This fall I am taking this incredible graduate class about ministering to families in the local church. Our professor, Rubel Shelly, has brought in several guest teachers to tackle certain subjects. Last night, we were blessed to sit at the feet of Marnie Ferree. Marnie has an incredible story of being rescued from sexual addiction. [...]

This weekend I was blessed with a visit by some dear friends from Belpre (the last church I served with). A group of six women were here from Belpre for the Rochester Ladies Day. My family and I spent Friday night taking them to Yates Cider Mill and enjoying dinner at the church building with [...]

Stewardship. The mere mention of the word sends some people running away screaming.
Dictionary.com shows this as the primary definition of stewardship: "a person who manages another’s property or financial affairs; one who administers anything as the agent of another or others."
So stewardship is not really about giving. It’s about managing the resources God has blessed [...]

Recently I was at the library and saw a book sitting on the display rack that caught my attention. The title of the book was "God is Not Great: How religion poisons everything." I was drawn to this book and wanted to get to know the man who would write such a book.
At this point [...]

This is my first attempt at this, so I am not sure how it will work. Last night was the first week of a six-part teaching series called "God, Are You There?" This week, we are considering how teenagers can better deal with their siblings and parents and what advice God has for conflict at [...]

Fall has arrived in Michigan. After dealing with shorts in late October, I awoke this morning to the reality that fall does exist and it has come to my town. It is currently 48 degrees outside with cold rain falling from the sky.
I have no control over the weather. I couldn’t push a button and [...]

Some people wonder why serving others is so important. Most of us would agree that it’s good to serve other people, but is there more to it than just doing a good deed?
Something happens when we serve. We join God in His mission of restoring Creation. We were designed by God to serve. It is [...]

Today I had the opportunity to take part in my second Challenge Day. If you are not familiar with this organization, check them out at www.challengeday.org.
I arrived at Rochester High School around 7:30am today and left shortly after 3:00pm. I spent most of that time in a gym with two leaders, a few dozen adults, [...]

I just finished reading The Return of the Prodigal Son by Henri Nouwen. After reflecting on what Nouwen wrote, I am forced to look in the mirror and evaluate my life.
I am self-righteous and self-deprecating.
I often live more for recognition than righteousness.
The praise of men is often more important to me than the praise of [...]

So today my life returns to some semblance of normalcy. The last ten days have been crazy, relaxing, and interesting.
It all started last weekend when a group of ten teenagers, another adult, four children, and I, jumped into two vans and traveled to the middle-of-nowhere in Ohio for a teen retreat. I was the speaker [...]