Heaven November 19, 2008
Hey, if you want to hear a great message on heaven listen to this message from Jim Dobson’s (Focus on the Family) audio archive. It’s a humorous and helpful message by James McDonald.
Holly and the Evangel Choir November 11, 2008
Holly sang with the Evangel choir Sunday morning. I can’t tell you how thrilled I was! You can listen to it here.
Rabbit November 4, 2008
Birthday Present November 1, 2008
This afternoon my family surprised me with a beautiful birthday present. It was a rocker from Cracker Barrel. It is guaranteed for life. It matches my shelves perfectly and it will be a comfortable place for guests to sit when they visit my study. My birthday is Monday, but Kyle and his family were able to visit today. It was a beautiful day to celebrate our birthdays together.Stop by some time and I will let you try out my new rocker.
Real Tomatoes September 22, 2008
My cousin Di has Facebook now. When we were kids we saw each other regularly. We have our own families now and our own lives so we only see each other when someone dies, which is very sad. It was good to connect on Facebook. I scrolled through her pictures. We look a lot alike. We could pass for brother and sister. I read her interests. One of them made me smile. She has always been a bright girl, quick-witted and verbal. Even as a child she would commonly read an entire book in one day. She is a neo-natal nurse practitioner so she is a competent professional, but she still has a very simple, common interest that she inherited from our grandparents like our sharp, pointed noses… she likes growing tomatoes. (more…)
An Important Feature in Church Design March 17, 2008
photo by Lois Pierpont
I have often thought of things I like in a church building. I love a soaring white steeple glistening against the blue sky or lighted jutting up into the night. It would, of course, have a large pulpit in the very center, symbolic of the priority of the ministry of the Word. Maybe it would have the white colonial furniture, too.
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Autumnlight September 28, 2007
The last two days have been glorious autumn days–gifts from the Lord. I was out taking a few minutes to write and read and drink in one of the most beautiful fall days ever. I could have taken a thousand stunning pictures of autumn glory. This was taken on the north end of the lake yesterday.
This evening after dinner I had some time before the evening meeting to paddle out on a silky purple lake to enjoy the afterglow of the sunset. Later, in the session, I was able to share the powerful story of Wilfred Grenfel. We are ministering to a great group of young men and women. Many of them are involved in exciting ministried to others.
Floor and Coffee September 18, 2007
My son is a man of modest means like his dad. He and his little family occupy and wee apartment just big enough for the three of them and little else. I was driving across parts of three states the other night and it was getting late so I stopped by to see if I could get a pillow, and a blanket, and a spot on the floor. It took a while but after waking a kind neighbor at about one a.m. I finally found his apartment and within a half hour I was sleeping soundly in the middle of the floor. (more…)
A Journey to the Heart February 8, 2007
We have spent the last full week on Wolf Lake in the western upper peninsula of Michigan in a little house on Duck Point with nine other young men. Duck Point juts out into Wolf Lake. The house if full of windows which look out on the lake on three sides. Dan and Wes were among them. The adventure was called a Journey to the Heart. We spent the time seeking the Lord, praying, studying the Scriptures and searching our hearts. Day after day we probed and examined our lives. Across the lake Holly led a group of nine young women in a Journey to the Heart for girls.
Driving north from the western suburbs of Chicago the traffic flows steadily along but the further north you get the more the city and suburbs thin out and the countryside turns to farmland. By the time you get north of Madison, Wisconsin forests of pines and birches, lakes and streams become more and more frequent and busy cares begin to lift.
Every morning we rose early and spent the first two hours seeking the Lord in prayer and silence. The men each found a spot in the house to seek the Lord and there prayed and spent time reading the Scriptures while the coffee brewed and the tea kettle rattled and whistled. At eight o’clock we would gather together and pray as a group and begin to study and search out hearts together in the light of the Scriptures.
We ate two meals a day, brunch and supper, standing and singing the doxology before enjoying our meal. The men cooked and baked their food and teamed up to clean up after each meal. There was a happy spirit of co-operation among them. There were humorous exchanges but not an injuring word was uttered through the whole week.
