We are peculiar creatures. We do odd things like point out the faults in others. The funny thing is that we often point out the very things that are wrong in us. Kinda like how the liar is often the one to point out when someone else is lying…. What’s up with that? Perhaps it’s a defense mechanism within us that we automatically point out the faults in others so people don’t see the faults in us…. We like to hide. Perhaps this harkens back to Adam and Eve hiding from God after they left the front door open and invited sin to enter the world.  It’s quite absurd actually… hiding from God… j ..read more

Lord, I’m here. Speak, for your servant is listening. What a powerful prayer to pray. Simple. Direct. And yet so deep. With these few words one is literally taking on the posture of the humblest of servants. With these words we hear the very call for every Christ follower. We see an image of one’s own heart bowing to the creator of the Universe. These words reveal the very message of God. This is a picture of not only a humble person…. But a person responding to God’s call out of simple obedience.  Those aren’t my words. These words come from 1 Samuel 3. This is the story of Samuel’s call ..read more

Every pastor and lay leader has been called by God to lead or assist in leading God’s people. This call is different from any other call, as Paul points out in 1 Corinthians 12:7-1: “7 Now to each one the manifestation of the Spirit is given for the common good. 8 To one there is given through the Spirit a message of wisdom, to another a message of knowledge by means of the same Spirit, 9 to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healing by that one Spirit, 10 to another miraculous powers, to another prophecy, to another distinguishing between spirits, to another speaking in dif ..read more

Acts 8:14-17  14 When the apostles in Jerusalem heard that Samaria had accepted the word of God, they sent Peter and John to Samaria. When they arrived, they prayed for the new believers there that they might receive the Holy Spirit, because the Holy Spirit had not yet come on any of them; they had simply been baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. Then Peter and John placed their hands on them, and they received the Holy Spirit. Luke 9:51-56  As the time approached for him to be taken up to heaven, Jesus resolutely set out for Jerusalem.  And he sent messengers ahead, who went ..read more

Be encouraged as you are reminded that we can always hope in the faithfulness of our God ..read more

Retrieved from the Notes From PG blog archives… first published 07/2015 It used to bother me whenever someone would step into a ministry and within the first two years they would announce that they were leaving to accept the call to serve somewhere else. I never understood why anyone would do that. Right when I was really getting to know them they would up and leave! Then I found myself suddenly resigning my position as the Student Ministries Pastor at Oakdale Family Church of the Nazarene to pursue my call as a Lead Pastor! You could probably imagine how conflicted I have been over the last m ..read more

Retrieved from one of my other blog sites… One thing that I have learned through the years is that words matter. With just a few short words, we can either build someone up or tear them down with little effort at all. And at times, what we believe to be words of encouragement can actually do serious damage to the person that we are trying to help. Over the last few weeks, we have been discussing some of the dangers that may come out of common phrases that Christians often say. Things like: God won’t give you more than you can handle, God hates sinners, God helps those who help themselves, and ..read more

Taken from another one of my blog sites…. Over the last two weeks we have been talking about worship. We began our discussion by taking a look at the importance of worship to the ancient Jews and how worship changed through the Centuries. From Abraham’s altars to when the Romans destroyed all the temple buildings in 70AD, worshiping God changed. It changed in physical location and through unfortunate circumstances. We talked about how worship for the ancient Jew was not only for the Individual, but for the Home and Nation as well. We discussed the Mezuzah that the Jews would mount on the gates ..read more

When I was in my mid 20’s I convinced my wife to travel down to San Diego for an overnight trip just to get away for a bit and leave our worries behind. The next day we decided to go walk around and window shop at one of the malls. This is one of our favorite things to do because we would dream about the future and things we would have as our little family grew. That’s when we found the Warner Brothers store and decided to go “check it out”. As we were walking around the store we noticed a table set up in the back and a line forming with comic book geeks. Turns out that four of the animators f ..read more