Punch In a time long past, when kids clustered in cafeterias without fear, held teachers hands, and when washing your hands was seen as a good thing, but not life or death, my son got in trouble at lunch. Austin was playing a boys game called "Punch." Essentially Austin and his friends would punch each other and see how big of a whack each other could take without crying....

Last Dance I have been recently watching the Last Dance on Netflix. I know. I'm late to the party. But it has been awesome. It's like going back to my childhood fantasizing about one day being Michael Jordan. The interesting thing about the Bulls was when Phil Jackson took over the team, they went from an offense focused on Michael to an offense focused on a team that wou...

Favorites One of my favorite stories in the Bible is from Matthew 20. The authentic realness of selfishness, self-preservation, and comfort come out of the disciples and those following Jesus. I always love this more because it reminds me of the spiritual maturity of people in church plants. People who are really excited about making this thing big and have dreams and vis...

Plek History While I was in the military, I was stationed at Ft. Bragg, NC and attended Village Baptist Church. It was there that something changed in me; I started to really look at my walk with God. The people there were different, they were serious about sharing their faith and it had such an impact on me. Within the first week of attending the church, I had someone kn...

Frustrated? As a pastor, I often hear these words from people at my church or people in between churches. "I'm just not getting fed anymore." Now there is something in me that gets defensive when I hear that. Partly because I spend a bunch of hours pouring into a sermon that I present on Sundays that are highly labor intensive. It's probably the same feeling a parent has...

High School Life When I was in high school, the basketball team was my everything. It was my accountability. It was my inspiration. It was everything. I wasn't thrilled that I was riding the pine. But the reality was that was probably the best place for me. At the time I was 5'9" and probably around 160 lbs. Not exactly on any college's recruiting roster. However, I pract...

Public Worship The public worship gathering for Christians is a controversial topic. If you have been living in a closed country such as North Korea, Afghanistan or Somalia, gathering as a Christian today is just as dangerous as gathering as a Christian last year. The only difference is the police will knock at your door in North Korea, and today it might be a Virus. With...

Quiet Time In my quiet time this week I came across Acts 10 and 11. Luke wrote about Peter receiving the vision from God that all animals were now considered clean. Peter in the trance said, "My lips have never touched anything unclean." But three times that vision came to him followed by a knock on the door. An Italian man had sent messengers to bring Peter to his house ...

This week I posted on my personal facebook the question: How sure are you that you would go to heaven when you die on a scale of 1-10. If I'm honest, I thought a few faithful Christians would respond with the standard standard Evangelical Christian answer: I am a 10 because I believe that Jesus died on the cross for my sins and rose from the dead. Which is good solid ortho...

Seeking Peace Friction in relationships has been a hallmark of 2020. We are enduring a global pandemic, social unrest, homeschooling the new reality, and everything fun being canceled. This has led to stress being heightened not only in the public square but within our homes. If we are honest, strife hits us in three places. Our relationships. Our circumstances. Our think...