From Michael I am currently reading a book called “The Emotionally Healthy Church.” In the many ways that I have studied and even talked about Church, I had never seen this designation before. Big/small, old/new, vibrant/boring, traditional/contemporary, rich/ poor, well maintained/falling apart, Catholic/Protestant…are all designations that are usually made of Churches; but how about emotionally […]
From Tom We promised this list last weekend. I had a busy week that kept me from getting this out. But here is an examination of conscience. “I am the Lord your God, you shall have no gods besides me.” This commandment tells us to put our trust and faith in God more than myself […]
From Michael Fear is something we have been talking about this Lent. The Bible says “fear no evil.” And yet we live in fear all the time. And we work in fear. Fear is a danger I face, especially in leading this Church. I know I am operating in fear when I don’t do the […]
From Tom I read a few articles over the last few days about the numbers of professed Christians shrinking in our country, down from 86 percent to 75 percent. The temptation for religious people and professionals is to begin blaming the people, that they just aren’t committed to God anymore. Or we can easily become […]
From Tom After this weekend’s message I gathered a few Scripture quotes that refute some of the common lies of the enemy. These verses fight against lies that I often buy or the people I love are deceived by. Memorizing Scripture, implanting it in our hearts and minds is one way to defeat the enemy. […]
From Michael Another weekend We put a big focus on the weekend, which only makes sense given the numbers. Last weekend nearly 4,000 people showed up for weekend Masses and children and student programs. That’s a lot of people for us and it takes a lot of planning to make their experience one that will […]
From Michael As we go along from season to season and project to project (I love projects) different ministries stand out as my favorites. Currently my very favorite ministry is a somewhat new ministry called “God Trust.” God Trust Ministers (GTMs) are men and women who are available after weekend services for help, encouragement, listening […]
Since the weekend, I have continued to think about temptation. After watching the message again in our Monday meeting, I wrote in my notes “Know Thyself.” As the Pastor mentioned in the message, each of us has different temptations. We have temptations that are obvious to us, that we are “tempted” to just say are […]
This past weekend we made a big push for Small Groups. The major win was the lessons I learned. With Small Groups, I now realize how important it is to give clear direction and vision for group leaders because without clear direction leaders will do things that can be harmful to their group. For example, […]
John 8:31-48 The passage today in our reading plan is taken from John’s Gospel. Reading it again, I am struck by how blatantly the Pharisees call Jesus a product of fornication. It is a reminder that Jesus suffered not only physically for us, but emotionally. He had to endure being criticized and misunderstood. The questions […]
