June 2012
1 post
Sunnyside's Promise Needs Our Help!
Dear friends,
An organization dear to my (and many others) heart is in need of your help. Never mind the politics, that is not important here. They need your help financially. If you live in the Lower Valley (or Yakima County for that matter) they are a necessity in our fight to save our kids from gangs. There are very few organizations in this county that are working with gang kids and giving...
May 2012
8 posts
Memorial Day and the Two Kingdoms
I’m an American citizen.
As a follower of Jesus Christ I am also a citizen of God’s Kingdom.
Often, those two things can be in conflict and there is a natural tension that we have to live in. Not speaking for anyone but myself here, but as a Christian war is a tricky one. After all Jesus said to love our enemies, to pray for those who persecute us, and generally speaking seemed...
Lower Valley Sex Trafficking Update
Much has happened since my last post on this subject. I continue to be amazed at the work God is doing here in the Lower Valley!
The task force that has been initiated by the Sunnyside Police Department seems to be gaining momentum and is currently piecing together a game plan to eradicate sex trafficking in the Lower Valley. We’ve added more people to the Task Force. All good stuff!
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God's People Putting Darkness on the Run...
The Issue…
For the past several months my wife and I have been working on an issue here in the Valley that is close to our hearts. Back in January I sat down with a dear friend of mine that is the executive director of an organization that does intervention/prevention work with the kids in our community. He told me stories of young girls in our community being trafficked by the gangs for...
April 2012
9 posts
1 tag
March 2012
11 posts
Leveraging For The Kingdom
One of the things I enjoy most about being a pastor is seeing how God wants to use the relationships we form for His Kingdom and His Glory.
Last night I hosted some men at my house for a “Beer Summit” for the purpose of reconciliation and working together for the Kingdom. Over the course of the 18 months the Lord has had me here I became friends with each of these men separately and...
“No one can serve two masters. Either you will hate the one and love the other,...”
– I think it’s fair to make the claim that what Jesus is saying here is not just limited to money. While I don’t want to take away from the idea of money as a master, especially in our society these days, this applies to many things. As Christians, we need to constantly be aware of the...
Getting Healthier Day One
Well today marks day one of our new get healthy routine. No, I’m not posting numbers and such. Let’s just say when this is all over I’m probably not going to consume anything with the word “cleanse”in in it again…
That said…Mary and I are feeling pretty good and thinking we can do this. We shall see..
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Thoughts on John Piper and Tornadoes
I really want to respect John Piper. He’s an accomplished pastor, theologian, and writer. I have many friends that hang on every word he says, often accepting what he says as “gospel truth” at face value.
Yet Piper, like he has done many times before with natural disasters, has made the claim that the tornadoes that killed 38 people in the midwest were the “fingers of...
“Where are the adults? What is this a children’s church?”
– Seriously, I got asked this this morning by an unhappy visitor to Oasis Community Church. Apparently, he doesn’t like kids…good thing we do!
February 2012
3 posts
Crazy
Things have been kind of hectic around here lately. Hoping to have a slow down soon so I can reflect and pray more about where we are and where we’re going…
I love being a pastor and love that my family is in ministry with me…it’s been wonderful and I feel like we have a rhythm to our week. I do need to get better at quiet time though!
“Dear God, thank you for this and that and that and cheese. Amen”
– Isaac’s prayer tonight at dinner while pointing at his salad and spaghetti.
January 2012
9 posts
TMR Baby...TMR.
TMR. Time. Money. Relationships. For the last couple weeks we have been talking about how we make Jesus known to the world through our actions. Specifically how we steward the life (and everything in it!) that we have been given. We have been using Matthew 25 and the parable if the bags of gold/talents as our background text. We began by looking at our time.
A consistent theme throughout...
“Yay mommy! Amen!”
– Isaac at age 2 praising his mommy
What would happen if....
We applied this parable to our churches?
Luke 13:6-9 NIV
Then he told this parable: “A man had a fig tree growing in his vineyard, and he went to look for fruit on it but did not find any. So he said to the man who took care of the vineyard, ‘For three years now I’ve been coming to look for fruit on this fig tree and haven’t found any. Cut it down! Why should it use up...
It's All His.
“Again, it will be like a man going on a journey, who called his servants and entrusted his wealth to them. To one he gave five bags of gold, to another two bags, and to another one bag, each according to his ability. Then he went on his journey. The man who had received five bags of gold went at once and put his money to work and gained five bags more. So also, the one with two bags of gold...
December 2011
26 posts
Bedtime Routine With A 2 Year Old
So our bedtime routine for the last few weeks has gone something like this:
1) Corral Ike into brushing his teeth.
2) Attempt to read a story. Attempt usually means we get 40-60% done with the book and then Ike wants to play more.
3) Hugs and kisses and tuck in #1
4) Followed by tuck in #2, #3, and #4. He’ll move his feet or stand up and then request to be tucked in again.
5) About...
Non-Alcohol Related Christmas Hangover and The...
We didn’t really mean to be so busy…it just kind of happened. We set out to make sure this year we didn’t succumb to the annual stressness that at times is the Christmas season. After all, I preach against getting sucked in and being present during this time of year. However, I’m honest about it. Mary and I have often struggled to just enjoy the season.
So this year was...
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Christmas Traditions
What are some of your Christmas traditions? Mary, Ike, and began a new one last year that we are very excited about this year.
We moved to Sunnyside in November of 2010 and with the exception of an aunt that lives in Naches, all of our extended family lives hundreds of miles away. So, Christmas morning, after family time and opening gifts, we invited of for Christmas brunch a few folks we knew...
