Dear Church Family, When churches do things together they represent an inkling of what the kingdom is supposed to be. On Sunday we will worship with Bowen Community Church on their site at 10:00 am for our traditional "Church in the Wildwood". We're hoping to be outside (so bring a sweater) but we may end [...]
Dear Church Family, What is your threshold for pain? Whether it's physical, mental, emotional or spiritual, our friends in the Old Testament certainly put up with a lot. And for what? They all seemed to believe it was worth it to suffer for the glory of God. We won't be talking about Shadrach, Meshach [...]
7/17/2024 Dear Church Family, The amazing thing about being 63, a pastor, a father and now grandfather is the regular occurrences of life and death. Babies are born and others leave this earth. I just received news of another high school classmate departing. And I just came from visiting Kevin and Deb, our friends from [...]
7/10/2024 Dear Church Family, Today is an exciting day. My daughter Randi, gave birth to a healthy baby girl. Marianna Elizabeth. She and her husband, Joe, live in Denver. Tracy will be flying up from Scottsdale tomorrow and I'll pick her up at the Denver airport. For the last several months we've been trying to [...]
Dear Church Family, Just like every bottle of medicine or container of a dangerous chemical, they come with a warning, I feel obligated to put a warning label on "CHURCH". Here it is: Warning: Reading God’s Word and praying will reveal your greatest weaknesses, unveil hidden sins, and transform you into the person God intends [...]
Dear Church Family, I have found it so helpful to read the Bible with the lens of "How did they pray?" We often are very rigid and imagine that there's only one way...the Presbyterian way. So, if you ever go to a Catholic, Lutheran or Pentecostal church, you are tempted to wrinkle your nose and [...]
Dear Church Family, The old hymn "Take it to the Lord in Prayer" has a line that goes like this: Are we weak and heavy-laden, Cumbered with a load of care? Precious Savior, still our refuge— Take it to the Lord in prayer; It reminds me that we often [...]
Dear Church Family, C.S. Lewis said “It would seem that Our Lord finds our desires not too strong, but too weak. We are half-hearted creatures, fooling about with drink and sex and ambition when infinite joy is offered us, like an ignorant child who wants to go on making mud pies in a slum because he [...]
Dear Church Family, On Sunday we'll have a a great day of celebration. My ordination is a confirmation of the call God placed on my life when I was 21. When I sensed God calling me during my senior year in college I laughed. I had spent a great deal of time with Inter-Varsity Christian [...]
Dear Church Family, This letter will be what you will also see in May's Newsletter. I thought it was worth repeating: Ordained/Installed/Certified/Transitional In every institution there are words that are unique to that group of people, and understanding them often requires a lexicon or an advanced degree. But we dare not oversimplify certain terms because [...]