Three Notch’d District Conference
November 23, 2025
Good Shepherd United Methodist Church
John 1:35-46

Before I pray and before I preach, I believe it is important for me to say a few things that need to be said. I believe that, in so many ways, the church writ large and the United Methodist Church in particular are at a crossroads unlike any we have ever previously encountered. As such, it is important that, in all that is to come, we truly get it right. This wounded and broken world is watching us; watching and waiting to see whether we will truly rise to the present moment, whether we will trade our birthright for the weak and stale broth of political power, or if we will rise to our calling to be salt and light for the world, true agents of change, as Christ calls and equips us to be.

But first, allow me to name a few things about how we arrived at this present moment. I believe that it is true that the things we do not talk about will never improve. Failure to name and discuss where we have been is both an engine of the status quo and a guarantor of generational trauma.

If you began your ministry anytime in the last thirty years or so, or if you were a layperson in leadership in a local church during that time, you likely participated in some gathering at the district, the conference, or the denominational level that spoke to you in great length about techniques. This is particularly true of the clergy, but not solely limited to us. For example, if you were ever told to read books written by the likes of Patrick Lencioni, Marty Linksey, Ronald Heifetz, Jim Collins, or Stephen Covey, you are likely one of the people I am talking about. If your church has a three word slogan, I can almost promise you that at some point, your church’s leadership read a book titled Simple Church. 

For a while, all you had to do was go to the airport and purchase books at Hudson News.

The central conceit of this movement was for the church to look to the business world, and to believe that the only things standing between Christian leaders and wildly successful congregations was better leadership and strategic planning, and who better to teach us the techniques to accomplish than the world of business and business books. “Just learn the proper techniques,” we seemed to say, “and you will be a success. You will be well-known, highly-respected, even sought-after. From the caterpillar that is Steve Jobs, you stand to emerge from the cocoon of techniques as the next Adam Hamilton.”

The problem is that it didn’t work.