It’s tempting to jump from Palm Sunday to Easter, skipping over all the dark and difficult stuff in between. Who doesn’t love to celebrate a winner? The week began with an exuberant parade as throngs of Jerusalem dwellers and tourists cheered for Jesus. The week ended with a bloody corpse stuffed into a small cave after intense pain and humiliation, …

Even with Holy Week (the name we give to the week leading up to Easter) fast approaching, yesterday’s events in Nashville can’t help but derail our plans for celebration.  I invite you to pray for the school, the church, the community, the families of the victims and the family of the perpetrator.  While this issue is laden with all manner …

The Bible is a little too accessible.  Well, maybe that’s overstating the case a little, but here’s what I mean. The accessibility of scripture invites a level of familiarity that is positive on the one hand.  It’s obviously good for us to grow in our understanding of the Bible.  But there is a shadow side of that accessibility: it tends …

There is power when the people of God pray as one. There is healing, connection and works of the heart that happen when we come together under his name. We truly believe that we can experience Heaven on Earth when believers come together, grow together, grieve together, worship together and pray together. Over this 40 Day Lenten season we have …

As our Lenten journey toward Easter Sunday continues, I‘m so excited about our church’s focus on prayer during this season!  Over 170 of us are praying together every morning as we share the videos created by members of our own community (it’s not too late to join us!)  I genuinely can’t think of a better way for us to deepen …

When you’ve been in church for decades, it’s difficult to appreciate how daunting Christianity can be for newcomers.  Those who come to faith later in life might know a little better the kind of courage that it takes to come to a church on a Sunday morning for the first time, open a bible for the first time or go …

Happy Valentine’s Day!!! This day is a wonderful time to reflect on the power of faith, hope and love. St. Valentine was an early Christian martyr who died for his beliefs in the third century AD. His life stands as a reminder of our shared commitment to living out our faith in all aspects of our lives – even when …

The Villarreal Family recently learned that their neighbors were planning to move and sadly, where they were going meant their pet donkey, Elvis, could not join them. They knew their neighbors were very sad and concerned about what would happen to their furry friend. Villarreal Family to the rescue!  They talked it over and together decided to invite Elvis to …

The human imagination is a powerful thing, especially when it operates without our conscious awareness! When Margaret and I lived in Tyler (in northeast Texas), one of our neighbors owned three German Shepherds.  When we moved into the neighborhood, a few of our new neighbors warned us about both the dogs and their owners, but we didn’t think much of …

Do you ever feel like you are constantly on the go? I know that I do. Life gets so busy sometimes that it becomes hard to prioritize things. Our world tells us that being busy, constantly on the go, is the path to success. It has caused us to become an individualistic society. God never intended for His people to …