Talbot Davis's Blog, page 18

When You ATTEND A Wedding But Don’t PRESIDE At It

Back on December 28, 2019 (the last decade, depending on how you count it), I attended a wedding at which I did not preside. Huh? Eric Matras, a friend from church, married Angie Wiggins, ANOTHER friend from church.  It turns out that Eric didn’t want me to be there in official capacity, as “officiant,” but

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What I Am Looking Forward To On February 4

Check this out: My preacher friend John Franklin Howard very kindly reached out to me, I agreed, he got the Uwharrie District to support it and VOILA! The same day the book releases, I get to lead a group of preachers … on the contents of the book. I hope the result is simplified sermons

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Top Five Tuesday — Five (Or Seven) More Great Dawes Songs

Back in November, I had a blog about my new favorite Band, Dawes, while listing their top five songs. You can read it here. However, in my Dawes’ Naivete at the time, I didn’t even know they had two additional albums that I had never heard. Now I have. And they’re superb. So here are

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Missing Peace, Week 1 — The “The Worst Case Scenario” Sermon Rewind

Yesterday’s sermon … Started a series we’re very excited about, as it deals with depression, anxiety, and stress; Led to a song Chris Macedo composed, not even knowing my sermon was about the same subject; Resulted in this bottom line: We want peace as a condition of surrender to Jesus when it’s actually a consequence

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“Missing Peace” Begins Sunday With “The Worst Case Scenario Syndrome”

The first series of any year is important. Churches and pastors have an opportunity to engage with people whose New Year’s Resolution includes “trying church again”; we have an opportunity to minister to folks who are IN TOWN all month long; and we can connect with folks who have moved into the area in recent

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#TBT — Cotton Bowl TENNIS, 1983

When I was a kid, the week between Christmas and New Year’s typically meant the Cotton Bowl. The tennis tournament, not the football game. Huh? That’s right. Dallas was then and is now the host of a holiday-flavored, mostly-indoor tennis tournament. Back in the day, the Cotton Bowl was played in the “Automobile Building,” a

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Top Five Tuesday — Top Five Things I Appreciate About Calvinists

I am a Wesleyan today because I was first a Calvinist. Huh? Yeah, my first extended church experience after coming to faith as a teenager was at a lovely church in Dallas called Believer’s Chapel. Though I was very new to the faith and didn’t initially have the language for such things, I gradually learned

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“God With Us,” Week 5 — The “Bigger Bang” Sermon Map

Sermon map? What about a sermon rewind? Well, yesterday’s message was as departure in a few notable ways. First, it was mapped out but never manuscripted. Second, it drew a distinction between the view of time in Eastern religions — it is endlessly cyclical — and time in Judeo-Christian thought — it had a beginning

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“God With Us,” Week 5 — “A Bigger Bang”

A little known fact about Advent and Christmas: in Christian thinking, Jesus first appearance is designed to heighten our anticipation for his second. What does that mean? What will it look like? What about all the books, charts, and graphs that we can buy that tell us when he is coming and how to be

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Christmas Eve, 2019 — The “Get A Grip” Sermon Rewind

My message from Tuesday night’s Christmas Eve services … Began with our congregation standing and reading Luke 2:1-7 out loud and together; Pivoted on Paul’s affirmation in Philippians 3:12 that Christ Jesus had first grabbed on to him; Was about 2/3 the length of a Sunday sermon, in recognition of the night; Landed at this

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