Stephanie Coontz (Marriage, A History) said in 2005, “Marriage (and family) has changed more in the last 30 years than in the previous 5,000 years.” In the 15 years since then, the changes in family have accelerated and one wonders where it will take us. So what happened? How did this massive change take place? […]
Imagine This So, you are a lifeguard. It is your summer job (in any summer other than this one). On any day there are 100 people in the pool. Every person in the pool matters to you. You keep a constant watch over all them. Then, suddenly, there is screaming. One of those 100 people has gone under and not come up. […]
As I continue my reading of American presidents, I finished a major study of George H. W. Bush, and I am finishing a shorter book right now. Here is a great thought from GHWB: “America is never wholly herself unless she is engaged in high moral principle. We as a people have such a purpose […]
I don’t want to bore you with repeated references to Eugene Peterson, but Peterson has been a significant shaping voice for how I understand my vocation for pastoral leadership and teaching. He is, perhaps, most challenging and insightful, on what he says about his own working assignment in this world. Because I can’t say it […]
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 […]
As you are reading this post, Brian Newman is in Europe at a conference on the refugee migration taking place in recent years and how the church can respond to these displaced Muslim people, many of whom are wide open to the Good News of Jesus. I asked Brian to share a few thoughts with […]
I hope you were a part of our Thanksgiving/Cardboard Testimony Sunday yesterday. It was an amazing time as we celebrated the loving kindness and goodness of our God as seen in the stories he is writing. These better stories of grace are the ones you heard on Sunday, and they are only a small percentage […]
Here is a little chart that helps me understand why we are investing a great deal of resources to expand our church facility (building and property). The foundation of everything we do is the purposes of God at LWCC. What are those purposes? Simply, through his great grace, to bring forgiveness, healing, transformation, and missional […]