A friend recently told me that attendance is declining at their church. When I asked why, there were several reasons given. But the first was the worship music. Often people cite environmental rather than spiritual reasons for leaving a church or attending less regularly. “The...
Have you ever flown in a commercial jet when it was raining at takeoff? There is something amazing about slowly rising above the storm. If it happens during the day, it’s a special treat. For you, it’s suddenly a sunny day. Those below are wrestling...
When President Ronald Reagan appointed the Rogers’ Commission in 1986 to investigate the Shuttle Challenger disaster, he chose Apollo 11 astronaut Neil Armstrong as its vice-chairman. Seventeen years earlier, Armstrong became the first person to walk on the moon and Reagan likely realized that his...
I recently became acquainted with the expression “you have what you tolerate.” O.S. Hawkins has used it in several of his books, referring to the current state of our culture and how Christ-followers have tolerated a society that’s steadily moving away from God. I have...
It’s become fashionable in many churches to strive to avoid the use of “Christianese.” This is a made-up name for church lingo that can be off-putting to new believers or the “God curious” because they don’t understand what it means, and nobody tells them. One...
One of my daily devotionals included a story last week that was new to me. It’s perfectly fitting for a Memorial Day weekend post. It shared the story of “The Four Chaplains.” A Catholic priest, a rabbi and two protestant pastors, the four were aboard...
This is a prayer for Nate. I don’t know Nate. All I know is that Nate soon will be a college graduate. How do I know this? Because I recently jogged past a house with a small yard sign that read: “Congratulations Nate, 2022 graduate...
It might be one of the most controversial episodes in the New Testament. Jesus enters the temple area and drives out all who were buying and selling there. The multiple reporting in the gospels raises speculation that this happened more than once, but the consensus...
“Is not this the kind of fasting I have chosen: to loose the chains of injustice and untie the cords of the yoke, to set the oppressed free and break every yoke? Is it not to share your food with the hungry and to provide...
Recently, I was asked to co-moderate a city council candidate debate. The organizers felt that my current role as a pastor in downtown Green Bay, combined with my previous experience as a talk show host would be a good fit. Wanting to focus on the...