I witnessed the biggest miracle I will ever see in my entire life on March 13, 2020….And that same miracle may have saved the United Methodist Church.

“But I also love to remind them that as they come forward with their questions, remember that they are going toe to toe with a Markan-Johannine. Get ready for someone who has those standards too, but who also brings the fire….”

“But she recently came across a meme that said something like, “I am easygoing and welcoming. Wait, that’s not the way you fold a towel!” She laughed at the truth of it. For as much as she makes space for everyone else, she also still has very defined expectations. Those expectations, however, are still driven from hospitality.”

“As a Markan who is currently being exhausted by Mattheans desperate to do as much good as they can do in the midst of this pandemic, let me remind you that tired bodies are far more susceptible to infection. You don’t want to get sick and die because you worked too hard. Ultimately, death really limits your capacity to do good.”

“I open with a passage about John the Baptist because he reminds me of Markans: rough and wild and not conforming to usual societal expectations, and insistent that we should be focused on the Holy Spirit. True Markans neither wield, nor hog the power of the Holy Spirit. Markans recognize that the Spirit lands where the Spirit will. But they see the Spirit coming.  They know when the Spirit is near. They know what the Spirit calls them to, and what the Spirit does not. These two stories illustrate those Markan tendencies.”

“So today, I was tempted again to pray, ‘God, this is really terrible timing.’ Who releases a book in the midst of a quarantine? Me, apparently. But even as I had that thought, I changed my mind. This is perfect timing.”

“I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep.” – Jesus (John 10:11, CEB translation)

“I am Iron Man.” - Tony Stark

“Plus, Markans can tell you (and I speak from experience), being Markan is not all fire and creative expression. Markans spend a lot of time learning how to contain fire.”

Don’t agree with your Gospel Discipleship results? This may explain why….

“When the plans fall apart, as they sometimes do, having a greater understanding of who we are in the midst of a crisis allows us to plan to make room for each other.  It is giving the pastors who have this understanding of their people a way of anticipating what their people are going through. It is also giving them the means to put them to work in ways that are meaningful for them.”

“I was frustrated. All these works were talking in terms of how, and everyone’s why was the same (to make disciples who could serve and love Jesus Christ), but no one was asking the who question. Who are the people who are trying to be disciples?”

“But all the voices. All the authoritative announcements that come through, and then are followed with corrections… All the misinformation. All the rumor. I can’t take it. I can’t sort through the truth and the lies fast enough. Did I mention I am secondarily Johannine?”

“Markans usually can’t get anyone to move at the pace we really want to move, and yet here we are, the whole world moving at that pace at once. But movement for just movement’s sake is never what we wanted. Movement because the Spirit called us to move… that’s what we want.”

“But keeping everyone safe and holding everyone close are working against each other in this situation, and it is making Lukans absolutely crazy.”

“Oh, I am feeling for my Matthean friends right now. We all have our anxieties to confront in this COVID-19 reality, but to be told to stay home and basically wait this out?  Uh uh. That is not how Mattheans work. At all.”

“This is what it feels like to be a disciple of Jesus. Discipleship does not remove the storm. Discipleship transforms the storm.“