We began a homeless ministry in January, and we have housed from 2-10 people each night since then, using the existing facilities of 8 different churches. This IHELP model (Interfaith Homeless Emergency Lodging Program) offers our homeless guests up to 90 days in a shelter, with showers, dinners, brown-bag-lunches-to-go, and...
I am often on Facebook and Twitter, and I enjoy it. (I also try and keep up with my kids and grandkids on Instagram and Snapchat, but I don’t post much there.) I use social media for fun, to communicate to people important to me, to promote my faith, beliefs,...
I was looking for the right image, artwork, or photograph for this blog, so I googled “love” and I looked at the resulting images trying to find what I wanted. There were hearts. Flowers. Couples kissing. Children holding hands. Picnics. Puppies. Sunrises and sunsets. Diamond rings. All of them beautiful...
This may just be the strangest blog I’ve ever written. It’s on a topic that I hope you never need to use, “How to leave a church with integrity.” I will start with some honesty. I don’t like it when members decide to go to another church. It hurts my pride...
I continue to answer questions submitted by FSBCA members, and I must admit that I’ve received many good questions, far more than can be answered in Sunday morning sermons this month. (I’m glad to pastor a church of curious-I-want-to-know-the-truth kind of people!) Many of these questions will be answered in...
I believe in religious freedom. I also believe in serving people and loving people regardless of their background, their morality, and their faith. So if I’m a baker of cakes, and someone wants me to bake them a cake, I would do so. I would bake them a cake if...
On the night Jesus was born, according to the traditional reading of the Christmas story, the angels said to the shepherds, “ Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men.” “On earth, peace . . .” We have yet to experience that peace on...
I received another good questions this week on a Connection Card. Are there still prophets today? This was submitted by someone with many friends who are Mormons, who call their leaders Prophets. It is a good question that requires some thinking and definition of terms. In general terms, a prophet...
I received a good question regarding my sermon on October 26 on prayer. The series of questions on prayer included, “Can prayer change God’s mind?” and “If we pray for someone’s salvation or a revival of the nation, don’t people still have free will?” The questions concluded with the...
Our staff has been busy thinking, studying, and praying about how to reach the unchurched. As part of that study, we read the book, “The Rise of the Nones,” by James Emory White, which stimulated my thinking and contributed to these thoughts, as did a conference by Lifeway Researcher Ed...
