_My dad, Mark Mikels, pastor of [Sonlife Community Church][1] wrote these words as a tribute to my grandpa, his father-in-law._ [1]: http://www.sonlifecommunitychurch.com # Tribute To A Farmer # God must surely have a special place in his heart (and in His Kingdom) for farmers! He placed …
Grandpa Spencer died this week
On Tuesday, August 2, 2005, my grandfather, John Spencer, went to be with the Lord. He had been struggling with illness for some time, and just this last week was granted final relief from the God whom he served throughout his life. I didn't know my grandfather anywhere as well as I wish that I …
I’m pretty bad at fasting
# I'm pretty bad at fasting... # Well, today is the first Tuesday of the month, and that means it is a day for fasting and prayer. I got started off on the wrong foot completely! This morning, as is our custom, my wife prepared some cereal for our children, and by the time I made it out to …
2005-08-01
MyJournal -- 08/01/2005 For the past few days, I haven't been spending the time to do my 30 minutes a day. Oh, sure, I have an excuse or two, but they aren't really good. Last Thursday, I was leading the wedding reception for Jonathan Kaushal, and that went from about 6:30 pm until about 11:00 …
Fancy Export Plugin
I've just modified the WordPress "Fancy Export" plugin that can be found here... http://www.semiologic.com/projects/fancy-excerpt/ The plugin was working fine, but it crashed on a couple of my posts, so I've modified it. The code is here. Fancy Export Plugin (modified) ---- …
028-03 — We Turn From Sin
To listen or download this message, click here: We Turn From Sin # What's Going On? # Yesterday, I gave a message to my congregation, and afterward, a friend of mine who was visiting, said, "Jeff, you've got kahoonas!" (Can I say that on a "pastor's" website? --- yeah, sure!) It was all …
2005-07-18
# MyJournal --- 7/18/05 10:48 pm # Today God helped me to accomplish a few things for the church plant. The major thing that I was able to do was to set up a dynamic graph that will automatically display our current support level according to two .csv files on our webserver. It's something …
2005-07-17
MyJournal -- 7/17/05 10:17 pm These past few days, God has been showing me that I need to take this spiritual renewal thing seriously. I have been focusing so many of my energies on the practical aspects of ministry. What I'm doing and what the church is doing and what other people are doing and …
2005-07-22
MyJournal --- 7/22/05 8:14 pm Things have gone pretty well for me today. Since it was a day off, I didn't do that much, but I actually felt like today was just the same as any other day. In fact, I have begun to worry that I don't have enough separation between my hobby life and family life and …
2005-07-21
MyJournal - 7/21/05 8:21 pm Yesterday, God met me during my evening prayer time. I was over at the church at 7:30 like I had said for prayer, and a couple of other people showed up---Paul and Leah Witte came, and Eric Wilson (a new fellow) also was there. It was a really good time for me. I …
Talking with God
Some time ago, I was asked to do an exercise where I would write out a letter to God and then imagine he would write a letter back to me. The letters below are the result of that experience. You know, I just read it all again, and I can't believe how true I think it is. The exercise was back in …
The Problem with Cotton Balls
I shared this story with my congregation yesterday to encourage them to think about how to hear God's voice... Once upon a time there was a little girl who loved her mother very much. She and her mom used to pick flowers together when they would visit the park. They would roll around in the grass …
I have a coach!
Jen and I are starting a church with Midwest Church Planting a ministry of the Midwest Baptist Conference. The head of Midwest Church Planting has just assigned me a coach for the church planting process. Now, I have someone to talk to about all things church planting! My coach is Richard Wollard …
028-02 — Because of Who God Is
In this message, I explore Nehemiah 1:5-6. The passage is incredibly encouraging because it just simply reminds us who God is, and after all, that's the real reason to return to him. I want to encourage you to come back to God simply because of who he is! Download now Subscribe to this series by …
2005-07-19
MyJournal --- 7/19/05 9:36 pm Today has been a good day. This morning, we woke up pretty early to take the kids to go see Bob and Larry from the Veggie Tales show. They were making a guest appearance at the NBC news show downtown. So, not only did we get to see the two characters, but Jen, …
028-01 — When Times are Bad, Rebuild
Time to Rebuild: Nehemiah 1 Download now: When Times are Bad, Rebuild Four years ago, I was teaching through a series of messages that I entitled, Under Construction. It was a series that covered my vision for what a church really should be. We discussed the core values that should be present in …