Idols & Israel’s Savior Dear Church Family and Friends,  Idols aren’t just statues or carved images; they are anything that takes priority over God or controls our hearts and minds. Idols can take many forms in the 21st century and provide comfort and reassurance– until life happens. How big is your God? How valuable are your idols when your marriage is falling apart, your son is diagnosed with an...  Read More

Comfort and Hope of Restoration Dear Church Family and Friends,  This Sunday we’re going to start back on our journey through the book of Isaiah, our text is Isaiah 40. Isaiah has spent 39 chapters describing almost exclusively what was wrong and the consequences of those wrongs. Now in chapter 40, He opens with this statement, Isaiah 40:1 “Comfort, comfort my people,” says your God. We all have a...  Read More

Authentic Relationships, making room for real connection. Part 3 of the mini-series, "Margins".Dear Church Family and Friends,  As the pace of life picks up, one of the first things to get edged out is our significant relationships. This can mean that our children get less of our attention, our friendships suffer, and we feel too busy to engage the person with a need right in front of us. Some can...  Read More

Accepting Life's Limits, part 2 in the mini-series called, "Margins."Dear Church Family and Friends,  There is a flaw in the vision of the rugged individual who guts it out alone through all challenges, wins every battle, saves people and stands victoriously unscathed and confident in spite of any adversary. That individual doesn't exist in real life. No one can go through all of life alone with l...  Read More

Soul Space, part 1 of the new mini-series: "Margins." Dear Church Family and Friends,  We tend to fill our lives with busyness or distractions that don't refresh the soul. The space within us gets so crowded and cluttered that it becomes difficult to be at peace and make good decisions.Jesus calls us to have meaningful margins in our lives. Those healthy margins start in the inside with the state ...  Read More

Family Values, the final message in the "I Love My Church" mini-message series .Dear Church Family and Friends,  Jesus had a lot to say about the local church. In fact, Jesus loves the local church and died for people in the local church (and those currently far from it too). Jesus desires local churches to impact the world! How do we do that? How do we stay on course? What should be reflected in ...  Read More

Family Priorities, part 2 in the "I Love My Church" mini-series.Dear Church Family and Friends,  Among all the "good" things you can do as a family, what is most important in this present season? How do you discern what is priority for you, your family and your church family when there are multiple good things you could focus on? Jesus highlights what is priority for each expression of His church ...  Read More

Family PurposeDear Church Family and Friends,  A simple brochure about our purpose in life asks a straightforward question: "Why am I here?" If we are unable to answer that question, we should pause what we are doing and get back in touch with our purpose. God has revealed his purpose for creating us - that we might please Him and that he might delight in a loving trust relationship with people re...  Read More

Promise and Praise! Dear Church Family and Friends,  How does it make you feel when you see a beautiful sunrise on the horizon of a new day? Maybe even taking in a gorgeous sunset at the end of difficult day or week can give you a welcome calm and sense of peace. When we can see clearly and confidently God's good purposes in and through us for a new season of time, it stirs praise! God's promised ...  Read More

Failing UpwardsDear Church Family and Friends,  80% of our New Year's resolutions will be given up by February! As we prepare for the new year let's resolve not to give up, even though we will fail often. Romans 3:10 As it is written: “There is no one righteous, not even one; 11 there is no one who understands; there is no one who seeks God.As a society we’re obsessed with winning, it so impacts o...  Read More

The King has Come! Dear Church Family and Friends,  Have you ever met someone the world considers to be really important? How did you feel? Have you ever met someone that God considers to be really important? What impression did that encounter have on you?  God prepared people to recognize the coming of His Son, Jesus, the ultimate Savior and King. Through the prophecies in Isaiah and elsewhere, G...  Read More

Celebrating God with Us Dear Church Family and Friends,  Can you remember a time when a special person really wanted to be with you? Maybe it was a grandparent or parent, an older sibling or a special friend. When you realized that they WANTED to be with you in a time of need or for some special occasion, how did you feel?  God wants to be with us!! From the beginning of time God's desire was to b...  Read More