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.  Read the rest of this entry

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. Read the rest of this entry

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.  Read the rest of this entry

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!

I have noticed a whole bunch lately among many people, that you don’t really have “do anything” to someone for them to get mad at you.  Some of the most common causes of the anger I see between people are: “I don’t agree with you”, “I don’t agree with your choice”, “I don’t like something you said”, “you don’t give me enough attention”, “you don’t do things the way I think they should be done”, “you don’t agree with ME!”, “you don’t give me what I want”…among others. Read the rest of this entry

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.  I’m not.  So what is a pastor’s wife? Read the rest of this entry

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?   Read the rest of this entry

One thing I like to think about myself is that I’m a fairly optimistic guy.  So take the following comments in that light.  The question Du Jour (for me) is: “Is there hope for this thing called The Church?“  Here’s what makes me ask the question.  In The Church (speaking of the church everywhere) I have run into some of the most troubling people I’ve ever met.  Some quick words that come to mind are: Judgmental, hypocritical, hyper-sensitive, and above all: LEGALISTIC.  Read the rest of this entry

Wow, just when you think you know what God’s up to, He completely surpises you.  It’s no secret the economy has been tough on churches, ours being no exception.  I read something a couple of weeks ago that talked about how much charitable giving accross the board has tanked in the U.S., especially in Southeastern Michigan.  But this past weekend God came through in a big way.  Read the rest of this entry

This is certainly bound to be a sensitive topic.  “Giving in a tough economy”.  I can almost hear your thoughts. “Giving must be down, so the church is asking me to give more.”  Let me challenge that thinking right off the bat.  Read the rest of this entry