E-News Article (Page 5)
What a School Year!
Tonight is our last Youth Group meeting before kicking off our Summer schedule! Normally the school year seems to fly right on by, but this school year has felt longer than normal. I think this is due to the topics we’ve focused and worked on. We dove deep this school year. I handed out a letter to our youth parents at the beginning of this school year outlining the tough topics we’d be tackling, with multiple scriptures for each topic. How COVID has affected us
How Old is the Earth?
This was the question I received to answer on a recent Basecamp panel. The men had been asked to write down questions on 3×5 cards and turn them in. I thought this is a good question to address here as well. If you would have asked a scientist in the 1800s how old the earth was, they would have said between 20 and 400 million years old. This is based on famous Irish physicist and mathematician Lord Calvin’s calculation of how long How COVID has affected us
Say Cheese(y)
When I got married there was one thing my wife made sure we did every six months, whether I wanted to or not and whether we could afford it. We were going to the dentist. Interestingly, she doesn’t like going to the dentist, and I don’t mind going except for the times in our life when we didn’t have dental insurance. Most of those visits were uneventful. But there has been an occasion when we needed further work than just How COVID has affected us
Raising Your Future Friends
You want to know the best thing about not being friends with your kids while you are raising them? You get to be friends with them when they are grown! My boys came home from college on Sunday night. We knew that our empty nest would be turned upside down with their arrival and it was! They brought home carloads of dorm items, job schedules, and girlfriends stopping by ( honestly I’m happy about that one!) HUGE appetites and lots How COVID has affected us
Answering the Call
“Whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.” Matthew 25: 40 In the parable of the Sheep and Goats, Jesus made the point that in serving others, we display to God who we truly are. Loving God and loving others are the two greatest commandments. This love that Jesus is talking about is a love that serves others. But ultimately our service to others shows how much we love God as well. How COVID has affected us
Ecclesiastical Expectations: What Does the Bible Say?
This is the third article of three regarding church expectations. In my first article, I asked “What do you expect from the church?” In the second article, I wrote to answer the question, “What does your church expect from you?” Let’s look at what the Bible says in regard to church expectations. If you have heard of the phrase, “paradigm shift” then you’ll understand that this is nothing like what my first two posts talked about, but is rather a whole new way How COVID has affected us
A better Story
I attended a conference for preachers a month or so ago and one of the speakers shared a message from John 11 that really affected how I think about a sermon, but more importantly about how I think about the lessons learned from the raising of Lazarus. I shared these thoughts with a group of our leaders before a strategy session a few weeks ago. In John chapter 11 we read about the raising of Lazarus from the dead. Jesus How COVID has affected us
Thowing Off Everything that Hinders
Sometimes you read something and the truth of it impacts you and you know you have to share it. My sister, Lisa Seeley, posted this recently on her Facebook page and I am taking this opportunity to share it with you. Weeds stink. Look at how bent over this poor plant is because of a nasty weed that attached itself to it and is weighing it down. It made me think of sin. Sin does the exact same thing. Even though How COVID has affected us
Worth in Jesus. Strength in Numbers.
Throughout this school year, the topic of worth has come up several times. It’s been woven through the majority of my lessons during Wednesday night youth group. Why are our youth struggling with this topic? Honestly, why do we adults struggle with this topic? As Christians, we should know who dictates our worth, and where it comes from. Yet so many struggle to feel like they’re enough. We are inundated with worldly marketing. We’re constantly being told we’re missing the mark. We’re How COVID has affected us
Love Your Neighbor as Yourself
In Mark 12, one of the leaders asked Jesus what the greatest commandment was. He said that the first was to love the Lord your God with all of your heart and with all of your mind and all of your soul. And the second was to love your neighbor as yourself. I was thinking about this last night and I thought, if I loved my neighbor based on how I love myself or treat myself, my neighbor would be in How COVID has affected us