Where Sunday's Message Meets Everyday Life


  • The Importance of Our Greeting Ministry (part 4)

    This is the final part of this mini-series, and I hope you’ll find it important. It’s not rocket science, but it can be helpful. If you’re serving in any area of our Greeting Ministry, you are doing a great service to both members and guests. Never underestimate your value to the overall ministry of the… Continue reading

  • Bravery, Sacrifice and Honor

    Memorial Day is a time to remember. It is a day on the calendar that is set aside to honor those who have given their lives in service to their country. Many of these men and women volunteered to place themselves in harm’s way in order to save lives, protect their fellow Americans and others… Continue reading

  • The Importance of Our Greeting Ministry (part 3)

    Never underestimate the value of a smile! One of the most important things that greeters bring to their ministry is a welcoming smile. Sure, there are days when we don’t feel much like smiling because we all have challenges in life – physical, emotional, and sometimes even spiritual. But it is exactly because we have… Continue reading

  • The Importance of Our Greeting Ministry (part 2)

    Before launching into this week’s post, I wanted to share a touching response to the last week’s post: We were blessed to be able to get my dad out to church on that Sunday. He commented about how helpful the greeters were. As we pulled up to the building, we were met by that red… Continue reading

  • The Importance of our Greeting Ministry

    Pastors aren’t very fond of those gray days when the rain is relentless, but a few weeks back we had one of those days. What made the day a bit more cheerful was one one of our greeters. He was wading out into the parking lot with a huge red beach umbrella! He could have… Continue reading

  • This Is Tough…

    This is tough… not tough like digging ditches tough or “I’ve got cancer” tough… I do have some sense of proportion here. Still, this is tough. In 28 years of ministry I can only remember missing one Sunday for medical reasons. Nancy was pregnant with Jay, and we packed up and headed to the hospital.… Continue reading

  • Tread Lightly…

    Tread lightly, my brother. All this stomping and huffing, It is beneath you. Are you not His child? Do you think God fails to notice? Do you think He does not care? Do you truly believe that Your fuming and fusing Will remedy the ills of the world? Tread lightly, my brother. See how He… Continue reading

  • Living in Oz…

    I’m not sure how many times I’ve seen “The Wizard of Oz,” but I can remember watching on television as a child. Back then it was quite the spectacle with witches and munchkins and flying monkeys, or should I say, “Lions and tigers and bears…Oh, my!” For some reason, this morning my mind drifted back… Continue reading

  • Remember me…

    As his mother nursed him while holding him close in her arms, she had dreams – dreams of the man he might one day become. Those dreams comforted her. She closed her eyes and felt his warmth. She felt it not only on her skin but deeper, much deeper. Her labor was over, and this… Continue reading

  • Responding to Hatred

    The news report read, “It was clearly a terror attack, intended to kill as many people as possible.” The police officer was speaking of the terror attack in Barcelona where a man in a white van plowed into pedestrians with the clear intent of bringing chaos and death. He was successful, killing at least 13, and… Continue reading