by Roger Ross | Feb 23, 2024 | Blog
We had one more thing to talk about when she left. “No problem,” I thought. “I’ll call her on her way to work.” On any other day, that’d be an easy fix. But that morning, it was impossible. ATT’s sudden and unexplained network outage shut down all incoming and...
by Roger Ross | Feb 17, 2024 | Blog
It was a quest. When I left high school, I headed for Illinois Wesleyan University for a single purpose: to become a Marine Biologist. Doesn’t everyone go to a small, United Methodist-related college in the middle of the continent to study marine life? Things were...
by Roger Ross | Feb 9, 2024 | Blog, Discernment, God's call
If someone had told me in Jr. High that I would grow up to be a pastor, I would have gone into a corner and cried. The most clueless, out of touch people I knew were pastors. In fact, most of the Methodist pastors I’d run across were old, bald and boring. I figured...
by Roger Ross | Feb 1, 2024 | Blog
“I’m afraid my church is going to die.” It was the tearful confession of a leader who loved her church but didn’t know how to stop its 30-year decline. For many pastors and church leaders, this story is all too familiar. A place once bustling with...
by Roger Ross | Jan 27, 2024 | Blog
Under it. That’s the way I’ve felt most days. Understaffed, under-rested, and under a deadline. Of course, I’m not alone. Douglas Adams of Hitchhikers Guide to the Universe fame said, “I love deadlines. I like the whooshing sound they make as they fly by.” My...
by Roger Ross | Jan 20, 2024 | Blog
It saved his life. Without an organ transplant, a dear friend was destined to die young. By God’s grace, a donor was found, and the transplant was a success! However, the new organ presented its own challenges. His immune system identified it as a foreign substance...
by Roger Ross | Jan 12, 2024 | Blog
It is my friend’s stock answer. Whenever someone chides her about altering her ways, she smiles coyly and says, “Does anyone ever really change?” It’s become a joke between us, but the deeper question is no laughing matter. Not long ago, a study showed that when...
by Roger Ross | Jan 5, 2024 | Blog
“What’s your BIG goal in 2024?” For fun, I asked this question at our recent New Year’s Eve party. It stopped people in their tracks. “Um, I don’t know. I haven’t really thought about it.” But within seconds, most of them knew. “Lose 20...
by Roger Ross | Dec 2, 2023 | Blog
It surprised everyone. When “The Golden Bachelor” promo ran in late summer, many wondered, “Who will watch twenty-two 60-to-75 year old women vie for the heart of a 72-year old man?” Apparently, quite a few. Last night over 6 million people tuned into the finale to...
by Roger Ross | Sep 26, 2023 | Blog
Suddenly, a casual conversation turned into a hushed confession. Choking back tears, the person across from me struggled to squeeze any sense out of something gone so wrong. Once the story spilled, a long silence was broken with a whisper, “I just can’t forgive...
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