These are my notes from Jerry's keynote message. I'm posting them mostly for my own use, but if you benefit from them, praise God! Keynote message from the 149th Annual Meeting of the Midwest Baptist Conference by Jerry Sheveland The first seven chapters of the book of Acts tell the story of …
So Dark is Europe
Phil Gottschalk has been a missionary in Europe for a number of years, and he just sent me this unbelievable email. I'm quoting it here: Here's an e-mail I just received. It is typical of what we have experienced for the past nearly 20 years in Europe. This friend is studying Dutch in Leuven, …
029-02 — Trick or Treat
Various Scriptures The second message in this series is all about helping us truly grasp that God is the treat and everything else is only a trick. There are at least four reasons why. Listen up to find out! Download Now Subscribe to this series by dragging this link to your podcast software or …
Make the Right Things Easy
I read this article recently where the author is talking about how to make users of your product or service happy. The basic premise of the article is that you should make the right things easy and the wrong things hard. A great illustration of this is a three pronged electrical plug. There is only …
Web Empowered Church: Update
UPDATE: Well, it appears I made a small stir by blogging my criticisms on this. In my original post from October 11 (no longer available), I think I may have made some people mad at me. In the past week or so, I've been in conversation with some people over at the Web Empowered Church forums and …
029-01 — Introduction
Psalm 34 With this message, I'm starting a brand new series that I hope to accomplish two things: Help to increase your appetite for knowing God. Help you to realize that whatever effort it takes to know God better will be worth it. With this first message, I dig into Psalm 34 to show that …
Sorry, Gotta Go!
I think this is hilarious! I just found this website called "Sorry, I Gotta Go" at sorrygottago.com and it is incredible. The whole site is just a bunch of sound effects to use when you want to get out of a phone conversation. For example, if you are talking to someone, you can pull up this website, …
Church Spam
Now, I hate spam because I hate scams of all kinds, but this actually takes the cake! A friend of mine sent me a copy of an email he received from a church he's never heard of telling him about a new sermon series. For some reason, I'm ok with direct mail (because the advertiser is paying to have …
Creating and Sustaining Momentum
Tony Morgan on his blog shares from his experience at the recent "Catalyst" conference, and records some comments made by Andy Stanley on how to create and sustain momentum in any endeavor. It's probably not right to quote his entire blog post, so I'll just copy the core few key points. Stanley …
Greg’s Story
While Jen and I were looking for a home in Lafayette, God led us to meet a man who not only would sell us a great home, but who also was to join us as one of our first ministry partners. We still can't believe the amazing ways God is working to bring us together with people who love him and are …
Busy Day
Well, I just finished one of my busiest Sundays in a long time. That's not to say it wasn't a good one. It was just busy. Presentation at Bethany This morning, I had the priviledge of both preaching and giving my church plant presentation at Bethany Baptist Church in Harwood Heights, Illinois. …
How to find a human
If this isn't just about the best resource ever. This website gives instructions for how to quickly bypass those automatic phone menu systems and get to a real human being. https://www.quickbase.com/db/bam6rdiey?a=q&qid=5 …
I’m a bachelor again
Jen is gone this week because she is serving once again as an assessor at the TeAmerica Church Planter's Assessment Center in Green Lake, Wisconsin. The end result of it all is that I'm at home by myself, I'm working from home, and I'm managing the kids. So far, things are going really well. The …
Encouragement from Psalm 34
Dan Martin and his wife Mary, friends of mine, have been going through some rough times recently. If you think of it, please pray for them that they know God's comfort. Today, as I was reading Psalm 34, I thought it has some incredible statements of encouragement for them and for anyone else who is …
Priest Hurts Children During Mass
This comes from This is True CHARISMATIC, STIGMATIC - WHAT'S THE DIFFERENCE? Parents are upset with a priest at Holy Trinity Catholic Church in Corn Hill, Texas, after he called about 15 children up to the altar during mass. The lesson: how Jesus suffered during crucifixion. His method: pricking the …
Wisdom for selecting a home
It turns out that one of the men from the Pondside group is actually the President / CEO of Lafayette Savings Bank! It's amazing how God works things out. I gave him a call, he had someone call me and in about 30 minutes this morning, Jen and I were "easily" approved for at least a $180,000 …