By Brother Tom Albin Recently Maryle and I participated in a Christian Ashram in Canada. During the Open Heart, I expressed my need to experience the presence of the Living God—to sense and feel and see the Holy Spirit at work in and through the Ashram. It may seem an odd thing for a pastor […]
By Brother Matt Henson The transformation of Christ at work in our lives turns us from a focus on self to our focus on Jesus. We begin to see the world in new ways and what is important to us changes. We no longer seek self; we seek Jesus. The attitude and attributes of a […]
By Brother Brian Shimer It took perseverance to pack up the car each Friday, drive 150 miles with two children (one 2.5 year old and the other a 2 month old, to begin with) to reach the small, country church I pastored for a year as a seminary student. It took commitment to “keep on, […]
By Brother Tom Albin The Bible names nine qualities or “fruit” of the Holy Spirit. This week I would like to suggest a tenth—GRATITUDE. Here are the nine identified in Galatians 5:22-23. (Revised Standard Version Updated Edition) …the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. There is […]
By Brother Matthew Henson My college roommate posted a saying in our apartment that stated, “Yesterday is history, tomorrow is a mystery, today is a gift, which is why we call it the present.” Each day when I would walk past this sign, I would consider the words in my mind, but sadly, I fear, […]
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lTJzE4dLNhE By Brother Steve Rankin I think it was Christmas 1987 when Joni gave me a cassette (yes, kids, a cassette) of a guy I’d never heard of. His name was Michael Card, and the album/cassette was called “The Final Word.” I started listening and was quickly taken with Card’s ability to write music that […]
By Brother Matt Henson As a baby, I was diagnosed with asthma. Over the years, there have been times when I battled to find my breath when having an asthma attack. One of the worst attacks I ever had was a time in high school where my ability to walk from the couch to the […]
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ddBDEjWMjKo&t=4s By Brother Tom Albin I grew up in a small Methodist Church in Quinter, Kansas. This was before the merger with the Evangelical United Brethren Church in 1968 that gave birth to The United Methodist Church. In those days we sang a few hymns by John Wesley and many by his younger brother, Charles […]
By Brother Matt Henson My wife and I sang to our children as part of our nighttime ritual. It was interesting to see which songs encouraged them to relax and fall into a sleepy state. There were some songs that stirred them and there were some they would cry when we sang them. There was […]
By Brother Matt Henson As a preacher’s kid, I literally grew up in the church. We would attend Sunday morning worship and Sunday evening worship. For the most part, our Sunday morning worship songs would come from the hymnal, while the Sunday evening songs would incorporate another smaller songbook that included choruses and newer songs […]
