I have dropped many things in my life. One time many years ago, while living in an apartment shortly after Adam (my first born) was born, I opened a fresh two liter of Orange Fanta, and proceeded to drop it from cupboard height right onto the linoleum floor. The resulting fountain was so impressive…
DetailsI was a lifeguard in my youth. I served at Camp Barakel as a lifeguard, a head lifeguard, and I even worked at the Y as a paid lifeguard when I was newly married and trying to work as much as possible to make ends meet. And one lesson that I learned as a…
DetailsPeople have strong opinions about money. As a matter of fact, I believe that many people actually love money. But when money and faith or money and the church combine in discussion, I have found over the years that people get nervous, angry, or opinionated. Personally, I have have intentionally worked to make sure…
DetailsReCAST Church has submitted paperwork to apply to become a member church of Camp Barakel in northern Michigan. They will be discussing and voting on our application at their annual meeting in October. On a personal note, this is the camp where I met my wife. This is the camp where I asked her to…
DetailsThe waters are rising. West Michigan has been experiencing a very wet Spring. This would not be anything new, except that a couple of watersheds in our area have experienced unprecedented elevation in the water table. Pine Island Lake, Bankson Lake, and Crooked Lake are at record levels. And many people have found their…
DetailsI recently heard that Facebook is going to be getting a new overhaul. I have personally noticed that Facebook has been on the decline and there are fewer friends on there now than there were even a couple of years ago. In a culture of over-sharing, maybe there is a corrective movement toward more…
DetailsMy oldest son has suddenly become a senior. He has three more weeks of classes. And in a whirlwind Memorial Day weekend he will graduate, have his Open House, and move to Camp Barakel for a summer of ministry there before he goes to Cornerstone University as a freshman next year. Time goes by so…
Details10 years ago today I posted on Facebook “Don is calling tomorrow a pivotal day in his personal history.” I did not know then, just how true that statement would be. But I did NOT know just how misguidedly narrow that statement would prove to be. That first meeting of ReCAST Church has proven to…
DetailsLast week we had a scary situation at ReCAST Church. A woman arrived to drop off her children at ReCAST Kids and could not find her 7 year old son. Our children’s director and hall monitors went to work right away scouring the building and the search spread outdoors as the Elder on Duty was…
DetailsI am currently auditing a seminary class that is covering the way that the church should interface with a post-Christian culture. It has been helpful to consider the role that the church should play, in a culture that is increasingly marginalizing the church as a primary influence. We live in a very divided culture right…
DetailsI was born and raised in Michigan. The seasons no longer surprise me. It snows in the winter and gets cold. It gets hot in the summer. The leaves turn and fall in the Autumn. And the flowers bloom in the Spring rains. Each transition from one season to another brings anticipation to my heart.…
DetailsMonday February 25, 2019 will go down as a day of ghastly and reprehensible actions by the senate of the United States of America. It makes precious little difference if you are a Democrat or Republican. On this day, Senate Bill 311 (aka: The Born-Alive Abortion Survivors Protection Act) was voted down in the senate…
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