I have been teaching from Ephesians 6:10-20 and have titled my series The Invisible War. Paul uses the metaphor of Roman armor as he teaches the church of Ephesus about how to embrace the victory we have over our spiritual enemies won for us by Jesus Christ. Paul uses six pieces of armor to explain […]
A Fifth Grade school teacher, Miss Thompson. started each year by telling her students, “Boys and girls, I love you all the same. I have no favorites.” Miss Thompson wasn’t being completely truthful. A boy smaller than most of the other boys, Teddy, was difficult for Miss Thompson to like. Teddy’s hair was unkempt. His […]
Did you know… Our children’s ministry, KidZone (Infant through Kindergarten) and the Garage (1st Grade through 5th Grade) requires 136 gifted, loving and devoted servant-leaders each month to care for, love and disciple our children. We presently have 72 of these gracious and generous followers of Jesus who are offering their time, talent and gifting […]
Read More… from Kids are not the future of the church…They are the church!
There is a story about a little girl that had been tucked into bed by her mom and dad. Lovingly, Mom and Dad had prayed for her and kissed her goodnight. Soon she fell into a peaceful sleep. Hours later there was a thunderstorm that had rolled in and a bolt of lightning struck a […]
Do you love hot dogs? How about baseball? What about apple pie? Or better yet, how about Chevys? Some would say I love to eat a hamburger while watch football and eating French silk pie and sitting in my Ford F150. Now that I love. People love their cats, their dogs, their favorite TV series […]
Heartland Vineyard Church has gone through many radical changes over its short 24 year history. From a living room to rented facilities to a 70,000 square foot Worship Center. From a tiny church plant to becoming one of the larger church in the Cedar Valley From 5 people in our living room to 5 pastors […]
– a situation in which you have to make a difficult choice. The following is a parable: Once, a man was lost in the desert, near death from thirst. He wandered aimlessly through the burning sand day after day, growing weaker by the moment. At long last, he saw an oasis in the distance with […]
I received this email from one of our members this week: “A while back you mentioned at the end of service that if we saw in our mind a person, God wanted us to pray for them. We waited for a moment and God showed me a person, a coworker who popped into my head. […]
This week, my wife Roi Lene and I traveled to Iowa City to respond to God’s heart, not as pastors but as believers in Jesus Christ. We met with a young man whom we deeply love and is battling Leukemia. Then we visited a young family whose two year old daughter is suffering with a […]
Read More… from A Grace Filled Church with a Kingdom of God Mission
Today, I received a note from a new friend and brother in Christ. He is a young man in his twenties and he described to me a new and exciting development in his spiritual life that has been transforming. I asked him to write down what he had experienced and here’s what he wrote. I […]
Years ago, I was in a small four seat airplane, flying to Albuquerque, New Mexico to help scout a High School football team we were going to play the following week. There were four of us in the plane; the pilot, our line coach, our linebacker coach and myself. We were all macho coaches with […]
Yesterday, my son Josh and I had the privilege of having lunch with two men in our church, Dave Hackett and Mark Graham. Mark is a deer hunter and so the main course was “Deer Dogs”. They were fabulous. We talked and laughed and had a great time. This was not the first time I […]