Holiness Reeducation

When Gretchen and I headed off to Colorado to for seminary I was full of excitement for the opportunity to learn and to explore ministry. We were freshly married (as in we moved into seminary housing the week before we got married) and I needed a job. So I began to look around at the […]

I am always on the look out for music that speaks to preaching and this week it is the Avett Brothers on my mind. (It just so happens that Gretchen and I are seeing them in concert on Thursday). This song, And it Spread, has been swimming around in the sermon section of my brain […]

How many of us have ever been part of a church that you can say effectively made disciples who make disciples? I can honestly say that I have never been in such a church. I have been in churches that certainly have engaged in discipleship. I know that I have personally been involved in discipleship […]

Why are Christians in this country so comfortable with the death penalty? That is the question perplexing me today as I read about the candidates positioning themselves for a run at the presidency. Not only are there no candidates I have encountered who are anti-death penalty, but the most prominent Christian candidates seem to be […]

In Christian Smith’s book the Bible Made Impossible he offers a critique and response to the views and practices of biblicists within evangelicalism. (You can see my earlier posts on this idea – part 1, part 2, part 3) In the second half of the book he makes the important shift from his deconstruction of […]

Too much swimming through my mind today to delve too deeply into any of it. So today’s ramblings will be shorter and random, just the way I like it. First things first, here is a video of Mike and I performing Soul Man by the Blues Brothers to close out our worship service yesterday. We […]

Last wee was unquestionably the week of the quarterback. Half the league threw for over 300 yards, Tom Brady threw for over 500 yards and even Chad Henne threw for over 400 yards in that same game. What didn’t happen were running backs running wild. A couple of backs had really good days (Ray Rice […]

From 2 Corinthians 2 But thanks be to God, who always leads us as captives in Christ’s triumphal procession and uses us to spread the aroma of the knowledge of him everywhere. For we are to God the pleasing aroma of Christ among those who are being saved and those who are perishing. To the […]

A new Census Bureau study shows that as many as 46 million Americans now live in poverty. That is about 15% of our country or a little over 1 in 6 people. If this doesn’t shock you then the numbers must just be too abstract. Let’s make that number mean something more. 46 million people […]

Dear Father, On this day of remembering I pray that we truly remember. I pray that we remember who we are. I pray that we remember what it means to be your children. I pray that we remember who you are and respond accordingly. On this day when we look back and mourn for all […]