Peace to you. For anyone who is in Christ, peace is yours. For those who are not in Christ, peace is available to you. But a glance around at the wind and waves of culture would lead all hearts to another conclusion. If we listen, see, and feel with our emotions alone, cries of division…
The media makes money by reporting that which is sensational. I get that. But words I have heard from celebrities slung at each other in the past couple of weeks do not seem to go against trends I see in the broader culture. We are slouching toward division, lurching toward unkindness, and oozing away…
I like to blog about light and fluffy things. I tend to like to make people smile and laugh. But I take God and his Word seriously, even if I at times see humor there as well. This is not a light and fluffy blog. This is a painful blog. It is painful on many…
Mattawan, Michigan has now been my home for going on 10 years. Prior to moving here I had very little knowledge about the community other than some demographic study and a few people that I knew who lived here. God developed a church planting team back in 2008 and we began to pray for this…
If you were at the ReCAST volunteer luncheon a couple weeks ago, you heard us announce that Jackie Kline is going to work for Heartland Hospice full-time as their bereavement coordinator. If you were at our family meeting last Sunday, you heard Nathan announce that he’s going to air traffic control school in Oklahoma next fall. …
I attended a conference with more than 12,000 other pastors and lay-leaders in Louisville, KY earlier in the month and it was an amazing conference with hours of great preaching, amazing worship with thousands of voices lifted up in praise in the KFC Yum! Center. But out of all that experience one particular nugget…
9 years ago today I preached my first sermon as a lead pastor. Preached is a funny word, because it was 16 adults in the basement of a home in Mattawan, MI. We brought folding chairs from our card table sets, Dave Bunt brought his acoustic guitar and he sat on the hearth of…
If God told you to share your story with others, would you? If he asked you to air your past with the heartaches, the lies, the sins, and the brokenness in order to help others, would you do it? I am so thankful for one of our church members, Jacque Chislea, who has responded…
I am almost recovered from the jetlag. The trip to Indonesia was a grueling haze of airplanes, airports, waiting, and restless attempts to sleep in a smaller space than my body is made to occupy. The trip was worth it. I cannot speak to any eternal results. I do not know how heaven will be…
In the past year I read or listened to 51 books. Listening to audio books while running has added a new dimension to my “reading” and I have found that listening to books while running has given me a chance to take in books (mostly novels) that I couldn’t quite justify reading with the long…
I moved to Mattawan in March of 2009 with a focus on planting a church in this community. My wife and I were joined by a handful of couples who had a passion and desire to see the Kingdom of Jesus Christ growing, and we were sold on the idea of church—planting as a vital…
As a church-planter/Pastor I have had a front row seat to see God move in and through the lives of a church over the course of time. And it seems like there are transitional times that move me to reflect more on our history and the great things that God has done. Receiving our new…
