Now that my parents are here there are a lot of “stuff” that might be potential landmines. One thing that my mom had strong views about was the fact that my brother and I should not be in the kitchen. I know what some of you are thinking… “man, is that sexism and male chauvinism […]
A Book that Expresses the Heart
One of my favorite things to do is to read – believe it or not! My perfect vacation would be staying at a hotel on a beach somewhere and then I have the freedom to watch ESPN and to read a good book with the ocean air blowing on my face. I try to read […]
Renewing Our Hearts for Prayer
We had a great time in finishing off our last ACCESS gathering for this semester in Chicago. I reviewed everything we covered this semester in our series, “Training for Transformation.” It just reminded me once again the need for doing ministry with a clear vision and purpose. Once in awhile in our church, after some […]
Another Season, Another Christmas Wish List
Early on in our family as the children were able to understand the significance of receiving presents, we came up with a method to help the children stay focused during the Christmas season. It is easy to get caught up in all the commercial aspects of the season that we forget the true “reason for […]
Recommended Shots
I just came back from getting my immunization for my trips out to Vietnam, China and Kenya. Christina went with me because she needed her shots for our Kenya missions trip in December. It was a very illuminating experience to say the least. The health professional that helped us was great. She was very informative […]
A Letter from My Son
In Josiah’s Christian school, they had the 4th graders write a letter to their pastors for Clergy Appreciation Month. Hmm… what will Josiah do since his father is the pastor of the church that he attends? Will he address the letter as, “Dear Dad” or “Dear Pastor”? When I first read the letter, it made […]
The Religion of Football
My heart was torn today because Michigan was playing Northwestern. It is like asking me to choose between Josiah and Elliot. I love them both, even though they are so different. In the same way, I love both Michigan and Northwestern – (honest confession: “I am learning to love them both”). The family and I […]
Doers of the Word
This just happened and I wanted to share God’s blessings with all of you. I think one thing that really encourages a pastor is when their members actively apply God’s Word into their lives. We have been going over Jesus’ sermon in Matthew 5-7 in a series called, “Kingdom Living.” Last week, I talked about […]
Excellence in Everything
I sent out an article to the executive team of our church about the topic of excellence. Then I received an e-mail from one of the leaders in response. Here is a portion of the e-mail (I normally don’t do post other people’s e-mail but I thought it was pretty significant… and I received permission […]
Exaltation in Chicago
I will be heading out to Chicago today to do part 4 of our 5-part ACCESS series called, “Training for Transformation.” I will be talking about “Exaltation.” The more I thought about it, I realized that worship is a vital part of the HMCC experience. It is not just in our praise time but how […]
Opportunities to be the CBTW
CBTW? The Church Beyond the Walls. This is what we have been talking about for a year and a half in our church. In order for us to be a missional church, we have to go to where the people are and also consider finding ways to bring the Gospel to the people in fresh […]
Leadership Principle: It starts at the top
“Everything rises and falls with leadership”… this is a principle even lived out in the sports world. When a team fails, do they fire the players or the coach? It is usually the latter. We found this out this week… read here. What should we do in the church? In sports they fight for millions […]
Staying Connected
Yesterday, I met up with an African-American pastor here in the local area. In the last 6 years we have developed a strong relationship with one another. It is kind of weird because he is 20+ years my elder, but for some reason we connected from day one and we have developed a good friendship […]
Courting Memories
This past Monday, I spent the whole day with Christina. It is easy to go through married life on cruise control because there are so many constants – the kids, the schedules, the activities, the routine, etc. Before you know it, your lives are going parallel rather than intersecting together. Therefore, we decided to spend […]