Christmas…A Season for Mending Relationships

Christmas is a great time to reach out to an unsaved loved one. What better time of year to build a bridge of communication? My older brother was estranged from our family for a number of years and the holidays were especially hard. Finally…

Financial Counsel From a Banker!

My younger brother John and his wife Nancy along with our mother, Esther came over tonight for a visit through Sunday afternoon. Already had some great laughs! Nancy is a banker and I thought a few tips from her would be good for all us. Here…

Easier to Gripe Than Give Thanks

I called several absentees today and told them I have been missing them in services, love them, and hope they will come back to services. With the way people travel these days, and miss church for so many entertainment reasons, it is hard to…

Church was fun this weekend!

I am a pastor and I still love church (at least most of the time)! We have five services now it was just flat out fun this last weekend! One of my spiritual sons, Kevin Foster, was here, and I did a simple introduction to the message while…

Hanging Out!

Hanging out with some staff at our house--eating, watching Amazing Race--Jamie Kemp, former Jr. High Youth Pastor @ Naperville, IL Calvary is here with us. Jamie & Tosha are itenerating for missionary ministry among youth and children in…

Serving Others Together!

Just finished our "Big Give" where we tried raising 5,000 coats for the needy in our communities and it was amazing! I don't know how many thousands of coats were donated and how many we gave away today but it was such a great demonstration…

Handling Criticism

One of the costs of leadership is criticism. It is a price all leaders have to pay. Sometimes it is very helpful, but other times people are punitive and just reflecting the dysfunctional behavior they have never conquered. Most of the time…

What To Do When You Feel Like You’ve Bombed!

I proved yesterday in chapel at North Central Univeristy (NCU) in Mpls, MN that no matter how much experience you have in preaching--it is possible to "bomb!" I preached (tried to!) on "Overcoming Racism" which is a topic I have preached on…

Finishing Strong

From June 2005: “For you have need of endurance, so that after you have done the will of God, you may receive the promise:” Hebrews 10:36 NKJV Recently I was speaking with Gordon Anderson the President of North Central University in Minneapolis,…

Importance of Evaluation

We are in the 4th week of our Saturday night services--are doing 8 then will evaluate and see what happens. Are we only shifting people, have we really grown (don't think so yet) ?--we'll just have to see! The nice thing about Saturday night…