Happy St. Patrick’s Day! Today I am not only wearing some green but even have some shamrocks on my shirt. The ironic thing, is that I got dressed and headed off to the hospital to pray for someone pre-surgery before I even knew it was St. Patty’s Day. How lucky is that!? But this…
I just had a spat with my best friend. Something about triple booking this evening between a band trip meeting, a women’s bible study, and another opportunity I was looking forward to. I didn’t do a great job alleviating the tension, she jumped to some conclusions, but we texted our way into the clearing, and…
As I was reading through some obscure parts of the Old Testament about the assigning of cities of refuge, God impressed upon my heart His great grace in recognizing the messiness of life in a fallen world. The concept of the city of refuge was God making a provision in the event that someone…
ReCAST Church has been talking about building a building since we started to outgrow our previous facility over fours years ago. I have written blogs sporadically, we purchased 12 acres on McGillen Ave on the eastern edge of the village of Mattawan, and we opened up an expansion fund. I decided early on that…
Nobody ever refers to the children of an engineer as EKs. Or the children of a Doctor as DKs. But I have often heard children of Pastor’s called PKs. And I have the privilege of raising up three of them. My church has been a blessing to me on this front and I would…
This past year was a good year for reading for me. I enjoy reading and have started listening to audio books while I run or work out. For those of you familiar with strengths finder I have input, ideation and learner in my top five strengths meaning that I spend a lot of time…
Don originally posted this in 2015 – his 20th wedding anniversary. This year, 2018, he and his wife are still living the symbol. 23 years and counting… In desperation and youth Linda and I chose to get married 2 days before Christmas in 1995. We were so very young. I finished my final, final exam…
I am back after a month long sabbatical. I have been to the mountain top, and I have returned with many words of wisdom. Or put in a less dramatic way, I am back after a refreshing break. God did impress upon me several things while I was away. Some of them more personal in…
Through the various stages of church planting, I have often had to dig deep and ask some tough questions. Why start another church . . . in West Michigan of all places? Where is this thing going? Now that we have some stability, have we arrived? Why isn’t there a good Mexican restaurant in…
Every once in a while I get the chance to go to a professional conference or an afternoon lecture for pastors. This past week Cornerstone University (where I completed my bachelor’s degree) had a conference for pastors on Mackinac Island at the Grand Hotel. It was an amazing time away of reflection and networking…
In light of entering my seventh year as the lead pastor, the board of ReCAST church decided to offer me a month long sabbatical and a bonus. I am so grateful for this opportunity to take the month of November to read, pray, and spend some time away in reflection. I do not know…
A church is a gathering of people. People need organization. Pastor’s are either very organized or very not organized. I am not very organized. So in the vacuum left by our associate pastor’s move to a new ministry and our office administrator’s move to South Korea, we had some huge gaps at the start…
