In fact, this is what I FIRST believed in the fall of 1974. I sat in a lecture at Clarion State College. I was listening to Josh McDowell, traveling apologist for Cru.* (A much older Josh is pictured to the right.) I was a skeptic. Not a hostile skeptic, but a jaded one. It is […]
As I ponder the question, “What are some of my traditions and practices associated with Holy Week?” memories of my childhood and the church I grew up in come flooding in. It was a traditional Baptist church, so we held close to the church calendar, and that meant we were at church A LOT during […]
Passover and Holy Week Holy Week was totally foreign to me when I became a follower of Christ at 20 years of age. I had no idea of the importance of Jesus’ final week on earth. Now I spend Holy Week considering each of Jesus’ days – where he went, who he interacted with, how […]
For those of you who are not familiar with the Church calendar, or the Church year, it is a centuries-old way that many Christians have used to order the 365-day year. The early Christians believed that the rhythm of the year gave us a perfect opportunity to re-enact the story of our salvation. The Church […]
Yesterday was Palm Sunday, the triumphal entry of the Servant King, riding a donkey into the city of God. It marks the beginning of the most Holy Week of the Christian calendar. The events of the upcoming week will race by with growing intensity. Living Word is not a strongly liturgical church. In fact, we […]
Pastor Aaron and I were at a conference recently. One of the workshops Aaron attended provided these statistics. 20% of people attend church 20% say they attend, but rarely do 20% would attend if invited 40% don’t attend and won’t even if invited That 40% is a group we really care about, but they are […]
I was one of the 9 billion people who saw The Black Panther blockbuster Marvel movie. I liked that movie on so many levels. There is one level that you may have missed. In case you are one of the 27 people in the United States who has not seen this movie, here are a […]
Here is a selection of quotes for this week. Enjoy, consider, and find some of your own. Often when you think you’re at the end of something, you’re at the beginning of something else. (Fred Rogers, Mister Roger’s Neighborhood) We are not afraid of change. We are afraid of what we perceive we may lose […]
I recently had the pleasure of sitting down with Todd Spahr and Brian Lauer, both of whom just returned from Vidor, Texas. They were with one of the first teams sent down to help people recover from the devastation of Hurricane Harvey last fall. Todd leads one of our growth groups, and Brian is a […]
It is people like Kyle Maynard who truly inspire me. I referred to Kyle’s story in my Sunday morning message. Kyle was born with congenital amputation, which meant he did not have hands or feet. What would you do if that was your situation? I’m really not sure what I would do, but we do […]