generosity at Woodmont since the church began in 1943. The new Kids Area is being named “Johnson Family Commons” to honor Milton and Denise......

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