Bittersweet Farm

Bittersweet Farm

Trapped

Filed Under: Current Thoughts, Past Ministry

A classic re-post from 2008

This morning we were driving through Toledo during the morning rush hour. Suddenly the traffic on the interstate came to a complete stop. We expected construction or an accident but the problem was that somehow a dog had wandered across five lanes of traffic and a busy merging lane. He was trapped against a dividing wall and unable to cross back. He shifted his weight from foot to foot afraid of the traffic. Some drivers would try to let him cross, but others merging from another highway would not see him in time to stop and he couldn’t get across. There was nothing we could do for him without risking our own lives so we had to go on. He was trapped. I could not imagine a way for the poor dog to get to safety.

I often think about my parish – our family mission field – the Downriver Communities where we live. We have devoted our lives to proclaiming Christ to the people who live there. There are thousands and thousands of families that live and work within driving distance of our church. Most of them are spiritually trapped and they don’t have a chance to make it to safety without a miracle. Our church and our ministry are attempts to help them across the busy freeway to safety and life.

You can’t always tell people’s spiritual needs by looking at them. But there are times when you can see the desperation in their faces. They are trying to live and laugh and love, but it is a daily struggle. They will never make it to spiritual safety unless Jesus guides them there.

And Jesus went throughout all the cities and villages, teaching in their synagogues and proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom and healing every disease and every affliction. When he saw the crowds, he had compassion for them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd. Then he said to his disciples, “The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few; therefore pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest.” (Matthew 9:35-38)

Ken Pierpont
On vacation in Campton, Kentucky
July 1, 2008

A Word for the Wounded (Psalm 129)

Filed Under: Sermons

Pilgrim Psalms graphic

Series: The Pilgrim Psalms
Title: A Word for the Wounded
Text: Psalm 129
Date: 06-17-2015 7:00 PM
Place: Evangel Baptist Church-Taylor, Michigan
Speaker: Pastor Ken Pierpont

Ken Pierpont
Ken Pierpont - Sermons
A Word for the Wounded (Psalm 129)
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Stonebridge Newsletter-Farewell Edition

Filed Under: Current Thoughts

Stonebridge-Newsletter-Subscribe-Free

Stonebridge Newsletter-Final Edition
(Number 600)
Kenneth L. Pierpont
——————————-
Hello Stonebridge Faithful;

I have written my way to a significant milestone today. This is Stonebridge Newsletter Number 600.

When I exercise I walk. I wish I had discovered the virtues of a good walk years ago. I used to run. Just a few years ago I thought of running a marathon. I followed a marathon training program. I had some running paraphilia and dozens of books about distance running. A marathon training program always involves a long Saturday run. Every other week the long training run gets longer. It one point a few years ago I was up to 20 miles on my long run. At that point I could have finished a marathon if I had signed up for one, but I didn’t. My training program sputtered and died. I tried a few more times after moving here to the Downriver. I was running my long run out in the Lower Huron Metro Park one day. I think it may have been an eleven-mile run. It wasn’t going well. There was no joy in it. It was just a grinding drudgery.

Distance running is a solitary thing. You have a lot of time with your thoughts. That day out along the Lower Huron I just got tired of running. I stopped and walked back to the car. I took of my running shoes and never participate in distance running again. I have no intention of ever doing it again. I just tired of it. I packed up all my running books and gave them to a friend. I retired my Garmin. I pushed my running shoes to the back of the basement closet.

Since then I have changed gears and I have discovered the virtues of walking. Not power-walking, not fitness-walking, just human walking. Walking and thinking. Walking the smelling. Walking and listening. Walking with others some. Occasional walking meetings. Often walking with Hazard the Wonder-Yorkie. I try hard not to measure the distance or pay too much attention to the time. I spent too many years measuring every step when I ran. Sometimes when I walk, I stop and sit on a bench or talk with someone. It’s not a fitness regimen, it is a human act.

