Trick or Treat 2008

Tonight was trick-or-treat night in Clearfield and it was a busy night on Nichols Street! We had an estimated 132 trick-or-treaters come to our door between 6:00 and 8:00 pm. Our family night began with carving a jack-o-lantern, then we distributed candy to trick-or-treaters for the next couple of hours. Ethan helped hand out most … Read more

Operation Christmas Child with Ethan

As we wrote about last year, we enjoy participating in Operation Christmas Child each year around this time. In our new ministry settings, the youth groups from Centre Grove (who has been active participants in the outreach for several years) and West Side are both leading efforts in the two churches to assemble gift-filled shoe … Read more

Ethan’s Recent Recreation

We have gotten to do some different recreational activities in recent days, including mini-golfing with the West Side and Centre Grove youth groups, biking with Skip and Nancy Koerber on the local rails-to-trails, and feeding the ducks with Dick and Joann McCrum where the river runs through Clearfield. As we head into the colder months, … Read more

Task Management 2.0

Back in July 2008 I wrote about my task management journey, my search for systems to help me be more and more productive. I stated my believe that “there’s always a better way!” I also discussed my latest attempt at using an online application, Remember the Milk. While I like the (free) service, I have … Read more

Local Pastor Sabbath

On Sunday, Joleen, Ethan, and I attended our district’s first (of what may become an annual event) “local pastor sabbath.” It was intended to be an opportunity for Local Pastors (and Student Pastors and Appointed Lay Speakers) to share a day off together. We gathered at Gethsemane United Methodist Church in Allport (located across the … Read more

God-Followers Helping the Poor

Today is Blog Action Day. Thousands of bloggers are focusing on the issue of poverty from many different angles perspectives. In this post, I want to highlight a few words from the Scriptures that indicate that helping the poor was a core value in the first century church (the decades following the death and resurrection … Read more

Finally Finalized

Today was a special day in the Willis household. We traveled to the Cumberland County Courthouse in Carlisle and Ethan’s adoption was finalized. It was kind of a last minute thing. The lawyer’s office called Monday and said they could squeeze us in at the end of several other adoption finalization hearings if we could … Read more

7 Days of Prayer for the UMC

When we were in Kansas City last week for the Leadership Institute at the United Methodist Church of the Resurrection, we received a 7 Days of Prayer prayer guide. Many churches are using this prayer guide to join together in prayer for the renewal and transformation of our churches. Here it is … Seven Days … Read more

I Want to Change the World!

Tonight, as I rushed out of COR’s sanctuary at the conclusion of Leadership Institute, I found myself having a familiar conversation with God … I want to change the world! That conversation was reawakened in me at a Chris Tomlin concert last year in State College. Well, since it’s late and we have to get … Read more

Takeaways from Leadership Institute

From today’s marathon day, three concepts stood out from today’s sessions, which all come out of a desire to impact non-religious or nominally-religious people. Adam Hamilton, in some of his final thoughts, talked about his approach to preaching. While many of us were taught in seminary to follow something like this: Start with Bible Exegete … Read more