At the base of John Wesley's tomb in London is a weathered stone bearing a simple inscription: “The Grave of Adam Clarke.” It would be easy to walk past without realizing the significance of the man whose name is carved into it. When I visited Wesley's Chapel this...
I find it interesting how quickly we can form opinions about people. Sometimes those opinions are based on personal experiences, sometimes on what we have heard from others, and sometimes simply on someone's reputation. Once we have decided who a person is, it can be...
Some of the most important work in the history of Methodism was accomplished not from a pulpit, but from a small wooden desk carried from place to place. This mahogany traveling desk belonged to Thomas Coke (1747–1814), one of the most influential figures in the...
Some of the hardest questions Jesus asks are not questions we answer with words. We answer them by what we are willing to do when following Him begins to cost us something. It is possible to admire Jesus, seek Jesus, and even sincerely want what Jesus offers while...
This single sheet of paper helped change the course of Methodism in America. I photographed it at the Museum of Methodism in London this summer. Dated September 2, 1784, and signed by John Wesley, the document records Wesley setting apart Thomas Coke as superintendent...
Waiting is difficult enough when nothing urgent is happening. It becomes much harder when something we care deeply about seems to be getting worse while we wait. Those are the moments when we want God to act now, and every delay can leave us wondering why He does not...
This Bible looks like it has been through a fire. It probably has. Its leather cover is cracked and deteriorated. The edges are badly damaged. Parts of it are visibly singed. Yet more than three centuries after it was printed, the Bible still survives. Known today as...
Most of us would rather not be desperate. We like having options. We like knowing what comes next and believing that, if something goes wrong, we can figure out a way forward. But sometimes life brings us to a place where our options begin to disappear. It is...
While visiting the Museum of Methodism in London this summer, I came across this well-worn concertina. It belonged to Rodney “Gipsy” Smith (1860–1947), one of the most remarkable Methodist evangelists of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Smith was...
There are moments when a single decision changes the direction of everything that follows. Matthew had one of those moments while sitting at his tax booth. It probably began like countless other workdays had begun, but before that day was over, his life would never be...