Thank you for the privilege of serving you, for the grace you've shown Lynne and me, for your collaboration for the good of the church and for the sake of Christ, and for your love and friendship. It's a bit weird to say "goodbye" without really leaving. It's a "goodbye" only to one aspect of...
As I reflect on where we've been over these last 11 years, there is much to be grateful to the Lord, for. And of course many decisions I wish I could take back.But there are several things in which I did not make the progress I wanted to, and I don't feel like I can talk about "finishing well"...
We believe that the Holy Spirit, in all that He does, glorifies the Lord Jesus Christ. He convicts the world of its guilt. He regenerates sinners, and in Him they are baptized into union with Christ and adopted as heirs in the family of God. He also indwells, illuminates, guides, equips and...
I sometimes complain about 2020, but truth be told, I'm grateful for 2020. I'm not grateful for suffering, for being less connected with my family and church family, for the impact on our youth and children, or for the impact on businesses. And I'm not cheering on 2020 as judgment on sinful...
Once a quarter, I host a "pastor cluster" here at Grace - a group of EFCA pastors in the KC Metro area who meet to learn, discuss current church issues, or share what we've been learning, and then share a meal and have about an hour and half for prayer. All of us find it hard to make time for...
You've heard about the 7AM weekday online devotional that we started when the shutdown first began. Now that things are opening up again, we don't want to stop! But what is this devo like? We first scheduled them to be 5-10 minutes, just a quick thought from me, and then prayer. But now it has...
I mentioned in a previous article the online group I'm a part of to learn Italian and what it taught me about pretending in the Christian life. This group has generated another life lesson for me. Since the previous article, the members of the group have changed a bit and now settled to a...
As a baseball fan, this year has been hard. First, there was the delay of the start of the season. Second, once it began, there were no crowds in the stands, which means less energy at a game and no way to go see a game. Third, earlier this year I had received a free pass to home games ... of...
I really don't like wearing a mask. I don't like the feel, I don't like how it's a little harder to take in a deep breath, I don't like not seeing someone's expressions, and I don't like them not seeing mine. So I wear my mask. And I really don't like wearing a mask when we gather for worship...
Last Sunday night, our small group met partly in person, partly online for the first time - a "hybrid" group. We had been all online since March. For those in person, we set up a computer to display the video call on a large TV screen to make people more life-sized. Even though we weren't all...