Most youth ministers know that if trouble is going to find you at youth camp, it will likely be on either the first night or the last night. At other times, the kids will be either too tired to bother…
Forever Changed #15: We serve so you never fear an IED at the park
Right now we are under attack! Of course when you get this the attack will be history because I am starting this email a little early to get a jump on things I usually do on Monday. I am starting…
Forever Changed #14: Praying as they are sent in harms way
One of my favorite quotes is from C.T. Studd. He says, Some prefer to live within the sounds of chapel bells, I prefer to set up a rescue shop within a yard of hell or as is the case here,…
Wait! Advent 2013
Celebrating Advent means being able to wait. Waiting is an art that our impatient age has forgotten. It wants to break open the ripe fruit when it has hardly finished planting the shoot. But all too often the greedy eyes…
Advent as parenthesis
A parenthesis is a break in the flow of a thought, an interval, or a time between two events. We experience many events in life that embody this idea of waiting either in anticipation or in dread. Life transitions are…
Forever Changed #13: flying our flags together
What a week! I know I say that every week. But it’s is true. How many of you aren’t happy unless you are running your life at 100 mph with your hair on fire? Most of you know that pretty…
Pastors need to know the gift of disappointment
One of my favorite films is Rudy. If it’s on, we watch it. If we don’t have time to watch it, we DVR it. A pivotal scene takes place when Rudy speaks with a priest he has befriended. Rudy has done all…
Living Advent
I have noticed that by the time Christmas comes, my family gladly collapses together because we are all so tired from ‘celebrating’ for a full month. What if Advent is about more than simply anticipating Christmas? As a self-identified…
Forever Changed #12: Big Bob’s Truck Stop
Sometimes I think as much as I hold back that still I am being a little heavy in my emails to you all and not informational enough about what these guys do out here. So this week I want to…