I went to the bank yesterday to deposit the check representing the money I inherited from my mom. People take checks to the bank all the time – or, if they’re like me, to the drive-up cash machine, filling out an envelope while using their steering wheel as a desk. But this check was different,…

Here’s the question: If you are a pastor, worship leader or staff member who receives a paycheck for your service to your congregation, would you try to find a way to do your job if the paycheck evaporated? There are some of you who’ve planted churches or started ministries, and you know what it like…

Even my overactive imagination could not invent this story. This is my version of abundant life – a fun true story to celebrate the first day of summer arriving at last: I’ve only been camping once, and I didn’t even make it through an entire night under the stars. My friend Michele (one “L”, so…

I wrote about her last October. Judie lived a beautiful, abundant life. Her dying desires were the same desires that had defined her life: She longed for her children to walk with Christ, and for the rest of us to love one another the way Christ loves us. She passed away last night. Please pray…

It was a one hundred percent success rate. Seventy-two followers had gone out at Christ’s instruction as ambassadors of the kingdom. All seventy-two returned telling Jesus they’d done the stuff they’d seen Him do – all of it! – and that demons submitted to them in His name. All seventy-two of them. No spiritual gift…

…sinner. Yup. And every single week, I say it loud and say it proud. We’ve been attending an Anglican church since last fall, which means that our worship is offered through liturgy. Midway through the service, after lots of unadorned, proclaimed Scripture readings and a sermon, there is a time for confession. We confess our…