So my mom catches sight of one of my required reads this semester. To the book called The End of White Christian America by Robert P. Jones, she says, “Oh, interesting.” Oh? Interesting? She’s actually spot on. This book is totally interesting. To start, Jones chronicles three iconic church builds...

The April 22nd lectionary text included John 10:11-18, Jesus the Good Shepherd. In the children’s sermon, which is always a significant motif continued into the sermon, I was speaking on how it could be possible for a shepherd to perform a safekeeping measure to realign a sheep that perpetually wanders....

A top agenda item in America this year is safety. How we keep ourselves safe is a perpetual news thread these days. Like many I know, you may be deeply invested in the conversation, and here I’m speaking to gun control—but not in a way some may think. The best...

Who does—and who does not—get to heaven is a tender subject, or should be. Who is heading for heaven or hell should be approached with gentle love because the “Who is in—and who is not in?” conversation can certainly be divisive. Regardless of where you are on the theological spectrum,...

On the day Jesus died, two criminals were hanging next to him, one on either side. One mocked Jesus. The other, recognizing divinity, would see his Savior in paradise. “The salvation of the thief on a cross gives hope to every sinner,” writes Trevin Wax in his March 6, 2018...

On Good Friday, Christians remember the day Jesus willingly suffered and died by crucifixion as the ultimate sacrifice for our sins (1 John 1:10). Good Friday is followed by Easter Sunday, the glorious celebration of the day Jesus was raised from the dead, heralding his victory over sin and death...

Well-known author and speaker Tullian Tchividjian recently tweeted, “Those who struggle with believing that they are weak will also struggle with believing that God is strong.” Tchividjian is right. If we don’t think we need a god, we certainly won’t be seeking one. And that makes this next week on...

In this Sunday’s lectionary scripture, Jeremiah speaks to a people far from home and bereft of hope. Into their situation, the prophet speaks words of a covenant radically unlike the one handed to them through Moses. This covenant is not written on stone tablets but on the hearts of those...

The four-letter f*** word I grew up with was not to be said by a kid, at least not in front of an adult. There’s a new four-letter f*** word. Actually, it’s not a new word, but like the f-bomb mindful society banned when I was growing up, this word...

In the almost ten years I’ve been a fulltime pastor, at least one person a year has shared with unflinching candor that the end of the world is near. I get why these words spill. Too many heartless or crushing tragedies in such succession are overwhelming. Underneath these hard knocks...