Toward afternoon we reserved some time to get outside and enjoy the beauty of creation and to keep alert while seeking God. On a couple evenings as the sun shown between the pines we hiked out and back two or three miles together. Some of the men walked all the way across the frozen lake. One day we took a two-hour snowshoe hike. Late one afternoon while the snow was falling we followed each other through the snow-flocked woods on cross-country skis while more white powder fell. On the Lord’s Day we walked all the way around the lake. The sun set while we walked and a waxing moon shone through the trees casting shadows on the bright snow. It was a few degrees below zero. The warm lights of the cottage were a welcome sight when they finally came into view.
In the evening we had fellowship, read, and watched some powerful messages on video. Before bedtime we read evening prayers, prayed together, reviewed Scriptures and drifted into the gift of winter sleep. One night before bedtime, after a long day I read a favorite message by Charles Spurgeon on the gift of sleep the Lord gives to those he loves. While I read the message the room was especially warm. By the time I was done most of the men were enjoying the gift of sleep itself. Late at night or early in the morning some of us would bundle up and walk outside to gaze in wonder at the brilliant night sky. I don’t know how not to worship God when I do that.
On Sunday we all went to worship together. Four or five inches of new snow had fallen on Saturday night so it was a slow beautiful drive to church. There was prayer and singing in our van as we drove between the snow-flocked forests. We were a third of the congregation in the little Bible Church in Land O’ Lakes, Wisconsin. The little church was quaint setting a third of a mile back a curving lane in a snowy pine woods.
When we left the Northwoods behind, we had all had a taste of the sweetness of Christ and we we’re hungry for more of Him. In two years I will be fifty. I feel grief when I think how long it has taken me to see the great sweetness and stunning beauty of Christ. It has taken me so long to realize that Jesus is not just my Savior, but he is my Treasure. Before I go to be with Him I would like to know that my wife and sons and daughters and their sons and daughters have tasted of Christ and found him sweet, that they have gazed on Christ and that their beauty has ravaged their hearts so thoroughly that they will never be the same. I want to know that they treasure fellowship with Jesus.
O God, thou hast taught me from my youth: and hitherto have I declared thy wondrous works. Now also when I am old and grayheaded, O God, forsake me not; until I have shewed thy strength unto this generation, and thy power to every one that is to come. (Psa 71:17-18 KJV)
Ken Pierpont
Indianapolis Training Center
Indianapolis Indiana
February 2, 2007
Refreshing Friends January 8, 2007
There are friendships that warm you like a fire. In a world of people that will drain you dry there are a few friends whose company is nourishment to the soul of a man. Paul is such a friend. Paul is the Director of Camp Barakel in Michigan. He is a man whose heart is steadfast for God. It is easy and natural to talk with Paul of the things of God, the work of God in women and in men, the creation of God around us, and the providence of God in history. It is sweet to pray with him, delightful to be in a meeting where he is leading those gathered in the worship of God.
With a sense of melancholy I will pack my things to leave after a weekend of ministry at Barakel. As I make my way along the gravel roads out toward the state highway Paul will be waiting by his old brown Rambler. This time of the year he is likely to be wearing a huge winter hat with glacier glasses, a thick coat, gloves and a smile. When I pull to a stop he will pull off a glove and greet me in the warm tradition of the Camp’s founder, Uncle Johnny. We will have our “until-next-time” conversation, and I always find myself praying, “Lord, if it pleases you I would love to come back again to this place that you have so obviously blessed.” Paul will hand out mints to all who are in the car and we will reluctantly drive away, our hearts enlarged with love for those we have ministered to and those we have ministered with.
Another prayer occurs to me tonight; “Lord, allow me in some way to be the kind of refreshing friend to others that Paul is to me whenever I am with him.”
I rejoice at the coming of Stephanas and Fortunatus and Achaicus, because they have made up for your absence, for they refreshed my spirit as well as yours. Give recognition to such men.
1Co 16:17-18 ESV
Also pictured above is Jon Ford a refreshing friend in his own right. Perhaps on another day I will tell you his story…
Ken Pierpont
Brook Place
Hinsdale, Illinois
January 8, 2007
Ken's new book - Sunset On Summer, now available for order, $13.95 each.