Follow Jesus. Lead the church. Change the world.
Even though we celebrated Christmas in February earlier this year (a week after bringing Ethan home from Korea), this will be our first Christmas (in December) with Ethan, so it’s a very exciting time for us! It’s also a busy time. I had a Christmas Eve service at Centre Grove tonight at 7:00 pm and … Read more
Last month, we began our Christmas celebration while visiting family in Tennessee (at Thanksgiving). There, Ethan received Christmas gifts from grandparents. Today, we had our annual Christmas gathering with the Flaughs in Roaring Spring, PA. Families exchange names of the children at the Thanksgiving gathering and buy Christmas gifts for them. As you’ll notice in … Read more
I played my first season of Fantasy Football (FF) this year, and have enjoyed it. Shortly after arriving at Centre Grove in July, I was asked if I wanted to be part of a new fantasy football league made up mostly of guys from the church. I like to watch football and thought it would … Read more
On Sunday, during the closing song and just before time to offer the benediction, I remembered a quote by Max Lucado. I incorporated what I remembered (the first two lines and the last two lines, as it turns out) into my benediction. Here’s the full quote … If God had a refrigerator, your picture would … Read more
What an amazing Christmas this is already! It’s wonderful to experience things through the eyes of Ethan. Everything is new and larger than life! Here’s a little of what we’ve been up to. Weekend before last was the Christmas Parade in Clearfield. Tradition has Santa arriving by train. It was so cold, we looked for … Read more
One of the books on leadership I read during my D.Min. program was Summoned to Lead by Leonard Sweet, whom I’ve gotten to hear at a couple of conferences in the past. I enjoy everything Sweet writes, and I especially enjoyed this book which drew leadership lessons from the life and expedition of Sir Ernest … Read more
In the months before we brought Ethan home from Korea, a friend told us about teaching her children sign language even before they were able to communicate with words. One of the first signs we taught Ethan was “more” (to help us know if he was still hungry and wanted more food). And recently, we’ve … Read more
We wondered how Ethan would handle our recent vacation, visiting family in Tennessee. It was the longest Ethan’s been away from home since being with us. As it turns out, he handled it pretty well. Ethan went to sleep each night without too much difficulty, but he didn’t get as much sleep as he needed … Read more
At a “breakfast with Santa” this morning, we overheard someone jokingly ask their child what they were going to say when Santa asked if they’ve been good this year. Moments later, Joleen and I discovered that we both were thinking about that exchange. The lyrics of the song, Santa Claus Is Coming To Town, warn … Read more
I have waited 20 years to write this post, even though the blog has only been around a few years. In the earliest days of my Christ-following journey (as a college student), I read as much as I could about the lives of preachers who’ve gone before us. One of those people was E.M. Bounds, … Read more