Staff turnovers aren’t like apple turnovers.
It feels like our church is losing staff members at a record rate.

It feels like our church is losing staff members at a record rate.

Book three. Done. I’ve been negligent about posting because I’ve been reading. A few days ago I finished my third book in Eugene Peterson’s five-volume spiritual theology series: The Jesus Way. If you’re keeping track, I’m not reading them in order. Weighing in at just under 300 pages, The Jesus Way not light reading. In…
I decided to spend some time studying today’s text: Here’s what I learned: 1. Jesus begins by addressing the role of “the Law” and “the Prophets”. These are 2 parts of the Old Testament. The Law, also known as Torah, is the first 5 books of the Hebrew Scriptures (O.T.). The Prophets are the latter…
“Get closer.” It came as God’s invitation to a distant pastor. Me. I’m exiting the most difficult ministry season of my life. It has been a year of wrestling with heaviness, fear, loneliness, and sin. But something is different now, after God’s invitation. I’m leaning in; I’m picking up the phone and calling people….

I love it when people live life on mission. It characterizes the lifestyle of the exceptional folks that lead our regional coffeehouse gatherings. Once a month a group of 10 to 15 people gather to plan and pray for something we call Conversation Peace. We work hard–coming up with ideas for interesting conversations; administering the…

This past Sunday people in our three church services heard some big news. First, our interim lead pastor announced his June 30th retirement from pastoral ministry. He has been ministering at HMC for 19 years. Second, our ministry council chairperson announced that I will be assuming the position of interim lead pastor effective March 1st….

Erika and I are sharing “Ten lessons in ten years” with the 55+ group at our church tomorrow. We’ll be telling stories from the first decade of our life together. Here’s #3: Don’t wait for the perfect time. The first few verses of Ecclesiastes 11 talk about not waiting until the right circumstances before planting,…