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Leaving Salem

Roger Williams arrived in the Massachusetts Bay colony ten years after the first Pilgrims. He was part of that Puritan effort to build a “city on a hill,” to prove to the nations of the world how God’s people were to live. How did it go? Not so good. Roger settled into his new role…

Repent. Now that’s a uniquely Christian word. I’ve heard it most of my life, and to this day it still makes the hair on the back of my neck tingle with fright. See, as a child, I heard the call to repent burst from the lips of many a revival preacher. With the evangelist’s bulging…

Most every day I walk my boys to the bus stop. We talk each morning about the day to come. We double-check homework. We might say a prayer for the day. Sometimes we play with a football or kick the soccer ball as we wait. But you can be certain of one thing every morning,…

Not long ago I returned to my hometown to speak at a former congregation’s “homecoming Sunday.” Homecoming is a combination of gospel music, sweet reunions, blissful nostalgia, and of course the famed “dinner on the grounds.” My family and I were welcomed back with loving arms, but I don’t think anyone listened to my sermon.…

Sometimes we need to know that we are not alone; not unlike the little boy who cried out for his mother during a midnight thunderstorm. The wind tore at the windows. Thunder shook the house. Lightning flashed. His mother stepped into the bedroom and said, “Don’t worry. Jesus is in the room with you.” After…

A man went to his rabbi and complained, “There are ten of us living in one room. Life is unbearable! What can I do?” The rabbi answered, “Go home and take your goat into the room with you.”  The man was incredulous; but the rabbi was insistent. “Do as I say. Come back in a…

A parishioner walked up to me after a recent Sunday meeting and gushed, “I wish I had half as much faith as you!” I laughed in his face. Quickly I tried to explain that while I may serve as a pastor my faith is as rickety as doubting Thomas’. Like so many, I find it…

You never knew my friend Charles. You would have loved him. He was a husband, father, English teacher, social worker, canoeist, bluegrass player, therapist, connoisseur of green-apple moonshine, and a good friend. He spent the last decade of his life as the Director of Student Services in my hometown school district. He was on the…

Having just returned from a developing country wrecked with poverty, I thought I would post an excerpt from my book The Jesus Tribe. Food for your thought… # # # More than a decade ago I made a couple of trips to Alaska. Driving from Anchorage to Fairbanks, I made a stop with some friends…

This blog entry is coming to you from San Luis Talpa, El Salvador. I am here with a merry band of USAmerican volunteers with the Fuller Center for Housing. The Fuller Center for Housing is a non-profit, ecumenical Christian housing ministry dedicated to eliminating poverty housing worldwide. By forming partnerships with local organizations, The Fuller…
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