Over the last two months, our congregation has been hosting a free marriage seminar that has been a great source of encouragement and enlightenment to all who have attended. Each week in our seminar, we give away one of four books on marriage that we highly recommend to every engaged or married couple. You might … Continue reading Recommended Books on Marriage
The other day a woman called our church office needing to talk to someone. When I got on the phone and introduced myself, she asked if I was the leader of our Celebrate Recovery ministry. I said, "No, but I might be able to help you." And she opened up and started to share her … Continue reading She Hung Up On Me
If you've been following this blog series then you're getting a good feel for how impactful my recent sabbatical was for me. It was kind of like the experience of realigning tires on a car. When your tires get out of alignment, you can still move forward but it's not a smooth ride; and, sooner … Continue reading Sabbatical, Part 4: How to Incorporate Sabbatical into Everyday Life
Continuing the blog series on my month-long sabbatical, today I'll share what I learned. If you've been following the series, you know that I tried to be very intentional about my time away from ministry. That intentionality served me well and allowed me to be open to new ideas, new lessons, and new observations. Here's … Continue reading Sabbatical, Part 3: What I Learned
On Monday I started a blog series about my recent month-long sabbatical. You can read the first part here. In this second installment of the series, I want to tell you what I did. Since I wanted to be very intentional with my time away from ministry, I structured my sabbatical around three agenda items: … Continue reading Sabbatical, Part 2: What I Did
I just finished a month-long sabbatical that was given to me by my Elders as both a reward and a necessity. It was a "reward" of appreciation for the service I have provided to our church family and it was a "necessity" because of the toll that service had taken on me physically, emotionally, mentally, … Continue reading Sabbatical, Part 1: The Why & The How
Our Father who art in heaven, We praise your great and glorious name. We believe that you are the Creator of the universe, and we believe that you have created every man, woman, and child for your good pleasure. We believe that you have made every person to be a person of inherent worth and … Continue reading Sent (A Prayer)
We're coming to the end of playoff season in Major League Baseball, and it's been another good one. So far, there's been one thing that has stood out to me above everything else, and it's something that we can all learn from - even if you're not a baseball fan. So, hang with me and … Continue reading Advancing the Runners
The congregation for whom I preach recently launched a 5-year vision that is designed to position us to be more effective witnesses of the gospel of Jesus Christ. The most immediate piece of that plan is the renovation of our auditorium and the addition of another worship service time. This move will "force" each of … Continue reading A Change of Mindset
Every Christian knows that he or she is called by God to live as an "ambassador of Christ" through whom He is making the good news about Christ known to all people (2 Corinthians 5:20). But how do we do it? And how can we prepare ourselves for it? Here's an article by preacher and … Continue reading 12 Steps For Becoming More Evangelistic
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