On March 5th my parents celebrated their 50th Wedding Anniversary. On Saturday, March 6th we gathered with family and friends at their church to celebrate along with them. Throughout my life, my parents have been a model of love and commitment for my sister and me. There has never been a time when we doubted…

Prayer. God has reminded me numerous times of my need of prayer.  Pastor Allen has challenged us as a church and as individuals to make this a year of prayer.  It is a subject revisited again and again through Bible studies, devotions, and sermons.  It is a discipline we are told is vital to our…

Growing up in Ohio, we had some long cold winters. Living in the south now for 35+ years, I don’t miss them…at all! While I do look forward to Spring and the warmer weather, I recall a devotional by Julie Ackerman Line, that I read many years ago, that helps put things in perspective:  It’s…

I’ve always struggled with having a correct understanding of rest from a biblical perspective. Some of the many questions that come to my mind when contemplating this are “what is the defining difference between rest and laziness?”, or “what does the biblical command of Sabbath look like for us today?”, or even “how are both…

We have all spent quite a bit of time at home this past year.  Whether we have spent the time at home in shut-down, quarantine, sickness, social-distancing, choosing a choice, or because we wanted to be at home.  Many of us have probably spent a lot of time at home even before, but never really…

Encouragement! This is something we are all called to do and each need desperately. Throughout my life and ministry, God has used various people to encourage me at critical times. Yet, I have to ask, how often do I go out of my way to encourage those around me?  One of the lesser known characters…

As I was praying over my heart of the staff post for this month God kept steering my mind towards the remodel.   Standing alone in the empty basement after the last workday was over, He reaffirmed it to me.   I stood there and thought about the process we had been through the previous few weeks…

Be generous and willing to share: 1 Timothy 6:17-19 I came across this devotion a couple of months ago in Our Daily Bread devotional that resonated with me. You may have heard stories like this below but what it represents is what I/we should be doing. Not only just ‘doing’ but being ‘compassionate’ about it!    …

Looking back on my life, I am forever grateful for the many godly men and women who have poured into my life. One person in particular comes to mind, Chad Pritchard, who led me to salvation in Christ at the age of 12 and discipled me for many years as well. As he continued to…

Christmas is my favorite time of year. One of the things I love about Christmas is family Christmas traditions. Over the years our family has developed several. We have a list of movies we watch every year, chocolate covered candies that we make, eggnog that we drink (the Baptist non-alcoholic kind of course), and we…