Our web designer, Esther Watson, cooked up a new look for the home page of our website. I liked what we had, but this is better. We never want to stop working on things. We believe that everything should stay a work in progress. Churches need to pursue excellence, and that means continually striving to […]
I found a great one the other day: A book on art & theology excerpted from the great thinkers from the time of Christ to the present. It has writings from Justin Martyr to Luther to Kierkegaard to Bonhoeffer. Could it get any better? :)
I’m a big fan for making memories and creating traditions. Tamara and I want our kids to be full of fond memories from their childhood and home (and nothing cuts a memory more than the repetition that comes from traditions over the years). We’ve got plenty of em’… the way we celebrate Christmas (all month
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This morning I had the opportunity to speak to a group of businessmen and businesswomen at a Central Oregon Christian Businessman’s breakfast. I traced out the history of the sacred/secular divide in the Western Church and then discussed how the Reformers tried to unify the split and help people realize that everything is spiritual and
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Here is a brief meditation from Chuck Swindoll that I quoted in a sermon this morning. It had a profound impact on my life… hopefully there is someone else out there who it will speak to as well. ATTITUDE The longer I live, the more I realize the impact of attitude on life. Attitude, to
I’m realizing more and more that God’s dream for church, and my dream for our church, absolutely requires discipleship. Discipleship simply means the process of helping someone become mature in their faith and Christlikeness. The benediction from the end of 2 Peter sums it up well… “grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord
I had someone ask me to define Christian community and I thought I’d throw out my current thoughts… (so don’t clobber me if I say something that I’ll want to modify later :) This morning at staff meeting I confessed to Kip, Fred & Brandon that after all this time I still think I make
I had coffee today with a new church planter friend of mine, Brent Hofen. Brent is out from Minnesota to plant a new work in Bend, Oregon. He is creative, strong, and has a clear vision. This is what I love about church planting… it raises the bar! My hope and prayer are that as
No sooner did I write about communication than God demanded it of me. Prophecy lives!! Today was a non-stop barrage of high level communication needs and opportunities. I’m exhausted!!! Sure is nice that “24” is on TV tonight. It’s the only show I’m addicted to, and tonight all I need are Tamara’s quesadillas, a milkshake
I’ve been thinking about communication a lot lately. I think that communication is the greatest medicine to relational stress, conflict and misunderstandings. In other words, communication is of grave importance in the spiritual side of life. (And since I think everything is spiritual or affected by the spiritual, it is also important for the physical
