Author Archives: Don Follis

  In early June, Jennifer and I visited the newly opened National Memorial for Peace and Justice and the Legacy Museum in Montgomery, Alabama.  Both the memorial and the museum are part of the Equal Justice initiative, a nonprofit that, according to their website is “committed to ending mass incarceration and excessive punishment in theContinueContinue reading ““Just Mercy” … an outstanding book to be reckoned with”

“Ruined” (Tyndale House Publishers, 2016) is Rev. Ruth Everhart’s gripping memoir of facing a horrific robbery and rape at her apartment during her senior year at Calvin College in Grand Rapids, Michigan.  Two men masked men broken into Everhart’s apartment at 12:30am on an early November night in 1978, and Everhart and 3 Calvin roommatesContinueContinue reading “Ruined & Redeemed — a story of incredible hope!”

I have long thought that people don’t allow themselves time to grief the losses in life … the little ones and the major ones.  Over and over I have counseled pastors who spend little time grieving their losses or the losses in the church they lead. We all need to spend more time reading andContinueContinue reading “Thinking about how humans and animals grieve”

As I prepared to lead a marriage seminar with Jennifer last Saturday, I landed back at one of my favorite stories involving Jesus and his great self-awareness, his terrific emotional health.  As the title of my column below says, just because you are emotionally present does not mean everyone will like you. I hope youContinueContinue reading “Jump in the water!”

Jennifer and I left our hotel room at 5:20am on Sunday morning, June 10. We were heading to Sunday School, of course. No kidding. We wanted to make sure we could get a seat.  I’m not kidding about that either. We had read that on many Sundays Maranatha Baptist Church has to turn people away.ContinueContinue reading “Sunday School class at Maranatha Baptist Church in Plains, Georgia”

Jack Deere’s outstanding memoir Even in our Darkness — A Story of Beauty in a Broken Life is the most transparent memoir I may have ever read from a pastor.  It certainly is in the last 20 years. I had never heard of Jack Deere before I joined the Vineyard church staff in Urbana in 2004.ContinueContinue reading “A story of beauty emerges from a broken life”

I heard a man in a church who had really hurt someone try to confess his sin with these words: “I’m sorry if I’ve done something to upset you.” That sounds like an apology to get someone off your back. Let me tell you, if you don’t really apologize, it’s only a matter of timeContinueContinue reading “Confession killers”

Knowing how often I have felt like a misfit, especially during the Christmas holidays, I am happy to recommend Brant Hansen’s new book Blessed are the Misfits. Now a popular radio host and living in Harrisburg, PA, Hansen is an introvert who grew up as a preacher’s kid here in the Midwest.  He is aContinueContinue reading “Lots of us feel like a “Misfit”, especially during the holidays!”