It was 47 years ago last Tuesday on August 11,1976 that I was called to pastor my first Church. I was seventeen. I had been preaching since I was 14 in rest homes and jails and prayer meetings and such. I preached wherever I could. I even preached at a large Boy Scout Jamboree once […]
Bittersweet Farm Journal | August 12, 2022 | 46 Years a Pastor
Good Morning Journal Subscribers; It’s a glorious summer day in Michigan today. It is my study day (Friday). I love my study day. I look forward to it all week, crunching my administrative, counseling, discipling, evangelism, hospital calls, pastoral duties and meetings into the other days of the week. I started before light and took […]
Is My Heart the Temple of the Holy Spirit?
If you know me, you know I love the outdoors. It is a place where I meet God and have a powerful sense of the presence of God. I have had some of my most meaningful worship experiences outdoors. Sunday I preached a Christmas message about wandering under the night winter sky and wondering about […]
Gravity and Gladness
It must have been about 1991. I was in my garret study in the upstairs of the old farmhouse in Ohio where we lived at the end of a dead-end road. The house is pictured here. My study looked out over a field beyond the house to a valley and a river. Early in the […]
Is Your Church Really Friendly? Are You Sure?
Mrs. Anderson was feeble and afraid to meet new people but she made herself get dressed and she drove out to our little church in Ohio years ago. People were kind to her. She felt at home. Later she was saved and baptized. Her daughter and son-in-law and grandson were eventually saved and baptized. She […]
How Many Acres Are Ya’ Farming?
How Many Acres Are You Farmin’ ? I’m a pastor and a preacher but sometimes I like to call myself “The Village Parson” and sometimes I like to call myself “The Keeper of the Story.” If you have a few minutes I’d like you to make a cup of tea and pull up the chair […]