Religious Freedom in the Parking Lot

Many churches have used their church parking lots as a drive-in worship service.  The concept is pretty simple.  People drive to church, stay in their cars, and listen to the worship service over loudspeakers or on their FM radios.  It is one way of doing church while trying to maintain...

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A Plea For Truth

“”I don’t know if this is true or not.” I know it’s not true, but I wanted to get people’s reaction.” “I just reposted it.  It’s not my job to verify it.”  “I know it’s not true, but it’s funny!” “I’m not sure whether it’s true or not, but this...

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Before I vote

Questions I Ask Before I Vote As a pastor, I do not publicly endorse candidates, nor do I share my party affiliations publicly.  I’d rather be known as a follower of Jesus than a supporter of ‘Candidate X.’  In the same way, our church does not endorse a candidate, and...

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Respect at the World Series

I’ve sung this song before, but it needs to be repeated.  RESPECT—in American culture—is sorely lacking. The latest issue that led to this blog is the booing of the President at a World Series game and the crowd chants of “lock him up” that occurred in Washington D.C. on Sunday,...

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Freedom of Religion

“Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof.” Those are the opening words of the very first amendment to the constitution of the United States of America’s in the portion known as the Bill of Rights.  If you know your United States...

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Honor The Emperor

We’re doing it wrong. Christians are fond of quoting 1 Peter 2:17, “Show proper respect to everyone, love the family of believers, fear God, honor the emperor.”  We have no emperor (or king, as in some translations) so we correctly apply the verse to mean that we are to respect...

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An Open Letter To Congress

With copies to Senator Martha McSally, Senator Kyrsten Sinema, Congressman Paul Gosar, and Congressman Raul Grijalva. I’m a pastor, not a politician. I usually focus on theological, moral, church leadership, religious, and family issues, rather than political issues. But I love my country and I take a deep interest in our...

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Happy Earth Day!

Today is Earth Day. It isn’t normally considered a Christian holiday.  But I think it should be. Unfortunately, I have some Christian friends who consider Earth Day as an anti-Christian holiday, because they lump anything from the environmental movement into the “anti-god and almost atheistic” category.  I have many Republican...

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The Christian and Civil Disobedience

Twice in my recent sermon series (Basic Christian Growth, based on the Book of Acts) and once in my Christmas series (when we got to the Magi), I made a comment that raised some eyebrows.  I said, “If there is a conflict between the law of the land and the...

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