I love football! I don’t get to watch much anymore as I am on the road most weekends. With satellite technology, however, I do get to listen to a few games as I travel around our District on Sundays, Mondays, Thursdays, and Saturdays. When I was a kid, college football was played only on Saturday and the NFL was…
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Recently I was visiting with one of our RMD pastors and the conversation drifted to the all too familiar “summertime slump” in Sunday attendance. As we discussed potential reasons why and possible ways to address it, he shared with me something that his church is doing to respond to this trend. It was such a…
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Never. What an interesting word. Looking this word up in various dictionaries, you’ll find definitions like: not ever, at no time not in any degree, not under any condition certainly not; by no means; in no case An interesting phrase that sometimes gets bandied about is “Never say never.” Usually when that phrase is used,…
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Recently, I was visiting with a layperson in one of our churches who I have had much interaction with over the past twelve years. He had heard we had been re-elected to a fourth four-year term and was expressing “his condolences” as he put it, haha. He went on to say, “I bet you’ll have…
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As I wrap up the busy spring ministry schedule and head into a change of pace for summer, I’m looking forward to processing some of the events, reading, and discussions that I’ve experienced over the last few months. High atop the list of things that are on my mind are the following two ideas. #1…
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I recently came across a blog posted by Ken Baldes, Vice President /Operations Treasurer and COO for the C&MA. Some of you may have seen this post in Ken’s monthly Alliance Treasure’s update, but I thought it was worth sharing here in case you missed it or do not have access to Ken’s update. The…
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Recently a friend and I were talking about things that mean a lot to us, and why. We were not talking about human beings or the Trinity or anything of that nature, rather we were talking about things that had great meaning to us and the reasons for that. I shared that one of the most meaningful…
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By the time you read this, if Jesus hasn’t returned, we will be less than six months out from the 2024 U.S. Presidential election. I can almost hear the collective groan and dismay at the thought of six months more of political advertising, conversations, and arguments. However, this is a very critical time in the life of our nation…
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Most of us desire excellence and would love to be excellent at what we do. Overall, I think this is a good thing and something that God would praise and encourage us toward. However, like almost everything, there is a dark side to excellence, especially when it comes to church. In short, I believe the…
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This past Friday, Good Friday as it is called, a very important person in my life went to be with the Lord. Ray was in his late 40s (maybe early 50s) when Lori and I started in full-time ministry in 1984. He and his wife, Helen, were extremely gracious, kind, and generous to us as we…
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