Author Archives: Don Follis

This morning I joined about 10 saints at the Gilbert, AZ, Vineyard church (in the southeastern part of Phoenix) for 2 hours of silent prayer. These saints do this regularly, and call it “Quiet Days.” During the time of prayer, the silence was broken with an occasional short word of direction. But that was it.ContinueContinue reading ““Quiet Days” at the Vineyard Church in Gilbert, AZ”

Along with 34 new Catholic friends, I spent 3 days last weekend on a retreat called “Dry Heat — How the desert fathers and mothers found God in the desert.”  The retreat  was sponsored by the Casa, a Franciscan retreat center in Paradise Valley, up on the north side of Phoenix. (We were encouraged toContinueContinue reading ““Dry Heat” retreat in the Sonoran desert”

I’ve run into lots of pastors who are almost compulsive in their need to be liked.  “Did I connect with people in my sermon today?” “How did I do in the elders meeting tonight?  Did I talk too much?” “I guess you can tell I really love the Psalms. How’d you feel like I didContinueContinue reading “Pastors and their need to be liked and then liked some more!”

So many men struggle with pornography addiction, and sexual brokenness, and increasingly, women, too. Of course, pornography is ubiquitous.  So often many young men and women choose pornography, often unwittingly.  Sadly, it’s generally not long before it then chooses them.  The pain, confusion and brokenness that follows is obvious and getting worse. That’s why theContinueContinue reading “Sexual addiction, brokenness and moving toward hope!”

The Southern Baptists were here in Phoenix for the annual convention last week — 5 or 6 thousand of them.  That’s way down from the mid-1980s when there might have been almost 40,000 Southern Baptists at their annual gathering. Even though in the last year alone, the Southern Baptists have targeted, and in fact, plantedContinueContinue reading “The Southern Baptists are losing numbers, too. Yikes!”

I just read a The Power of Silence — Against the Dictatorship of Noise, by Robert Sarah, a Guinean Cardinal in the Catholic Church. In a world where there is almost no silence, Cardinal Sarah argues that silence is the indispensable doorway to the divine.   To give you a tiny smattering of his style:ContinueContinue reading “The Power of Silence — The importance of developing a listening heart”

When I was a boy in the Northwestern Kansas small town of Colby (population 6,000), we lived near the Catholic Church.  I was raised in a Protestant church (a congregation that was part of the Independent Christian Churches/Churches of Christ.  Interestingly, the Christian Churches take the Lord’s supper every Sunday. One of my earliest memoriesContinueContinue reading “Entering the Catholic Church for the very first time”

This summer my Pastor-to-Pastor Board is giving me a summer sabbatical/study break. It’s my first one, and Jennifer and I will spend our time in Phoenix, AZ, where I have enrolled in Phoenix Seminary for the summer session.  In mid-June I will participate in a 3-day retreat at the Casa, a Franciscan retreat center in Paradise ValleyContinueContinue reading “Study Break/Sabbatical/Rejuvenation”