Moral Courage

When our ancient ancestors - the descendants of Noah - began to multiply, form clans, and spread abroad upon the face of the earth, they had a mandate from God to do so and the promises of God that 1) He would not destroy the earth with another flood, and 2) the dread of humanity … Continue reading Moral Courage →

Pastors and Politics

It was probably back in the early 2000's during a trip to Michigan when I picked up the Ann Arbor News and found an opinion piece written by a local pastor about politics and the pulpit. Ann Arbor, home of U of M, is a bastion of liberal politics, so I was curious what this … Continue reading Pastors and Politics →

Hamiltonian Wisdom: Ron Chernow’s Alexander Hamilton

My wife suggested that I watch Hamilton when it became available to stream on Disney+, but just as I was about to start it I realized that I was potentially in danger of ruining a good book (think of the poor wretch who watched the movie Jurassic Park before reading the book!), so I grabbed … Continue reading Hamiltonian Wisdom: Ron Chernow’s Alexander Hamilton →

After the Flood

Text: 2 Peter 3 cf Genesis 6-9 Foundational Truth: Cataclysmic changes during man's early history altered much of the created world, but the essential truths about man himself remain unchanged. Introduction On Friday we commemorated 19 years since the terrorist attacks on our country claimed the lives of 2,977 people. Some of the younger people … Continue reading After the Flood →

What You See in Ministry

The human eye is one of the greatest wonders of all of God's creation. Think about how superior vision is to photography. It takes a really skilled photographer to capture a landscape, and a large part of that is deciding what to leave out. The human eye is capable of taking in so much more, … Continue reading What You See in Ministry →

Invest in a Poet and Support the Free Market at the Same time: A Review of the poetry of Enoch Warnke (and the longest blog post title ever)

How many published poets do I personally know? It turns out one. Which is a larger number than I would have thought until I discovered that my old pal, my chum, my bro Enoch writes poetry and has published his first collection, Sweet Death I Feel Most Sharply When I feel Nothing At All, and … Continue reading Invest in a Poet and Support the Free Market at the Same time: A Review of the poetry of Enoch Warnke (and the longest blog post title ever) →

Refocus: A Fresh 2020 Vision for the Church

What the New Testament describes as a church is often very different from the concept of a church that we have today. I think one confusion that has existed for a long time is that church is a place that you go to. People think of a church as a building. But the New Testament … Continue reading Refocus: A Fresh 2020 Vision for the Church →

Smoked Brisket and Roasted Summer Vegetable Soup

It's Labor Day, so we should all act like Americans and smoke a brisket, am I right? Well, this is my first brisket (or firsket, for short) and it was stunningly delicious. But first, the soup. Yellow Tomato Soup We are not canning or otherwise preserving any of our garden vegetables this year so I've … Continue reading Smoked Brisket and Roasted Summer Vegetable Soup →

Choose Your Stick: On Critics of the Church

It has been said that any stick is good enough to hit the church with, and I believe it. If critics are a dime a dozen, then critics of the church are a dime a baker's dozen. If your church patiently disciples a couple through a difficult marriage, someone who witnesses a less than cordial … Continue reading Choose Your Stick: On Critics of the Church →

The Most Powerful Woman in Springfield

"Do you want to know who the most powerful woman in Springfield is?" he asked me over the counter. I can't remember his name, but he was a contractor. I wondered if there had been some 417 Magazine article about up and coming women in our town. Or maybe there had been a write-up in … Continue reading The Most Powerful Woman in Springfield →