I spent last Thursday and Friday in and around Montvale, New Jersey, a bucolic burg just minutes from the New York state line. Why? Because not only is Julie a preacher’s wife, but I am a Vice-President’s husband.  She is VP of sales for Pentax Medical USA with headquarters up there in Northern New Jersey.  Read the full article…

What do you get when you combine . . . A classic Union County saying, John’s epic version of the Christmas story (don’t blink or you’ll miss it), A “stand up” invitation, and A John Piper (yes, UMCers!) inspired insight that he who had no beginning began everything? You get God Drops In, a sermon Read the full article…

There have been a handful of mornings in ministry when I have had a strong desire to call in sick. Not on days that I’ve actually been sick, mind you. But days when the bed felt awfully warm. And there were some things on my schedule that I simply didn’t want to face. And I knew the Read the full article…

Ann Patchett’s novel State Of Wonder opens with this: The news of Ander Eckman’s death came by way of Aerogram, a piece of bright blue airmail paper that served as both the stationary and, when folded over and sealed along the edges, the envelope.  Who even knew they still made such things?  This single sheet Read the full article…

We had a wonderful night serving around Charlotte Sunday night for SRV CLT.  Good Shepherd and Steele Creek Church of Charlotte came together for the effort as we sent out 120 students, 35 adult leaders to 8 ministry locations.  Here are just a few of the things we did together:   Packed 80 food packs Read the full article…