It seems like a few weeks ago that Linda and I were closing on our home in Mattawan and we were just days away from having our first services for ReCAST church. But that was 6 years ago today! April 19th marks the 6th birthday of ReCAST church and April 1st marks my 10th…
I am preaching through the Psalms of Ascent, and contemplating that each Psalm was sung by pilgrims on the way to the City of God. I cannot help but draw parallels between that ancient pilgrimage and the pilgrimage of the Christian to that New Jerusalem that is to come. I believe that the Psalms…
I love charts and graphs. And so when I came across this chart from the Washington Post, and it was the breakdown of Christianity by state, I was hooked. There are a couple of observations that I found interesting, and many will draw even more insightful connections. I cannot help but notice the attempt in the data…
This Sunday will be Kyle’s last week as the associate pastor of ReCAST Church. He came to ReCAST at a time in our history when we were pushing the 150 mark and I was swamped. Kyle brought with him a lot of heart, a lot of passion, love for people, and a genuine quest for…
I never wanted to be a public speaker. My Junior year of high school I had to take a speech class and I refused to give an impromptu speech earning for myself the lowest grade I received in a class in my four years of high school. I was not a rebellious kid, enjoyed academics,…
One of the risks of public speaking is getting carried away by words. So this past Sunday, in reference to 1 Peter 3:15 I was talking about how Christians should be known as a people of “hope”. So far so good! But in the middle of encouraging my people to have hope I did a…
I have now been attending churches for over 40 years. And I have picked up a few things about church culture that I do not particularly appreciate. And most of the things that trouble me about church culture revolve around the subject of conformity to non-Biblical standards. As a child I picked up on these…
Somewhere between feeling like a hip and cutting edge church planter a few years ago and where I sit right now, I lost my mojo. I could go back and search along the history of the past few years to find it, but I am not sure it was all that I felt it was…
Guess what? Jesus is coming back!! Despite being a nation with a large percentage of people who would call themselves Christians, I wonder if I am in the minority of people who actually believe this is true. Ironically, it seems like there is always someone predicting His return is soon. Someone will tie his second…
I am a Christian Fundamentalist. Compared to most Americans and many self-professed Christians I take my faith ‘too seriously’. I adjust my daily routine to rise in the morning to read my Bible and pray (because I believe the Bible is fundamentally true). I am careful about what I watch on TV and what movies…
I am a church-planter turned pastor. Between our first meeting in April of 2009 and this day, ReCAST has grown from a church plant to a church. I am not sure how long you can call a church plant a church plant, because the reality is that every church was planted at some point, right?…
I climbed out of my cave a couple weeks ago and watched “Fiddler on the Roof” at the Barn Theater in Augusta, Michigan with my wife and kids. Having set my eyes on it for the first time I was completely intrigued and torn over the theme of tradition. I grew up in a household…
