One of my favorite games to play with teenagers (especially Confirmands) is “Would You Rather. . . ?” It’s a fun book that asks the question, “Would you rather. . . “ and then offers two different choices. There’s over 400 questions, some with rather bizarre choices and some with choices one hopes never to [...]
Pastor’s Peace
One of my very favorite places is Walt Disney World. I could be their poster “child!” We try to make our pilgrimage to WDW fairly often—we wouldn’t want to overstay our welcome. Over the years, I think people have come to see Disney as the real symbol of American culture. Forget the Statue of Liberty, the Grand [...]
Here is some important worship information for Easter week: Maundy Thursday, April 9: 7PM service Good Friday, April 10: 7PM service Easter Sunday: 8:15AM & 10:45AM services, 9:30AM fellowship breakfast
Metro Chicago Bishop Wayne Miller wrote an article for The Lutheran magazine Synod Supplement titled, “Who are we?” He shared a story about a recent gathering he attended of interfaith leaders. A young Greek man serving lunch saw Bishop Miller’s nametag and said, “Hmmm, Lutheran . . . Oh yes, you are that really white church, right?” Bishop [...]
Kevin Ford’s book, “Transforming Church: Bringing out the good to get to great,” is a phenomenal resource for developing a healthy congregation. With all the “church growth” models and strategies available, Ford approaches things differently. The focus of a church should be that of “creative community,” which is based on serving others and growing spiritually. Churches too often [...]
The Inauguration of Barak Obama as President of the United States on January 20, 2009 is a milestone, a world-changing event, and a statement of hope that is long overdue. Whether one is a Democrat or a Republican, the votes have been counted and now we go forward with a new President who will do [...]
This past Spring, we became a 3 dog family. It wasn’t by our design, but then again, we recognized by Whose design it was. Gus, our yellow Lab, found a black Lab living underneath the porch of our cabin in Wisconsin. She didn’t have a collar on and there were no “lost dog” posters around [...]
One of my quarterly clergy magazines I receive is “Leadership: Real Ministry in a Complex World.” In the most recent issue was an article written by Rev. Lillian Daniel titled, “A Cast of Thousands: The mission of the church is not efficiency, but developing all its people.” I loved this article for many reasons. Here [...]
Every day is a walk with Jesus. As Christians we believe life is spent in the presence of our Lord. Therefore, we can talk about every day as a day during which we walk with Jesus. Some days we feel Jesus’ presence. Some days we feel quite a distance from Jesus. We boldly proclaim that, [...]