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......

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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......

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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......

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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......

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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.......

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Thanksgiving week is upon us! Thanksgiving is a time for us to slow down and count our blessings in life. We are often guilty of taking those blessings for granted. Deep down, we appreciate these things but sometimes, we start to overlook them. We get caught up in the rate race of life and find ourselves simply wanting more. Paul’s letter to the Philippians is an excellent epistle to read leading up to Thanksgiving. It is short, powerful, and inspiring. He writes in chapter four, “Whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever......

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Over the past five years, I have had the chance to do some intentional work with high school seniors in Nashville. These are seventeen and eighteen year olds who are busy filling out college applications and preparing to make that major life transition in the near future. Along with their head of school, my primary goal is to get them to think about the bigger picture of life, matters of character, values, relationships, and to reflect upon the kind of person they want to become. In the process, I have also tried......

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