Relationships Should be a Wonderful Thing

It’s interesting to me how much most of us, myself often included, long to be like the rich, famous, and influential. It’s interesting because, when you think about it, many of them have oversized problems to go with their oversized success. They very often have...

Lugging Stuff Around

One of my roles here at my organization helping host short-term mission teams (a role I really enjoy). Over the years I have gotten used to team members carefully weighing their suitcases before they leave, often weighing in at 49.99lbs (flights have 50lbs limits)....

Thinking About the Past

There are good and bad aspects of thinking about the past. On the positive side, examining the past can give us direction for the future. We can look at our past successes and failures and apply those lessons to new situations. We can benefit from remembering the many...

Christ is Returning…

The question “what do you do for a living” is something of an occupational hazard when you are a pastor. The response of “I’m a pastor” can shut down a conversation, lead to a list of complaints about the Church, etc. With Christians, it can also lead to them...

Applying Forgiveness

As a preacher, my number one concern is not whether or not people enjoyed my sermon or “got something out of it” (whatever that means). Rather, my concern is whether or not they actually put the text into practice and followed Jesus in a deeper way. Now that we’ve...