Blog
I was recently asked to write something for a family publication that will be compiled and left behind for future generations. I was asked to answer the following question, "Do you prefer winter or summer?" I had planned to write something else today but felt the Lord...
Not everyone can amass physical wealth to leave for the next generation as an inheritance. What we can leave behind that is of far greater value is a spiritual inheritance. The Lord told David he would not build the temple. It would be his son, Solomon, who would be...
I’ve always loved ornery people, the ones that have a kind heart beneath a gruff exterior. They can appear abrasive and unpolished to the timid and tamed ones who distance themselves from such people. The ornery ones live and move outside the orbit of the fearful...
My book, God-Whispers, was just released. It is a small book about a big God. The book is a collection of personal proverbs about life, ministry and the pursuit of God. God-Whispers contains proverbial reflections of one man’s journey of faith. Over the years, I...
As a young pastor I listened a lot. I listened to the many voices of leaders who went before me. There were times in those early years when I would ask a simple question and receive a profound answer. In my first year of pastoring I asked Jerry Cook...
A forthright friend recently commented, “How strange that you are an artist, and yet you are so rigid with your time. So structured. Where’s the passion?” To which I wish I had replied: “Talent and passion don’t just transform themselves into books and paintings. That...
When Jan and I lived in Berlin, Germany we loved walking in the city parks. The park system in Berlin was unlike any I had ever seen. These parks were not the traditional square piece of land with grass and a few trees – the parks in Berlin ran through...
We have a tendency to think a person who has become a legend is stronger and more capable than the offspring of the legend themselves. If some of our legends were alive today they would challenge that way of thinking. In 1967, I was a junior in high school...
It is always a joyful day when you sit down with your editor (my daughter, Anna Elkins) and obtain an ISBN number and register the title for a new book - The Leadership Rock: A Journey of a Life in Leadership. Looks like a May 1 release date.
My pastoral transition will take place in my 65th year. I have been learning a lot about myself in this new season. As Jan and I prepare to hand the leadership of our church over to Ryan and Kate Rhoden, Ryan and I have been having wonderful conversations...
Several years ago, I realized that if I was going to finish well I would need to invest in those things that allowed me to go deeper in my intimacy with God. Over the years of ministry I have seen the encroachment of demands and needs taking over my calendar and...
My weekends are important times for me. This is the time each week the church gathers and when I teach. I take it seriously. I always want to be fresh for Sunday morning so I can give my best to God and his people. As the weekend rolls around I try...
We have just come through a moment in time where the Church has been repositioned into a new place. Few of us really understand this new position. Something has changed. This new place is not yet fully defined, but will become more evident with each passing day as we...
When Jesus gave us the Great Commission he said, “Go and make disciples of all the nations.” The Great Commission has become the marching orders for the Church over the last 2,000 years. At the end of Mark’s Gospel, Jesus told his disciples to “Go” in another...