Blog
Once, when I was pastoring, a woman I knew in our church made an appointment to see me. On the day of our appointment, my secretary led her back to my office. She didn’t say anything as she walked through the door and sat down. The woman looked directly at me and...
On a walk last week, I saw a group of turkeys sitting on a fence. It got me thinking about how we can become so afraid of offending someone that we shy away from expressing the truth, especially about hot-button social issues. To a passerby who wants to see a...
As summer winds down, I’m thinking of the summer of 1973. It was a special time. On Mother’s Day, I proposed to Jan, and we set the date of our marriage three months later. That summer was carefree and filled with expectations of a new life and a new future...
Today, there are many formulas floating around the American Church promising success. If you do this – that will happen. They don’t require much faith – you simply follow the formula and you will arrive at your spiritual Disneyland. Most of these so-called formulas...
I am tucked away in a lodge outside of Bend, Oregon on a writing retreat. For the last three days I have been assembling and editing my personal God-experiences and testimonies, an exercise I have been encouraged by the Lord to do over the last two years. For...
In the late 1980’s and early 90’s many pastors in America hung out in the business section of their local bookstore. In those aisles stuffed with business knowledge were books that drew their titles from subjects like swimming with sharks, searching for...
As young church planters, Jan and I knew very little about what it meant to plant a church. We had a calling and a measure of faith and that was all. When we entered the ministry very little was available in resource materials on how to plant a church. I think...
Living in Berlin, Germany brought to me many memorable moments. One of those moments took place because of a decision I made to stop and buy some fruit. After World War II, the Soviets were one of the major powers to occupy postwar Berlin along with the United...
Social media can be a powerful tool when used properly. Along with a Facebook account, I also have a Twitter account. I am coming to appreciate Twitter more because it forces me to be concise. Twitter only allows 140 characters for a user to craft a...
Most of us have been stung - by bees and by people. Both experiences hurt. Just the other day, I was riding my scooter home from the church office. I came to a tricky intersection where I would need both hands on the handlebars to safely make the turn....
When our kids were in grade school we pastored a wonderful church on the coast of Oregon. The coast culture is a great place to live. We still look back on those years with great warmth and affection. Shortly after we arrived, we sensed that God was beginning to...
Thirty-one years ago I was a struggling young pastor. Jan and I, along with our two little children, left all that was known and familiar to us and journeyed north to Montana to plant a church. This was our first attempt at starting a church and our first...
From my earliest memories, I can remember my father’s tattoos. He had one on each arm. On his right arm was a beautiful old style tattoo where he had inked my mother’s name, “Lavert.” On his left arm was another tattoo with the word, “Mother”. My father...
“The old system under the law of Moses was only a shadow, a dim preview of the good things to come, not the good things themselves.” Hebrews 10:1 Jesus cast His shadow from eternity into the history of the Old Testament. The festivals, feasts and observances...
As a pastor, I receive some of the latest information about what is taking place within the church world. A lot of what I read is the search for "The Next Big Thing" coming to the Church. Over the years I have seen this search take people on a quest...