The Rookie

Last night Caleb preached his first sermon. He and several other 2nd and 3rd grade boys led our worship. Caleb and his friend Nathan had both signed up to share about their biblical hero of faith. Since they were a little bit nervous, I took them up to the building an hour early so they [...]

Workshop Fever

I’m getting excited about the Tulsa Workshop. As the weather warms up, I find myself day dreaming about loading up the van and heading west.
Are any of you making plans to attend? Have you looked at the schedule? Which classes are you eager to attend?
In addition to the usual favorites, I’m looking forward to Jason [...]

Switcheroo

I’ve noticed that sometimes when I pray about certain things, or for certain people, I do less surrendering and more wishing and defending. For instance, I’ve been praying a lot about some relatively big decisions that need to be made here at UCC. I’ve been begging the Lord to bless our leadership with one mind [...]

Bravery

My sermon title for this Sunday will be, “Jesus Was Brave.” (I know, I didn’t inherit my dad’s knack for catchy titles. But thankfully, I also did not inherit his stinky sneezes. Long story.) So, I’ve been thinking about bravery for the past couple of weeks.
Today I spent time with my friend Jon. (Check out [...]

5th Grader Awe

Explaining some of the ways that God works to a 5th grader can be a surprisingly thrilling experience. This morning Emma was full of questions on the drive to school. Somehow we found ourselves talking about spirituality. I began to explain to her that God gives every Christian at least one gift to be used [...]

I’ve Been Praying For You

Changing my prayer habits has led to some unexpected joys. Maybe I should have seen them coming…but I didn’t. I have noticed lately that I find deep joy in telling an unsuspecting person, “I’ve been praying for you daily.”
I’ve had our widows at UCC on my mind a lot this year. So I’m praying for [...]

Workshop Class

At Tulsa this year I’m doing a class on learning to love prayer. Here’s one thing I’m going to say: “We sometimes struggle to grow in our prayer lives because we set our goals far too low.” I often hear people say things like, “I know I need to be praying more. I’m going [...]