There is a lot happening between now and Easter.    Ash Wednesday… This past Wednesday, Lent began for Christians around the globe. It was the day set aside to face the fact of human mortality, signified by placing ashes on their foreheads. It’s an annual grim reminder that we all came from dust and are going to return to dust someday.    Each year, many Christians observe Lent. For those who practice it, it’s a time to cultivate awareness of God’s presence and to remember the 40 days Jesus spent alone in the desert without food. In many ways, the desert symbolizes a spirit ..read more

I mentioned in my last email that I’m reading and studying the book of Revelation.    It has continued to be a very captivating and interesting study. There are many who believe the book of Revelation is nothing more or less than a hidden treasure map, revealing much about the end times… If they study and closely follow the map, then they will know how and when the end of the world will happen. I believe they are missing the main point…     At the time Revelation was written by John, the last surviving Apostle, the early Christians were beginning to face widespread per ..read more

Our Monsters in the Closet series has stirred up a need to have some conversations about mental health. Last week I addressed how the Church in general has missed the mark in caring for those who struggle with mental health challenges. This week I want to write about what we can and should be doing to journey with people living with mental illness.    Recent research shows that people who struggle with mental illness often reach out to a church first. Why? Because churches can offer hope that other organizations can’t. While we understand that mental illness is a real illness and dee ..read more

Mountainview Family,    Last Sunday we began a new series called Captured. Our aim for these messages is to figure out, and live out, the answer to this simple question… How do we keep our attention on Jesus? It’s so easy to get distracted by everything else. What can we do so Jesus fully captures us as His true disciples?   We started the series by trying to build a proper understanding of worship. Every one of us worships someone or something. Jesus said it like this in Matthew 6:21, “Wherever your treasure is, there the desires of your heart will also be.” (NLT) What do we tr ..read more

Happy New Year Mountainveiw Family!   For the last several weeks we have opened our sermon time with a few quiet moments of praying and listening. We have been asking God a couple of questions, then listening carefully for His response. This is intentional and important. I hope you have been doing this throughout the week on your own:   Where are You already at work in me and around me, where I live, work, study and play? How can I join You?   I’ve been accused of being an unrealistic and hopeless optimist. Know what? I’m comfortable with that. Being an optimist doesn’t mean I’m ..read more

Mountainview Family,    A decade ago our church leadership made some adjustments in the way we manage our finances. One important change was to implement the use of an annual Budget Planning Card. This system has proved to be a huge help for our finance team. With the information from these cards, they are able to determine a fairly accurate idea of what the church’s income might look like for the upcoming fiscal year. This realistic projection of income allows the church leadership to “live within our means” as we prepare an expense budget, which includes local and global missions ..read more

Jesus was dead. Dead people don’t pose a problem, and the soldiers who were posted near the tomb were there to make sure nothing weird happened. As far as everyone was concerned, Jesus’ closest followers included, He was…dead. The people against Him were convinced they had finally accomplished their goal of getting rid of this madman, and they didn’t have to worry about Him anymore. He was…dead.   This was why everything was so calm this Sunday morning. Some women were on their way to the tomb to prepare Jesus’ body for its final rest. As they approached the tomb, they talked about who mi ..read more

Occasionally I've been asked why I preach from a particular Bible translation called the English Standard Version (ESV), so I want to use this week's email to explain why. There are some other important updates, so please be sure to read all the way through.    When translators begin to translate ancient texts into English, they decide on and adhere to a particular translation principle. One of the principles they use is to translate the text word for word. Using this method, translators are especially cautious to translate every word from its original language (Greek, Hebrew, Aramai ..read more

Mountainview Family,    Each week leading up to Easter we have been examining a section of Matthew’s account of Jesus’ Last Night. It’s important for all of us who read what he wrote to understand something. He wasn’t just some news reporter delivering facts about how Jesus suffered… Rather, this devoted disciple was writing out of love for his master, re-living each detail of Jesus’ suffering to teach his readers some deep lessons. His God-inspired goal was not to have us be emotionally touched and moved by his words but to be radically changed because of them.    Last Sun ..read more

Last Sunday we kicked off a new five-week series, The Table. Each Sunday we will look at a different encounter Jesus had at a table with others. Please decide now to join us for the rest of these messages. I believe God has many blessings waiting for us around the table.    In this week's email, I want to address something that is absolutely important as we follow Jesus and participate in the life of Mountainview. Please take time to read it.    Our annual budget planning process has begun at Mountainview. Most of you are familiar with what we call our Annual Budget Plannin ..read more