Many leaders have it all wrong. They work hard to motivate the people they lead, but instead, they need to stop demotivating them. This is crucial for leaders to learn, or they will hurt people, discourage them and lead less effective teams. Demands, threats and promises of reward don’t motivate people to work harder or…

In his 2024 Diocesan Convention address, the Rt. Rev. Dr. Justin S. Holcomb emphasized “the one thing that matters most”: the gospel of Jesus Christ (click here to view Holcomb’s articulation of the gospel during his 2024 Convention address). That gospel knows no age boundaries, a blessing that some in the Diocese of Central Florida…

Pentecost Sunday is the commemoration and celebration of the receiving of the Holy Spirit by the early church as recorded in Acts 2. In that chapter, Jesus’ promise of the Spirit (John 14:15-31) becomes a reality as the Spirit descends on the disciples at Pentecost. The disciples “began to speak in other tongues” (Acts 2:4b),…

During Eastertide, we lift high the good news that God’s saving work in human history has been accomplished solely through the life, death and Resurrection of Jesus. We proclaim that in Christ, God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting our trespasses against us, and that salvation is not earned by any human effort…

  For Christians, resurrection isn’t just a way of expressing a spiritual truth. We believe that something unique in human history happened when Jesus rose from the dead. The resurrection of Jesus is a central tenet of the Christian faith. One of the earliest creeds (concise summaries of Christian beliefs), the Nicene Creed, declares the…

In the depths of despair, when darkness seems to envelop us and hope feels like a distant memory, God breaks through with promises of hope and comfort. In the book of Lamentations and the Gospel of John, with support from the Gospels of Matthew and Mark, we find passages that speak to the human experience…

On Feb. 8, 2024, Dr. Mike Allen, academic dean of Reformed Theological Seminary Orlando, Oviedo, welcomed those gathered to the third annual Cranmer Lecture, “Worship by Faith Alone,” presented by 2024 lecturer, the Rev. Dr. Zac Hicks. Click here to listen to Hicks’ lecture in its entirety, including a Q&A. With clarity, Allen summarized the…

If you’ve made some resolutions for 2024, consider this: Like other exercises of raw willpower, most New Year’s resolutions fail miserably. According to research, only 8% of Americans who make resolutions stick with them. In fact, the research also reveals that 77% of people maintain their resolution for the first week, but only 19% for…

The Advent season highlights some staggering, life-giving truths about infant Jesus. Scriptures call baby Jesus Immanuel (God with us) and the Savior. Christmas itself is all about God becoming human—the incarnation. This central doctrine of our faith makes two amazing claims: Jesus is truly God, and Jesus is fully human. These two truths are essential…

I have had the joy over the past few months of teaching through the four Comfortable Words, found in our Book of Common Prayer and designed to be delivered by the priest after the confession of sin. We conclude the series with this post, but before we do, let’s take time for a quick review….