(Message given at Newberg Friends Church on Feb. 23, 2014) Today I would like to give you the Sparknotes version, the Reader’s Digest version of my spiritual journey from birth to age 30. Ready? Born. Rapidly conclude that if I do anything anyone thinks is …
Read MoreCloud of Witnesses: Gregory of Nazianzus
(Message given at Newberg Friends Church on January 26, 2014) As I was thinking about this cloud of witnesses series, I wondered if some of the famous Gregorys in church history might be good ones to explore. This is me in St. Peter’s at the …
Read MoreCloud of Witnesses: Priscilla
(Message given at Newberg Friends Church on January 19, 2014) Last summer, on our huge gift of a trip to Europe, we landed in Amsterdam. We had less than 24 hours there, and were dealing with jet lag. But we made the most of it! …
Read MoreCloud of Witnesses: The Writings of J.R.R. Tolkien
(Message given at Newberg Friends Church on January 12, 2014) I want to let you in on a little bit of my strategy for today. I figure the only way I’m gonna get people to stop teasing me about my Christmas Eve Service blunders is …
Read MoreCloud of Witnesses: Barnabas
(Message given January 5, 2014 at Newberg Friends Church) We live in a world where you can attend workshops on how to “build your personal brand” on social media. Everything is ranked: there’s the Fortune 500 list, a book’s sales position on Amazon, a website’s …
Read MoreCloud of Witnesses: John the Baptist
(Message given at Newberg Friends Church on December 15, 2013) Today our witness in the cloud of witnesses is John the Baptist. And I know what some of you are thinking. You already are wondering why I am such a scrooge, why in the Christmas …
Read MoreCloud of Witnesses: Micah (Plus some additional thoughts)
Before I post what I shared today in worship, I’d like to take a little time to say a few things. I’m a theme and big picture person, and have to work hard to give concrete examples of the things I am talking about. In …
Read MoreCloud of Witnesses
(Message given at Newberg Friends Church on November 17, 2013) Two things kept poking the back of my mind while we were going through the series on identity. A firm foundation for our identity is best built on the never-changing truth that God’s love for …
Read MoreWho are we…to exclude?
(Message given at Newberg Friends Church on October 20, 2013) What if… …what if all of this stuff we’ve looked at over the last four weeks is true? What if our value is not in what we do or how we look or what others …
Read MoreWho Are We…Beyond What We Do?
(Message given at Newberg Friends on September 29, 2013, from Matthew 20:1-16) Ok, I know we are supposed to listen and respond to all of the bible, not just the parts we like. And that’s what I try to do. But…if we were to give …
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