It’s the day after Thanksgiving 2007 and I have never been more grateful. I’ve never had so much to be grateful for in my life. In May of this year we were blessed with our first grandchild. If you read the Stonebridge, you have already “met” wee Kyle. I hope the little lad is the first of many. In just a few short days I will begin my ministry at Evangel Baptist Church in Taylor, Michigan. I am an author. This morning I drove my Jeep to the post office …

This afternoon we are packing for our move to Michigan. We are in blissful chaos–climbing around boxes, looking for packing tape, listening to Christmas music, trying to “lighten our pack,” saying our good-byes, and looking forward to our new life and our new friends. Last night I packed a part of my library, shown here. (You will notice that “lightening my pack” does not include getting rid of any books).

I packed the other half of my library this evening. Dan and Wes have been a huge help. Everyone has been …

There is great rejoicing in my heart this morning. November 11th I accepted the call to Evangel Baptist Church in Taylor, Michigan to join their pastoral team as Senior Pastor. You can count on pictures soon. We are grateful to God for the ministries that the Lord has allowed us to have at IBLP and at First Baptist Church of Momence, and filled with eagerness to begin our new life and ministry in the Downriver Communities back in our beloved Mitten State.
Almost two years ago the Lord began to …

Autumn is mercifully lingering into November in the Midwest this year. I don’t mind at all. The season is like a favorite guest that you try to talk into staying just a little longer. We drove across the bottom of the “mitten” yesterday from Detroit to Chicago. Heidi met us in Northern Indiana with my Jeep and I drove down through Indiana for the Dad’s Conference in Indianapolis. It was a pretty drive. The trees are clinging to their leaves, like they are bracing for winter. The sun came out …

This morning when I woke up and looked at my alarm clock I remembered something that happened about twenty three years ago today. An associate pastor in Niles, Michigan at the time, I was out calling and dropped by the house of one of the members of my church. I was busy and had projects on my mind and the pressures of a young family, but it was her birthday, and besides, she was my grandmother Shipley.