Blogposts
The Top Ten Things I Learned in My 33rd Year of Life
This week I was humbled and overwhelmed with the incredible amount of birthday love. It was a great week spent with family and friends. I also spent some time reflecting on what a year it had been. In retrospect, this has been one of those defining years in my life, the type of year that I will never forget. Here are the top ten things I learned (or remembered), in no particular order:
If It Doesn’t Change You, Then You Aren’t Doing It Right
This past Sunday all the campuses of Ginghamsburg Church came together for an all-campus worship event on the lawn. The evening before, a contingent of Christ-followers gathered at the Point to make a statement against the deadly drug heroin. It was an incredible weekend of community and worship.
How Do You Make A Life-Changing Decision?
Karen and I have been making a lot of decisions lately, not just the “What do you want for dinner?” type of decision, but more like the “Do you want to answer God’s call and move?” type of decision. These are big moments, and in those moments it is easy to become engulfed in the potential fear or in the potential excitement. I had to develop a process -- five easy steps for making good decisions:
Retreat is A Tactical Move
Last week I had one of those weeks that people dream about. It was a week where everything was happening and all of it was positive. I even ended the week well rested and basking in God’s love. I really couldn’t have drawn it up any better than that, although I did almost wreck the whole thing...
Answering The Call
It was a Saturday afternoon when my phone started to ring, and as I looked down at the buzzing device I noticed it was our lead pastor, Mike Slaughter. Mike doesn’t call me that often (especially on a Saturday), so I knew it was important. In that moment, Mike told me that our some...
Old Wounds
This blog is appearing about two days later than I wanted it to. I had every intention of getting a post up earlier this week, but then I went and hurt myself. My shoulder popped out and settled on the outside of the socket. It hurt… a lot. Not only did it hurt, but I did it doing something silly: I was reaching for a basketball. There was no super cool story, no amazing feat of athleticism. Nope, I just hurt it reaching for a ball. No one even touched me.
What Will You Be Celebrating When You’re 90?
This past weekend our family celebrated ninety years of life for my wife’s Oma (grandmother). Oma’s party was an absolute success, and the smile on her face looked like it was built on a foundation of a lifetime of happiness. Generation after generation of the family filled the room, and it was good....
Say "No" In Order To Say "Yes"
This past weekend I had the honor of hosting thirty incredible servants at the retreat center in Maria Stein, Ohio. The location was perfect for what can only be described as an opportunity to recharge and re-engage the vision of the Care Network at Ginghamsburg Church....
Know Your Role
Just this past weekend my wife and I had our son’s baseball team over to celebrate a successful year. There were kids everywhere, parents were laughing, and it was an absolute joy. As the chaos subsided and the house came to rest, Karen and I had to go into clean-up mode. Having ten boys aged 8 to10 boys in the house and back yard lends itself to a certain amount of clean up. We were both okay with it; we knew it was coming.