Balancing Bethlehem
I love this time of year, and we’re into it full swing. Familiar sights, sounds, feelings and festivals of Christmas are flooding our minds, overwhelming our calendars and draining our bank accounts...
View ArticleGod in the Mundane
It was Dec. 24, 1998. I was 6 years old and deeply anticipating Christmas. This year was different, I could feel it. This year I asked for something bigger. I asked for a Nintendo 64. This was the game...
View Article8 Steps to Accomplish Just About Anything in 2016
It all started for me while I was climbing a mountain in Russia at 16,000 feet in a blizzard. I could have written it off to oxygen deprivation, but something within me said it was more. On that...
View ArticleSated With Food, Jaded With Memories, Peering Toward August
Mashed potatoes light up the pleasure circuits of my brain the same way a glazed doughnut does. At our house, we still mash them — potatoes that is — the old-fashioned way with that squiggle of wire...
View ArticleWhy I Hate New Year’s Resolutions
As a teen, I loved writing down New Year’s resolutions. Like Jesus in Luke 2:52, I wanted to grow “in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and man,” so I set goals for each area — mental,...
View ArticleEmbrace the Chaos
My teenage son Robert, like most of us, really likes his comfort zone. From a very early age, he hasn’t liked trying anything new, including foods. I would estimate that more than 95 percent of the...
View ArticleDonald E. Demaray | 1926–2015
Leading Free Methodist elder, author and seminary professor Donald E. Demaray died Oct. 31 at age 88 after being diagnosed Sept. 10 with a recurrence of pancreatic cancer. A funeral service was held...
View Article‘Ordaining Women’ for a New Generation
Free Methodist founder B.T. Roberts made his case for female pastors in his 1891 book “Ordaining Women,” but women could not become Free Methodist elders until General Conference 1974 delegates...
View ArticleL + L January 2016: Vision Map
New Year, New You During my time in newspaper journalism, my boss requested a series of January articles. The series, titled “New Year, New You,” tackled such hard-hitting topics as spray tanning and...
View ArticleFreedom Sunday 2016: A Community Response
Human trafficking is not the problem. Current estimates indicate there are at least 36 million slaves in the world today (fmchr.ch/gsiorg). These are not people paid a low wage who go home at the end...
View ArticleBurundi Bishop Thanks FMCUSA
Dear Bishop David Kendall and the Free Methodist Church – USA, Greetings in the matchless name of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ! On behalf of the Free Methodist Church in Burundi in general and...
View ArticleTransforming the Church Through Conflict
Over the past 15 years, I have served as a spiritual care coordinator, a pastor and a seminary professor. In all of these settings, I have discovered again and again that the most challenging moments...
View ArticleJust “Knock It Off!”
The Apostle Paul exhorts the Corinthians on the matter of unity. “Now I appeal to you, brothers and sisters, by the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, that all of you be in agreement and that there be no...
View ArticleHow’s Your Buffer?
Nearly a decade ago, I sat in a Spring Arbor University classroom waiting for my professor to arrive for class. During the wait, I used my computer to watch one of my favorite television shows,...
View ArticleCreation Celebration 2016
Since the beginning of human history, people have been creating in groups — first in families and then in villages and societies. One of my favorite things to do is to watch creativity unfold [in...
View ArticleCongregations and Confrontations
A lot of areas in our lives can cause conflict and stress — our jobs, finances and families to name a few. The church is looked upon as a place to renew our spirits, worship our Lord and rejoice in...
View ArticleThe Freedoms of Free Methodists
It is no surprise that researchers in business have identified the importance of a “values-based, sustainable” business model (fmchr.ch/valubiz). Recognizing that strong core values provide energy and...
View ArticleThe Odd Freedom of God
God’s ways often strike us as odd. That God creates makes us marvel. That creation happened by speaking surprises us. That God rescues and saves relieves and gladdens our hearts. That the rescue comes...
View ArticleIt’s Good to Belong
A couple of years ago, I met with a college student whom I was interested in recruiting as an intern. He was a philosophy major with dark-rimmed glasses, floppy haircut, skinny jeans and desert boots...
View ArticleFreedom From Sin
Sin is always an injury. It is polluting in its nature and damning in its effects. When it is finished, it brings forth death (James 1:15). Every awakened soul longs for deliverance from its dominion....
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