The Purpose-Driven Church by Rick Warren is a book which describes the history and the development of a process for his church’s growth. It is also a handbook for pastors who wish to implement that process in their churches as well. Warren describes the Purpose-Driven Process as essential for church health, not church growth. Warren shares the history of Saddleback Church, the church he started in California in 1980, followed by the myths of growing churches. The most... Read more
“The king loved Esther more than all the other women. She won more favor and approval from him than did any of the other young women. He placed the royal crown on her head and made her queen in place of Vashti. The king held a great banquet for all his officials and staff. It was Esther’s banquet. He freed his provinces from tax payments and gave gifts worthy of the king’s bounty.” (Esther 2:17–18, HCSB) A beauty... Read more
Reaching the Next Generation for Christ (1 Corinthians 9:19-23) I want to talk to you a new virus in Barry County. I work as a doctor at the Erwin Ranch in Washburn. There are four patients, my four girls, in my home office. I have been studying the digital cultures taken from them. I have another set of patients at 618 2nd Street North, which calls themselves the congregation of Washburn First Baptist Church. This group of people say they... Read more
The Word on the Street by Rob Lacey is first and foremost a paraphrase of the Bible. The book was written with the sole purpose of getting people interested in reading the Bible. This book would be the Bible if you read it like people communicate today – newspaper, email, and social networks. This paraphrase of the Bible was written by a poet. He uses many poems, stories, and images that people would recognize today. Bible stories are retold as... Read more
Simple Church by Thom S. Rainer and Eric Geiger Simple Church by Thom Rainer and Eric Geiger can be summarized with the book’s tagline: Returning to God’s Process for Making Disciples. The book’s main objective for the reader is to simplify the process of the church’s mission to making disciples. With cues from the surrounding culture, the authors contend that the church has made making disciples too complicated. In today’s culture, simple is effective. The iPod’s design (as well as... Read more
The Supreme Court has upheld prayer at government meetings according to this article from USA Today. I was a little surprised to read a Supreme Court prayer case decision that favored Christianity. I am happy that the local clergy will still be able to pray at events like this. The 5-4 decision was split along religious ideological lines according this article from the Washington Post. (All the dissenters except Sotomayor are Jewish. She is Catholic, as are all of the justices... Read more
A devoted pastor was facing serious surgery, and a friend visited him in the hospital to pray with him. “An interesting thing happened today,” the pastor told him. “One of the nurses looked at my chart and said, ‘Well, I guess you’re preparing for the worst!’ I smiled at her and said, ‘No, I’m preparing for the best. I’m a Christian, and God has promised to work all things together for good.’ Boy, did she drop that chart and leave... Read more
Luke 24:13-35 May the Faith Be With You Luke 24:13-35 May the Faith Be with You is a sermon in which Star Wars is used to compare to what Jesus said was important in life – to have faith, and the security in knowing that God will be with you. This week has been abuzz in the air about Star Wars. The legendary science fiction series of movies will continue soon with Episode 7. We know this because a picture... Read more
Learn the Bible in 24 Hours by Dr. Chuck Missler Learn the Bible in 24 Hours by Dr. Chuck Missler is probably the best introductory book to the Bible that I have ever read. Dr. Chuck Missler has written a wonderful guide to the Bible. Written in twenty-four chapters aligning with the twenty-four hours of the day, the book shares the “big picture” of each book of the Bible, as well as the “big pictures” themes that tie these books... Read more
Honor the Other Person Because You Are Worthy Honor the other person because you are worthy; a devotional series from the Book of Esther ““If it meets the king’s approval, he should personally issue a royal decree. Let it be recorded in the laws of Persia and Media, so that it cannot be revoked: Vashti is not to enter King Ahasuerus’s presence, and her royal position is to be given to another woman who is more worthy than she. The... Read more
Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In