Author Archives: Don Follis

Last week I argued in one of my blog posts (5/20) and in my 5/25 Sunday religion column for the Champaign-Urbana News Gazette that we need to return to head patting among our flock.  Just like Linus in the Peanuts cartoon who pats birds on the head.I said people are desperate for love, affirmation, encouragement,ContinueContinue reading “Sometimes the little human birds we pat on the head turn and bite us… What then?”

As I talk with pastors and leaders throughout the week, I realize I lay a grid over virtually all my appointments where I bring these hopes and expectations …1.  Keep your promises, your word, your appointments.  Nothing breaks your credibility faster than not keeping your word.  Keeping your word develops discipline and integrity.2. Take prideContinueContinue reading “When I talk with pastors & leaders I am always hoping this will happen…”

As usual, the inimitable Flannery O’Connor gets it…Faith is what you have in the absence of knowledge…and that absence doesn’t bother me because I have got, over the years, a sense of the immense sweep of creation, of the evolutionary process in everything, of how incomprehensible God must necessarily be to be the God ofContinueContinue reading “What is faith?”

On the importance of asking great questions, I agree with renowned leader and blogger Michael Hyatt almost 100 percent… [my responses in RED.]If you are going to be a successful leader, you have to get better at asking good questions [What?, When?, Where?, How?, Why?]. You need this skill more than you need more answers.ContinueContinue reading “Cut right through the fog with the best question in the world … “What is going on?””

Deuteronomy 29:29: “The secret things belong to the LORD our God, but the things revealed belong to us and to our children forever, that we may follow all the words of this law.” * The concept in this verse is the key to dealing faithfully with painful and unjust situations. * God does not tell us everythingContinueContinue reading “The Secret things, and there are many, belong to God”

This Peanuts comic strip ran in the paper today…  Cartoonist Charles Schulz introduced Linus van Pelt as a person who liked to pat, and thus comfort, birds way back in a 1962 comic strip. Lucy, Linus’ older sister, can’t believe her brother likes to pat birds. But, as you can see, the birds love being patted. I talkContinueContinue reading “Practice patting human birds this summer…”

From Ashley Cleveland’s memoir Little Black Sheep:“I had a pastor for many years who forbade us to sing “I Surrender All,” because he said it was a crock. He said no one surrenders all and that most people, if they are honest, aren’t even qualified to sing “I Surrender Some.” I am solidly in thatContinueContinue reading “Maybe the best we can do is at least ask God for the desire to surrender to His will”

“All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness.” 2 Timothy 3:16Just the other day a pastor told me about a disagreement between two of his parishioners he is trying to mediate.  “Well, there are two sides to every story I suppose, and the truth is somewhere in theContinueContinue reading “Need an objective third party?”