Below is Pastor Don’s blog, where Pastor Don shares his thoughts on Scripture, current events, and more. Make sure to check back here frequently to read more about topics we may even discuss when we meet!
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…
When we started ReCAST Church back in 2009, we had no employees. Technically, I was paid full-time as the church planter/pastor, but I was paid fully by another church that entire first year. Berean Baptist Church in Portage, MI, was generous and gracious to give us a great financial start! But now, fast forward to…
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.…
Last week my wife spent a few days near the Florida-Alabama border with several others ladies from the church. The event was for women and was called Bible at the Beach with Nanny G (Nancy Guthrie for normal people). And while I missed my wife, I was glad for the time she was able to…
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 used the word ‘worldview’ in my title instead of ideology, because worldview strikes me as more comprehensive. And that is the point. I do not imagine that there are many people (though I tremble at the thought that there are some) who set out to embrace death, who hope to some day plunge off…
