Preaching
-
Return of the Podcast
Woo hoo! After being out of commission for several months, the CrossWay Church Sermon Podcast is now back in action. I’m trying to catch up on uploading the backlog. Unfortunately some recordings didn’t turn out. But at least now we can start getting the weekly messages back online. However, this did present me with a Continue reading
-
Philemon
We concluded the Postcards series yesterday at CrossWay with a message on Philemon. This is a fascinating letter that the apostle Paul wrote to a slave owner named Philemon on behalf of the runaway slave Onesimus. It’s a masterpiece of persuasive writing, but even more than that, it gives us a clear picture of what Continue reading
-
Postcards
Wow, it’s been a long time since I’ve blogged! I’m going to try to get back into it, though I’m amazed that anyone with kids can ever keep up with a blog. But I’ll give it a shot. The past couple Sundays at CrossWay we’ve been in a series called “Postcards,” where we’re studying the Continue reading
-
Praying for Sermon Impact On an Individual Level
This morning on the way to the office I heard a great podcast about preaching and praying. Every week I pray over the sermon and I pray about my preaching and I pray for the people at church. But what this podcast was talking about is the power of praying specifically by name for the Continue reading
-
What’s A Sermon?
Just now I went to the kitchen here at work to get the goods to make some coffee. As I passed one of the classroom doors, a boy came over and asked what I was doing. “Writing a sermon,” I said. He asked, “What’s a sermon?” If you ever want to force yourself to bring Continue reading
-
And Now It’s Snowing Again
Yesterday I drove up to Pennsylvania for a couple meetings and a two-day class. This morning I woke up in Oxford, Pennsylvania and saw this out the window: “A nice little dusting of snow in rural PA,” I thought. “How quaint.” It stopped being quaint about a half hour into my drive northeast, when the Continue reading
-
My Summer Preaching Cave
This summer I’m trying a big experiment that I’m really praying will work. Here’s the deal: I have set a summertime goal of writing preaching outlines for all my sermons up through the spring, and writing sermon manuscripts through the end of 2008. It’s a big goal, to be sure. Here are some reasons I’m Continue reading
-
CrossWay Church Sermon Podcast Scores Mennonite Mention
Last night I was reading the latest issue of The Mennonite, which is the national publication for our denomination. The table of contents mentioned an article called “Sermons Heard ‘Round the World.” When I turned to the article, I saw that it was about Mennonite churches that are podcasting. I was surprised to see us Continue reading
-
Summer 2008
This summer is shaping up to be a very exciting one! Our plans for the summer include exactly three things: (1) Work hard. (2) Play hard. (3) Rest hard. Work hard: Okay, so Carolyn’s not planning to work too hard, although she probably will anyway because she doesn’t like doing nothing. She’s helping out with Continue reading
-
Weekend Stuff
Stuff from the weekend: On Friday and Saturday I took a class in the Lancaster, PA area. The course is called Anabaptist Leadership, Polity, and Effectiveness. I’m still not sure exactly what polity is, but it sounds pretty complicated. Our instructor is very good–knowledgeable, funny, personable, and good at both imparting information and facilitating discussion. Continue reading
Surfing the Inner N8 