Tom Ouweleen's blog

What's the point of having a church?  You know, that's a question I've pondered most of my adult life.  There are a lot of different precepts about church out there.  Some surround the idea of purposes such as worship, evangelism, ministry, fellowship, and prayer.  I agree that all of these are absolutely important, however as the years go by I am becoming increasingly concerned about our "inwardness" concerning these purposes. 

Human nature is a strange thing.  Our nature often works contrary to our personal good.  This is most obvious when it comes to how most Christians respond in times of duress.  I have observed that more often than not, when a person goes through a very trying time, the most common reaction to the life stress is to stop coming to church.  I have often wondered why this is so. 

I've been thinking about criticism a lot lately.  Yeah, I get criticized a bit.  Every leader does....but that's not the main reason I've been thinking about it.  I've been pondering it because I'm as guilty as the next guy of easily falling into the trap of criticizing others that I feel are making bad decisions or who aren't measuring up to my standards.

Friday at 1pm, Urban and Love Life Family Christian Center will combine to host a Good Friday service.  So take a lunch break and join us. 

If you don't have a church in mind to visit for Easter, come spend Sunday morning with us.  We have 2 Sunday services at 9am and 11am.  Come as you are...no need to dress up.

GOOD FRIDAY - 1pm
EASTER - 9am & 11am

EVERY SUNDAY - 9am & 11am

I'm surprised I never blogged about this before.  How did we come up with this whole "scruffy" thing?  Well, it's actually kind of an interesting story.  It all started out as something that we took initially as a minor insult. 

Here’s a simple observation.  You don’t even really need to wrong someone for them to be angry with you.  And once the anger starts, watch out! 

Maybe this should be a continuation of the "What is a Christian?" blog entry from a while back.  Maybe this is the beginning of a "what is" series of blogs.  Who knows…but I feel compelled to speak about the pastor's wife as of late.  To those of you in my immediate circle of friends and family, please don't feel that this blog is directed at any of you as individuals.  I'm actually jotting down thoughts on this subject that I've had germinating in my brain for years.  So don't hate me and please don't email me accusing me of singling you out

Had to post of pic of my family!  Now if only my wife would approve a bike for me....someday.    Er...Joker, does your Schwinn count as a bike?  LOL    Don't Frank and Mary look cute?  Can't wait to eventually get myself into this pic. 

What I find very interesting are the various responses when this question is asked of church people.  Whether we realize it or not, we ask that question in one way or another all the time of each other, we just don't realize it.  For instance, whenever we pass judgment on another person with the subtext "I thought they were Christian", we are actually asking the question of each other.  And sadly, our responses usually focus on things that have absoultely nothing to do with what makes up a "true Christian".  Ok, confused yet?