Skip to main content

The Pastor's Wife and Kids

I know I haven't posted in a while... but I have been a little busy starting a church.  I have one word to describe the last month and a half of labor: Joy.  Seriously.  I can't tell you how thick and rich and deep the experience of God's grace has been in it.  I will post more about that soon.

But for now - Lauren posted some thoughts on her blog about being a pastor's wife that I want to share with you.  You can find it here:  Ground of my Own.

If you know me - you know that I am not your typical pastor (if there is such a thing, I guess).  I have just kind of tripped through life and God has always directed my stumbling steps to take me where he wants me.  Five years ago, I would have laughed at you if you had said I was going to be a pastor. 

Well, Lauren never imagined that she would end up as a pastor's wife.  The experience has been just as rich and encouraging for her as it has been for me - but she comes from a background where she kind of knew what she was getting into with the whole pastor's wife and family thing (sit on the front row, live under a magnifying glass, have everything together at all times) that so is so common to church culture ... so she is determined to keep it real.

So, read it.

Oh - and here is a link to our new church website if you haven't checked it out yet.  It is capital B basic - and I am looking for a web guy to help us do it right... but it works for now!  Trailhead Church Edwardsville

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Teaching the Story Arc of the Bible

Each of the Journey campuses has started teaching a gospel class - a class that answers basic questions about following Christ and being a member in our church. This class has attracted a large number of people who are "peaking over the fence" - checking this whole Christianity thing out. That is both exciting and challenging. It gives us the chance to share the Bible with people who don't necessarily come to it with faith - as well as challenge those who do trust the Bible to get on mission with us. Our first lesson was on the story arc of the Bible - what is referred to as the diachronic view of scripture. Simply put, it is a way of looking at scripture as a complete story - with one major primary theme: God in Jesus reconciling the world to himself. Teaching a diachronic view of scripture to postmodern culture, though, presents some unique challenges. In prepping to teach, I wrote out the following thoughts. I would be glad to get any thoughts you have on this to...

Sanctified Diversity: Learning how to Keep in Step with the Gospel

Last Sunday (March 26, 2017), I preached a message at Trailhead Church in Edwardsville, IL , called Sanctified Diversity, looking at Paul's rebuke of Peter for not "keeping in step with the truth of the gospel." The clear implication of this passage is that it's not enough to only know the truth as a follower of Jesus. You must also lean in and learn to live out its implications in the difficult spaces of life.  There are few areas that our culture needs us to lean in with gospel grace, humility, and empathy more than in the area of racial and cultural diversity. It's just not optional. We can be orthodox in our words and heretics with our lives, undermining the integrity of the message of the gospel because we are not walking in its power. To be true to the gospel, we need to do more than just believe its truths. We need to walk out their applications in our lives.  My sermon was called Sanctified Diversity . You can follow that link to listen to it on Tr...

We are Losing by Trying to Win

Most people have heard of Jonathan Swift's classic novel, Gulliver's Travels. In it, Gulliver travels from one strange place to another, encountering tiny people, giant people, talking horses, and all kinds of adventures. Most people today think of it as a children's storybook because the scene where he is tied down on a beach by little people who feel threatened by him has made its way into almost every children's cartoon. But Gulliver's Travels is far from a children's storybook. It is an insightful and often cutting look at human nature. Swift was a careful observer of human behavior and lampooned it mercilessly. Swift was an Irish writer and clergyman and said that he wrote this novel to "vex the world, not divert it." I think we could use some of that vexing - and could do with some learning from it. In Gulliver's last adventure, he runs across creatures called "Yahoos." They are nasty creatures who horde shiny rocks and hur...