Wednesday nights you will find our building stuffed to the brim, overflowing with hundreds of children and all that includes: laughter, competition, shouting, crafts, games and general mayhem. But AWANA is about SO MUCH MORE than this.
So you know that this summer Thomas is taking a sabbatical. But in case you are anxious about what we’ll do without him around, we’d like to put your mind at ease. No, scratch that. WE WANT TO GET YOU EXCITED!
Like a father grilling steaks in the backyard, God was leaning over, wearing His “BEST DAD EVER” barbecue apron, to give us a warm, sizzling taste of the amazing meal He has waiting. This was a taste of what is to come, and we didn’t know it then, but we would be getting tastes like that all week.
I gave up EVERYTHING I KNEW for you. For this idea that you were the ONE. And now you’re gone. And I have nothing. No home. No place to live. And you’re dead and I’m left here wondering if everything I hoped for – everything I believed about you – was a lie.
Jesus said that what’s inside that matters most. And whatever is inside of us eventually comes out. Nowhere is this more obvious than in church leadership. Cultivating a healthy heart is one of the most important things a pastor can do, and God designed rest to be a central discipline for that cultivation. This summer we are giving Thomas the gift of rest.
In our nation, the expectation that someone will walk into a school and destroy lives has become normal for a generation of young people. This is not the way things should be. We grieve over the loss of innocence and the ongoing loss of life, and to cry out to God for what He—and WE—should do.
The earliest I can remember feeling afraid of my own beauty was about nine years old. I remember an older man, around 25, commenting on how I would grow up and turn men’s heads. That is when I resolved to be a tomboy and try as best I could to hide that beauty.
We’ve spent the last three week in the H.E.R. series, where we’ve looked at the ways we treat and think about women in our world. It is very important to us that Pulpit Rock Church be a safe place for people to tell their stories. Here is one of those stories.
Sunday our Student Ministry concluded a five week series in Psalms. To close out the series, we asked our students to write their own Psalm in their words, using their language. And the results are amazing…
IF:Gathering holds a special place in my heart. There is a breath of fresh air and authenticity with IF as it begs you to show up as yourself and let others really see you. This year we remember the God who won’t stop loving us.
I believe right now our nation is seeing a reckoning. The #metoo movement has caused us to step back and stake stock of our culture. And for the most part, it is the culture, not the church, leading the way in shining light in the dark places. This must change.
When I was young, I read C.S. Lewis’ “Chronicles of Narnia.” It took me several years and maybe two more reads to realize the true hero of the story was not any of the main characters. Just like Lucy is not the center of Narnia, I am not the center of the story either.
