My Old Neighbor I once had a neighbor who scoffed at the idea of Christianity, especially the evangelical kind. She came over with her kids to carve pumpkins one October before I was to preach the next morning on giving and I told her I was a little nervous about it, because people get defensive when preachers talk about giving. But then she said, "Do you believe in God?"...

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...