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 am rereading the book, ‘The Pastor’ by Eugene Peterson. The book serves as his memoirs and for some reason has spoken so deeply to my soul that I have read it or listened to it more than five times in the past few years. I am currently working through it slowly with our associate…
ReCAST Church was started 12 years ago, and it was right at the rise of the smartphone craze. I had my first iPhone around the start of the church, and I barely knew what to do with it. The App Store was new and amazing, and there were plenty of games to be found to…
I knew from the very beginning of ReCAST Church that I wanted there to be a plurality of leadership. More than just a generalized desire for plurality of leadership in the church, I was convinced from the Scriptures that having more than one person leading a church was what God desires. For this reason, we…
I once heard of a prominent pastor who aspires to preach the entire Bible within His lifetime. And he said in jest that if he has the opportunity, you can be sure that the Song of Songs will be the very last one. True to his word he has not yet preached through the Song…
What the local church has in abundance, is exactly what the world needs. The local church, rather than being some business or institution, is more simply defined as the local gathering of those who have asked Jesus Christ to rescue them from their sin. They recognize Him as their leader. They have experienced salvation that…
I have developed a pattern to my mornings that have helped me to be more focused and intentional. I have not always been a morning person, but having been challenged to get up and read the Bible and pray at a men’s retreat quite a few years back, set me on a pathway of more…
There is a type of person that many Christians don’t want to believe exists. It may be that we have a strong sense of grace, a naive view of the world, or even a “think the best of people” attitude. But we need to wake up, because this type of person is only going to…
I have been listening in to the CT Audio podcast “The Rise and Fall of Mars Hill” with significant interest. Mars Hill was a church that was started in Seattle in the late 90’s and “quickly” grew to 15,000 over a couple of decades. It ended with the resignation of the lead pastor, Mark Driscoll,…
Last Sunday was our annual church picnic at the park. And the confluence of over a year of Covid and the reality that the church has grown in the past several months created a really exciting, joyful time. A couple of times during the afternoon, I stepped back and looked over the park and just…
ReCAST Church has grown and shifted and changed shape many times since we began in the Spring 12 years ago. When we had our first service with 14 adults and 21 children, there was no youth group in sight. We had two kids entering middle school that attended in those early days and I even…
I was not a summer camper as a kid. But I wish I was. I first heard about Camp Barakel when I was a student at Columbia Bible College in South Carolina. A friend and fellow Michigander invited me to come up and counsel there for the summer between my sophomore and junior year. Having…
I have been familiar with death my entire life. My formative years were spent watching my father battle and eventually succumb to cancer. He passed into the rest of it all three days after my 8th birthday. And so I have spent all of my days with a keen awareness of my own mortality. And…