There just comes a time to stop something. I have reached that time with the Stonebridge Newsletter. Stonebridge Newsletter Number 600 is my final Stonebridge Newsletter. I’ve enjoyed it. It has been an important part of my life. It has been my way of keeping steady with the writing. I need to do something fresh. I will continue writing and post at least once a week on kenpierpont.com. I will continue the Ken Pierpont Storytelling Podcast. I have a few other ideas. One the sight I will post writings, audio, and occasional video. I will stay in touch and I hope you will keep in touch, too. I would love to know about as many of you as I can.

I’m working now on a book called The Village Parson. I hope to have it ready this year. If you haven’t read them you should grab Sunset on Summer, For a Few Days, and Sacred Stories and Strong Families. All the Stonebridge Stories dating back to the year 2000 are archived free at kenpierpont.com.

You can “friend” me on Facebook.You can follow me on Instagram. You can subscribe to my “Tweets.” You can track Lois at loispierpont.com and follow the kids on their Facebook pages. We are not going away.

If you visit kenpierpont.com you will still have the opting of subscribing to my posts. Whenever I post it will send you an email with the post or with a link to the post.

Thank you for fifteen years of Monday mornings. Thanks for letting me be a part of your morning coffee and your family circle. Thank you for reading about the family and about our ministry. Thank you for taking an interest in my stories and in our lives.

Until we meet again I will be out there with my ear to the ground listening and watching my world and the people in it for stories that move the heart and nudge people Godward. That’s what it was all about.

Ken Pierpont
Granville Cottage
Riverview, Michigan
June 22, 2015

Summer 2015 Reading List

Filed Under: Current Thoughts, What I'm Reading

Big Libraries

It is my ambition to read these books this summer. I am also working hard on writing a book this summer, pastoring the church, and speaking at Camp Barakel, Lincoln Lake, The Springs, and Spring Hill camps and a couple other places. We will see how far my ambition can carry me in the next three months. If you purchase any of these books by following the link I should get a wee bit of book money through the Amazon Associates program. (I don’t promise not to read other books, but I’m going public with my ambition to read these to counter the temptation to binge-watch T.V. shows on Netflix).

I will probably read all but the Keller book on preaching and The Confessions in hard-copies. I have Keller for Kindle and The Confessions, but my compelling copy of The Confessions is the Philip Burton translation. It is a beautifully-bound and type-set book-the Everyman’s Library Edition so it’s tempting to read it, but I trust Piper’s recommendation.

Preaching-Tim Keller

A Light in the Window-Jan Karon

I’m re-reading the whole series start to finish in anticipation of reading Somewhere Safe With Somebody Good for the first time. I should finish in time to read Come Rain or Come Shine when it comes out in late September.

Somewhere Safe With Somebody Good-Jan Karon

Come Rain or Come Shine-Jan Karon

Letters from Larksong-David Kline

Surprised by Joy-C.S. Lewis

Finally Alive-John Piper

The Confessions-Augustine

(Pine-Coffin Translation-Recommended by John Piper. Listen to his biographical message on Augustine here.

Flowing Streams-Stuart Briscoe

Sacred Repetition; Fly-Fishing on the Muskegon

Filed Under: Current Thoughts, Faith and Family, Pondering His Creation

Kyle Fishy

About eighteen winters ago our first-born son began to read about trout fishing with flies. After a winter of reading and fly-tying and investigation and investment in the vestments of fly-fishing, and after listing to the lore of fishermen, the day finally came when he waded into the stream near where we lived. We lived in Fremont, Michigan. He first fished the Muskegon River. He caught a fingerling trout that night. I was there to see it.

Last night he took his first-born to the same place in the river. To be where trout live with someone you love, quiet on a summer evening save the burble of the stream and the whisper of the wind in the leaves of the trees lining the banks of the river is a rare and wonderful memory, likely to be cherished more and more with the passing of the years.

It pleases me to see with the passing of the years that my son loved the things we did together so much he wants to repeat them with our grandson.

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