It is a common thing for a church to become known primarily for their senior pastor. It is a common thing for a church to grow with a pastor and then dwindle when he retires. I’ve noticed one thing about today’s Christian culture: they love pastors. I can name 15 or 20 pastors that have [...]

Being in seminary I hear a lot about why it is or isn’t necessary for pastors. I hear “seminary isn’t relevant anymore” or “I could just work at a church and read books instead.” I remember that when we’ve talked about this before some of you have said that seminary isn’t a have-to for everyone. [...]

If you are anything like me, you are just scraping by every month. Paying bills and paying for school pretty much straps us for every dime we earn each month. So I’m doing my part to help us save a little. I’m not talking about energy efficient lightbulbs, saving pop cans, or making homemade mochas [...]

A few weeks ago in class we had a great discussion about compassion. We spoke at the subject from both a Biblical and societal understanding. It brought up some interesting points and thoughts. So I pose the question(s) to you… Who deserves or doesn’t deserve compassion? Why? I look forward to hearing from you all.

This morning I led worship at Sunset for both the 9am and 11am services. We had zero overlap of songs between the two services, which made for a lot of work for the band. Here are the sets: 9am: With All I Am (D) Fairest Lord Jesus (Passion arrangement, B to Db) You Are the [...]

Spring in Oregon sometimes brings nice surprises. It rained all morning on Friday, but here is the forecast for the next week (below). I guess you could call spring in Oregon fickle. Monday you will find me at a park reading a book. It shall be a perfect day. Blogs Alex McManus on 4 ideas [...]