In 1524 Giovanni da Verrazano of Spain mapped the coastline of North Carolina. Most likely Verrazano left a gift that still resides in North Carolina today. Wild Spanish Colonial Mustangs still roam the outer banks of North Carolina today. There are not many left and they are critically endangered. Currently, there are about 100 Spanish…
Last week my friend and colleague the Rev. Cindy McCalmont of NAMI (National Alliance on Mental Illness) wrote an “op ed” for the Mercury News that has not yet been published. She sent this to me and other clergy to ask if we would sign on to this “op ed” at the time of publishing….
Before his arrest, Robert Courtney served as a deacon at the Assembly of God Church he was a member of in Kansas City. In 1990, Courtney began purchasing pharmaceuticals on the “gray market” and using them to fill prescriptions at his pharmacy. In time, he began diluting prescriptions to increase profits. Both practices were and…
If you didn’t know, our Lutheran church body gathers for a “churchwide assembly” to do the business of our church. It is a like a congregational meeting for the entire Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. Over 5 days the assembly: worships, learns, elects and set the course for our national church body. The delegates of…
Flawed American writer and intellectual David Foster Wallace once gave a commencement address before he committed suicide in 2008. This is what he said to the graduating class… “In the day-to-day trenches of adult life, there is actually no such thing as atheism …. Everybody worships. The only choice we get is what to worship….
I am distraught. Like you, I heard about the murders at the Gilroy Garlic Festival on Sunday evening and now the shootings in El Paso, Texas. I am not distraught because it is so close (Gilroy), I am saddened that mass gun violence is prevalent and a part of our culture and this event reminded…
Right now, I am at Leadership Lab. It is a leadership laboratory for Christian students to grow in faith and acquire leadership skills. I’ve been a part of this one week a year “camp” for 34 years or about 70% of my life. I personally witness changed lives year after year… including my own. I am…
Here is the video of all the fun and faithful things we did at Vacation Bible School this year! Enjoy!
By Thom Rainer Whenever I come across an article by Thom Rainer, I take the time to read it. He is one of the best church consultants and church “practitioners” I have come across. I have read many of his books and he is rarely wrong in his assessments. This past week, I saw an…
One month ago the presiding bishop of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (the church body of which I am a pastor) Elizabeth Eaton wrote a pastoral letter regarding the children at our southern border who are dying. When Bishop Eaton pens a letter, I take time to read it for several reasons: She is…
