I don’t even know when it happened.  Sometime in my youth, I decided to cheer for the University of Michigan.  I didn’t know anyone that attended there when I was young.  I had never set foot on the campus, and yet I went all in with my support.  The years piled up, and the ups…

I have often joked that my taste in music doesn’t suddenly change because it is Christmas.  I’ve never been a Christmas music person, and to be honest, some of the songs I enjoy the LEAST are Christmas songs.  ‘Wonderful Christmastime’ by Paul McCartney ranks right up there with ‘Hippopotamus for Christmas’ and ‘The Little Drummer…

I am preaching on a passage in the gospel of Luke this week, where it is recorded that Jesus cast a demon out of a man in the synagogue in Capernaum.  It doesn’t happen in the Upside-Down.  It doesn’t happen in the ‘spiritual realm’.  It happens on planet Earth.  In Galilee, in the town of…

I have songs.  Now let me back up for a minute and identify that I am absolutely one of the LEAST musical people that I know.  I have never produced anything that comes close to music.  I enjoy singing.  I enjoy listening.  I even enjoy trying to dance if the moment is right.  But I…

I listen to a handful of podcasts most weeks, and two of them highlighted the problems of ai (you may note that this is not in all caps as usual, keep reading to see why) within the past 24 hours.  Both of them spoke to the same issue, and this got me thinking. In one…

I fear that far too many American Christians have formed an opinion of their responsibility to the poor from experience or from political leanings.  I have had many conversations over the years about poverty that concluded with discussions of poor choices and drug abuse.  I have also spoken with people who have a shocking level…

Putting those words together in a blog title is part of my bold sense of humor.  As an unofficial reformed Baptist who would not baptize infants, I am including these two together at the connecting point of church growth. ReCAST Church has continued to grow.  It has grown in size as well as in depth.…

Every time another church is attacked I go deep into what ‘ifs’. As a pastor of a flock, I am called to care for my flock.  But the metaphor gets cloudy.  Am I supposed to wrestle with bears and lions?  Am I called in any sense to physically preserve my sheep and protect them from…

She forgave him!?  I saw it live on TV.  I heard it through speakers piped into my living room.  Others were in the room who could verify what she had just said.  I’ve gone back and watched the clip a dozen times.  And it still amazes me.  It still shocks me.  Forgiveness will never be…

I have been a pastor for 20 years and am closing in on 100 weddings that I’ve officiated. And there a couple of trends I have seen in the past several years that I think are worthy of note.

Most weddings are now outdoors. I don’t have a STRONG opinion about this, but just an opinion. A church building is meant to evoke thoughts about the presence of God. I will be the first to admit that He is NOT any more present in a church than He is in a vineyard, or on a farm, or at an outdoor wedding venue . . .

The whole nation seemed to be united behind one thing for the past week or so . . . Two people in a spotlight at a Coldplay concert. Now I have a confession . . . I like Coldplay.

I am preaching my way through 2 Timothy and I encountered this verse this week in my deeper dive for my sermon.
2 Timothy 3:9

One of the largest task of any leader is to clarify the answer to the question “why!?” I have been listening to the book “Extreme Ownership” by Jocko Willink and Leif Babin. Leif participated in many of the missions to regain the Iraqi city of Ramadi.