At a church I once served, the first time I walked into the youth room I noticed a line of stick figures had been painted on the wall. They were holding hands and encircling the entire room. It wasn’t until I’d been there a while that I noticed one of the stick figures was upside…

As your pastor, I often hear stories about how our church is having an impact on people’s lives. The other day, Tammy was talking to one of our newer members, who told her that her family went through a rough patch recently and she needed some extra help with food. She soon found out that…

I believe the world would eventually grind to a halt without folks who have a strong work ethic. However, when it comes to our faith and salvation – working hard has nothing to do with it. For many people, that can be a little hard to understand. It’s like the story of the minister who…

Many years ago, I was driving from Ohio to Iowa for a week of vacation. The rest of my family had already gone ahead of me, so I was excited to join them. It was a beautiful summer day and about halfway there, I got off the Interstate to fill up my gas tank. When…

At our Disciples Together Worship, I introduced our theme for the coming year: “Sharing the Good News.” That’s our calling. And when we are successful in it, it’s never because of our overwhelming strength, but because of our love and hope. As disciples of Jesus, we persevere even when it would be easier to surrender.…

It doesn’t seem possible that five years have passed since we had our first Disciples Together Weekend, but it has! This Saturday and Sunday (Sept. 8-9) will be our 5th annual Disciples Together Weekend. On Saturday, we’ll lovingly witness to our community through service projects, as groups fan out through the city. And then on…

P.T. Barnum once said that, “There’s a sucker born every minute.” Unfortunately, modern day scam artists have figured this out, too. When my daughter, Lauren, was about 10 years old she got her first email address – and right away received a job offer promising her easy riches. Apparently, she clicked on the email and…

One of the many things I love about the people of First Christian is that they know how to put their “thoughts and prayers” into action. It’s like the old story about the church that called a prayer meeting for some families who had lost their jobs and were struggling to make ends meet. Just…

Have you ever had a moment when you were driving when another driver did something incredibly rude? Have you ever had a disagreement with a sales clerk that wound up affecting your attitude for the rest of the day? It can happen to the best of us. Jesus often talked about forgiveness. It was a…

While I’m on vacation this week – enjoy some holy humor from my files! On a balmy evening in the South Pacific, a navy ship spied smoke coming from one of 3 huts on an uncharted island. Upon arriving at the shore, the crew was met by a shipwreck survivor. He said, “I’m so glad…