Shelter in Place
When I was growing up building shelters was one of my favorite pastimes. In the summer months I would head down to the nearby creek and build forts. At our family home I built a special 'bunker' in our backyard. It was filled with my stuff and it made for a fun-filled summer. In our church's boy's club we learned how t...
I recently replaced three sections of the fence that borders our neighbour's property. Due to the fence location, I first had to build each section and then lift each section into place. How heavy could 3 rails and 25 fence palings be? Well you can only imagine! I could not do this alone. Each section was too hea...
How do you measure success? How do you know whether or not you have healthy church growth? I have wondered about these questions for years, and especially during the current COVID-19 pandemic. For example, in my doctoral studies I explored the topic: "Preaching for Success". How do you know whether o...
Every church has a context. This simply means that we have a current situation where we live and do gospel ministry. That context is different for every church. Oh, there are many similarities, but every church has its own context. When I began to serve the local church 37 years ago, I paid particular attention to my ministr...
Sometimes you just have think outside of the box! I had to do this with my last motorcycle rebuild. I had taken this Kawasaki W650, and with some cosmetic fixes, this motorcycle took on the persona of a cafe racer. But after my son had a serious run-in with a car which hit it head-on, I had to think outside the box.&nb...
Every time I do my workout I take my pulse! In fact, my pulse is taken automatically. The cross-trainer I use at home registers my heart rate as well as the amount of calories I am burning. There are goals I set for both. It is recommended that I exercise within 55 to 85 percent of my maximum heart rate (MHR) for at le...
I recall a time, not long ago, when I just had to sit down. I did not have any strength to stand. It was a very humid hot day. I was especially busy that day doing yard work. After several hours of pruning, cleaning, moving dirt, my strength, in the words of the Psalmist, was "dried up like a broken piece o...
So much in life and ministry has changed with the onslaught of the COVID-19 pandemic. A preacher of long ago reminded us that “there is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under heaven.” (Ecclesiastes 3:1) This preacher identified many of our currents realities. For too many this is a time to die and...
