Check out our new worship bulletin graphic that we’ll be using for Advent. It is an original design by one of our talented members, Mark Marturello. Mark has served as an illustrator for the Des Moines Register for 25 years. Thanks Mark!
Month: November 2013
Ministry Decision Filters
Every church and its leadership is faced with choices. There are multiple decisions that are made every year that impact the future direction of the congregation. This weekend in worship I shared three questions that should serve as filters for every decision we face. Filter #1: Are we being faithful to Christ and His Word?…
Hope When You Come to the End of Your Life
One of the first disciplines I developed in pastoral ministry was record keeping. I use a special book to record every wedding and funeral that I officiate. It has blanks that ask for specific items of information as well as extra lines for me to write any additional thoughts. For some reason I have recorded…
Church Transfusion by Neil Cole and Phil Helfer
One of the leaders of the organic church movement is Neil Cole. You may or may not be interested in the organic church, but here are some quotes from his most recent book that could be beneficial to any tradition. “It is time to abandon the domestic faith of suburban consumer Christianity to live a…
How Not to Be “People Watched”
Almost everyone I know enjoys “people watching.” It’s become one of our nation’s favorite past times. Have you ever wondered if you were the focus of other’s people watching? What can people like you and me do to make sure that we are never the object of other’s people watching? Recently my daughters and I…
Hope When You Come to the End of Yourself:: 3
Jesus’ audience did not anticipate the twist in the plot. They had no way of predicting the kind of reception the prodigal would receive from his father. Jesus’ portrayal of the prodigal’s father was significantly different than their understanding of Jewish fatherhood. The prodigal’s father had been looking for him, and when he saw him…
Hope When You Come to the End of Yourself:: 2
The story of the prodigal son is familiar (Luke 15:11-32). There was a man with two sons. They lived with their father, working on the family farm. One day the younger son approached the father and asked for his portion of the inheritance. We know an inheritance as something that is transferred upon the death…
Hope When You Come to the End of Yourself:: 1
The boss of a big company needed to call one of his employees about an urgent problem with one of the main computers. He dialed the employee’s home telephone number and was greeted with a child’s voice, “Hello?” It was a quiet little voice. Feeling put out at the inconvenience of having to talk to…
