How far are you willing to go to gain what you know you need? Some of the best movies and television series we love are almost always built around a ..read more

On August 4th we kicked off this year’s “Preparing for the Pew” class. We have eight kindergarten and first graders going through a class to help transition them from childcare ..read more

So then, as we have opportunity, let us do good to everyone, and especially to those who are of thehousehold of faith (Galatians 6:10). Where do you see the focus ..read more

This week, our nation celebrates 248 years of independence from British rule. The movement that fueled our Declaration of Independence was founded upon truths from Scripture concerning God-given rights that our founders believed were being wrongly denied. Those freedoms were successfully defended (and continue to be defended) through bloodshed. But “freedom” can be a perplexing concept sometimes. What is true freedom? Freedom is defined as the right to act as one wants without restraint or hindrance. On a national level, this means America has every right as a sovereign nation to make its own ..read more

Longer days, warmer weather, and the sound and smell of grills filled with various cuts of beef, pork, and mystery meat hotdogs (personally – not a fan of this last one) are some of the reminders that summer is here. With those longer and more relaxed evenings and later bedtimes come opportunities to enjoy and even celebrate many of the things we hold dear. But how do we make these days count in terms of Kingdom value? Recently I heard an interview with R.C. Sproul near the end of his life as he evaluated his life and, with much remorse, stated that he had wasted more time than ten men. He w ..read more

Have you ever had a great idea but failed to act upon it because you didn’t have all the details ironed out? Have you ever been held back from advancement from a fear of what might go wrong? If you answered “Yes,” then you’re not alone. There are many of us who unintentionally elevate “perfection” over “progress.” Sadly, this also means we may be guilty of being less than useful because we spend too much time DREAMING instead of actually DOING. For many Christians, the old adage rings true that many of us are so heavenly-minded that we’re no earthly good. Early 20th Century author, G.K. Chest ..read more

“There are only two things that are certain in this life, death and taxes.” Like many of you, as a child I heard this expression repeated by the adults in my life a number of times. What I think they were often getting at is the idea that the world around us is always changing and that sort of change results in a degree of uncertainty. Certainty seems to be an elusive state for many today. In fact, when it comes to living as followers of Christ, certainty may seem the subject of the spiritually elite or only of the super Christians of our day. But what if certainty was in fact the default for ..read more

And just like that, the first month of 2024 is in the books. Did you know that by this point about 43% of Americans who made resolutions that they expected to keep for at least this year will abandon those by February 1? In fact, sometimes those rates of success can lead us to ask if we’ll ever make any real, lasting progress. Sometimes the cyclical nature of the rise and fall of commitments like these can lead us to a place of frustration or worse – despair. So I want to take a minute and encourage those of us in the 43% (those of you who keep those resolutions only make up about 9%). The c ..read more

The church billboard advertised itself as: The Lite Church Half the Gospel of Other Churches It continued: 24% fewer commitments 7.5% tithe 3 of 4 Spiritual Laws Worship every other Sunday As this goes to print, it begins the 75th year since Dietrich Bonhoeffer was executed at age 36. He was an anti-Nazi dissident and a Lutheran pastor. In his classic book are the words, “When Christ calls a man, he bids him come and die.” (The Cost of Discipleship) Lite Church theology results in cheap grace. It is opposite of Jesus’ words, “If anyone comes after me, let him deny himself, take up his cros ..read more

Like every loving church, we hurt when others hurt and we support one another. In recent days we have shared pain and memories of pain. Found this artwork, and I liked its intention to give hope. But in some cases, the pain may not ever completely end. As far as we know Paul’s “thorn in the flesh” was never ended. But God said to him “My grace is sufficient for you.” Charles Haddon Spurgeon wrote “God is too good to be unkind and He is too wise to be mistaken. And when we cannot trace His hand, we must trust His heart.” Also just realized, that in heaven there is “no more sorrow, no more cryin ..read more