Posts with the category “blog-posts”

As I've read the news and come across pictures of different protests and marches that have filled the streets this year, I've noticed a sign that is often held up in the crowds. It says: NO JUSTICE, NO PEACE. The image of that sign has never left me, because I've realized that all of us, whatever our political leanings, long for justice.  Read More

The Sabbath has been in my thoughts quite a bit over the past few weeks. Not so much as something I have intentionally been studying but as if God has been dropping clues and inviting me to seek out a buried treasure. (It is the glory of God to conceal things but the glory of kings is to search things out. Proverbs 25:2)  Read More

Dear Greenmonte Family, Over the past 6 weeks, God has been teaching me so much about following Him and walking in relationship with others (sort of a weird lesson in a time of social distancing). About four weeks ago, God told me to share some of it with you, but I have procrastinated, and I am sorry for that. As I prayed about it today, though I still felt it was relevant and that I still needed to write to you.  Read More

Perhaps the most gratifying experience this Christmas was watching my son Judah give Christmas presents to his siblings. Weeks before Christmas, Judah was busy shopping online with his mother’s assistance, looking for the most ridiculously huge lego sets he could find to give to his brother Noah and sister Stella.  Read More

On Sunday I shared a story with you about two heromakers in my life: Gene and Harold. When I was 20 years old, these two men saw God’s potential in me and invited me to join them as they planted a church in rural Kansas. That experience was part of what catapulted me forward in God’s call on my life as a worship leader and pastor.  Read More

"Teach us to number our days..." (Psalms 90:12) When was the last time you paused to consider how you were living life? Last week a man in my friend's Pennsylvania congregation never showed up to pick up his son after school. After a call from the school, his wife found him at home, unresponsive. He died from heart complications. He was just 37 years-old and expecting the birth of his second child on May 10th.  Read More

Maybe it’s because I just turned 40 last week. Or maybe it’s because we’re about to have our fifth child any day. I’m not sure exactly why, but I’ve been looking at life differently. Take, for example, two weeks ago when I received my retirement benefits statement in the mail. Talk about depressing. I know you have to take the long view with retirement investing and investing in general, but I wasn’t prepared to see where my regular contributions had gotten me after 10+ years.   Read More

Finish Strong! That's the life motto of Nate Ebner: New England Patriot, Olympian and Super Bowl champion, whose life and trials were recently chronicled in an E:60 piece by ESPN. It's not enough to just compete... you have to finish strong.  Read More

In his book The Pastor, Eugene Peterson describes the Church as a "colony of heaven in a country of death." God's Kingdom and God's Kingdom people are meant to stand as lighthouses of His love to the world He has sent us into!  Read More

Last night I walked out into the darkness and looked up into the night sky. I was looking for something. From morning till evening yesterday, one common thread wove its way through most every conversation I had with people: snow! Right now I’m guessing that most of us are warmly huddled in our homes with enough bread and milk in reserve to feed a small army! Up and down the East Coast of the United...  Read More