Follow Jesus. Lead the church. Change the world.
What if … we were to consider each day a blessing of God? Drew Carey debuted the new game show The Power of 10 last week. The public is asked different questions, polled and the contestants have to guess what percentage answered a specific way. The second airing asked a question something like this, “What … Read more
The mercies of the Lord are new every morning. The church is a short distance from home, so I usually walk there. Sometimes I haven’t taken a flashlight with me and when I get out of a meeting at night, a dreary night, I can hit a place of complete darkness. A bit of fear … Read more
John Dietrich Aurandt, one of my ancestors, a pioneer Christ-following leader, started a number of churches in central Pennsylvania. We don’t know a lot about him, but we know that he started several (Lutheran and UCC) churches in the area. According to a book, Aurandt is “The father of the Reformed Church in Blair County.” … Read more
There’s a line drawn down the middle of the room. Step up to the line if you ever …* Heard God call, but hurried on with “life”. Spent more time in prayer asking God for things than asking God what He wanted for you or your loved one. Put up walls to keep others (and … Read more
A youth devotional using “Night at the Museum” A few weeks ago, at a youth lock-in, I shared the following devotion with the youth based on the movie, Night at the Museum. What makes you happy? What do you enjoy doing? When was the last time you did something that really made you happy? There … Read more
The writings of early church theologians (like Augustine, Gregory of Nyssa, and John Chrysostom) pointed to the fact that God played a practical joke on the devil by raising Jesus from the dead. Three days Jesus lay in the tomb. Three days the devil celebrated. But on the morning of the third day, God had … Read more
Exodus 3.1-10 Moses and the Burning Bush, A sermon for Lenten Community Service I don’t know if you’ve ever done anything stupid before, but I know I have. And you might say Moses did. When he sees an Egyptian mistreating a Hebrew, he reacts. That’s a good thing. He knew what he saw wasn’t right. … Read more
I recently wrote about a youth sporting event to raise money and awareness for Nothing But Nets. That event took place last Saturday night. Youth from several area churches brought money from donations to help send nets to Africa. We gathered at the Juniata Valley High School gym for an evening of basketball and volleyball … Read more
March is a big month for college basketball fans. Locally, the madness will include playing for a great cause. On Saturday (3/31), area youth in grades 6-12 will join together for an evening of sports activity in order to raise money for Nothing But Nets. The event will take place at the Juniata Valley High … Read more
I recently wrote this piece for the Manor Hill Charge newsletter for Lent … Jesus’ Ministry Jesus ministered to the crowds and then he drew the Twelve aside to teach them more. He taught them who he was. He taught them about the kingdom. He took them deeper than he did the crowd. The Twelve … Read more