When I talk with people who have not yet returned to church regularly after being gone during the COVID 19 pandemic, I think back to a specific December Sunday in 1975 when I was studying for the ministry. I was on the back end a late fall 3-month preaching stint in a white clapboard churchContinue reading "Picked up for speeding on an Advent Sunday"

Somebody you know needs to hear these very words from you during this month of Thanksgiving! And you know who is that is. In my 4th-grade year the week before Thanksgiving, my dad and mom announced to all 4 kids that come January dad's company was transferring him to a new town. Dad said weContinue reading "Who is going to get your heartfelt thanks this Thanksgiving?"

The first thing I noticed about pastor Jon when we met this week in a Phoenix coffeeshop was his elaborate tattoos. The second thing I noticed is that Jon is theologically savvy, with his undergraduate degree from Gordon College and his Master of Divinity from Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary. From the anabaptist heritage, Jon is theContinue reading "Illustrating from the 10 commandments in a very personal way"

            Phoenix Rescue Mission, 1540 W. Van Buren Street, Phoenix, AZ As soon as I pulled myself into the right front seat of the Phoenix Rescue Mission’s Hope Coach (a late model Hyundai van), the case manager who shares my first name jumped into the driver’s seat and checked his supply of Narcan nasal spray.Continue reading "Riding along in the Hope Coach"

Way back in the day when I was 12, my brother Bob and I sat in church on Sunday morning next to each other and made paper airplanes with our church bulletins. Or kicked each other in the leg. Or played "Rock, Paper, Scissors." And, of course, we tried to carry off our antics withoutContinue reading "“Boys, would you please pay attention”"

"The words of a gossip are like choice morsels. They go down to the inmost parts." Proverbs 18:8 ----- Having had the privilege of counseling or mentoring hundreds of pastors, I know what a sacred trust I have been given. A few weeks back a pastor I’ve met with many times surprised me when heContinue reading "Some things we hear or say are not gossip — really"

Jennifer & Don at Grand Teton National Park (NW Wyoming) in late July, with the famous Teton range in the distance. ----- It happens every time I drive west in the summer, heading for the Rocky Mountains. Somewhere near the Iowa-Nebraska border, my mind shifts into neutral. It happened again 3 weeks ago. Late inContinue reading "Driving west through the mountains is good for the soul"