Most of you have probably heard me tell the story of how my brother Kenneth was preaching about the incarnation (God becoming a man) one Sunday and began to tell the story of a man who went to live in a leper colony. The only problem was he said he went to live in a leprechaun colony. I believe it was nothing less than the favor of God that allowed me to be present, that morning so I could hear it...  Read More

I want to take a minute to write about a new sermon series called “The Story” that begins here at MPCC in January 2013. The intent of The Story is to help you see the connectedness of the Bible as it unfolds from two perspectives: the lower story and the upper story. The lower story is God’s work in and through the lives of people, places and events while the upper story is about how God uses thos...  Read More

There’s lot’s of ways to describe it.  Some say “It’s the ugly secret that no one wants to talk about.” Others say, “It’s the 800 pound gorilla in the room.” The bottom line is it’s a problem, a big problem, especially for the megachurch. What am I talking about? I’m talking about the back door. The truth is in most churches the back door is open and while new people are coming in the front door, ...  Read More

I Chronicles 16:8 says, Give thanks to the Lord, call on his name; make known among the nations what he has done. (NIV) Centuries ago William Law wrote: “Would you know who is the greatest saint in the world?  It is not he who prays most or fasts most; it is not he who lives most, but it is he who is always thankful to God; who receives everything as an instance of God’s goodness and has a heart a...  Read More

In my most recent blog I shared my honest feelings about how difficult it is for me to understand how someone who is a Christian can’t find, one hour and fifteen minutes to attend a service completely devoted to worshiping God. I understand that this is really not much of an issue to someone who doesn’t understand the importance of church from a biblical perspective. So, humor me, and let me take ...  Read More

It’s Thursday afternoon and I’m already tired. Sandy and I got up at 3:45am this morning to drive an hour to the George Bush Intercontinental Airport, return our rental car and catch a 7am flight home to Indy. Now I’m in the office finalizing some details for the weekend and preparing for a funeral on Saturday. In the middle of all of this I took a minute to check our attendance numbers from the p...  Read More

I don’t know anyone who likes to wait for anything. I certainly don’t. Ever since my treatments concluded on February 21, I’ve been waiting to find out the results. After a couple of months I was given a date for my follow-up PET scan (May 14) and an appointment to find out the results (May 16). But before I could count on those dates I had to see my Radiology Oncologist one more time to make sure...  Read More

It’s Monday morning and I’m in my office enjoying a feeling of normalcy that I haven’t experienced in a long time. I can walk down the hall and greet my staff, I can see people sitting in the Connection Café enjoying a cup of coffee and I can hear the preschool class that meets directly below my office. Now I know better than anyone that I’ve still got a long way to go until real normalcy returns....  Read More

In the book, Strengthening Your Grip, Charles Swindoll writes, “Attitude is more important than the past, than education, than money, than circumstances, than what other people think or say or do. It is more important than appearance, giftedness or skill. It will make or break a company, a church, a home. The remarkable thing is, we have a choice every day regarding the attitude we will embrace fo...  Read More

February 22, 2012, oh what a beautiful morning! It’s the day after the completion of my treatments and when I stepped outside my front door I was overwhelmed by the beauty and the warmth (for February) of the day. It felt so good that I had to walk down to the corner of the block and back which is something I haven’t felt like doing in a long time. I don’t want to be too subjective but it was hard...  Read More

Today was my 15th trip to the Cancer Center (sounds strange to read those words). At the end of this week, on Friday, I will receive radiation treatment number 18 so I’ll be just past the half-way mark of this journey. And while I’m in a battle every single day I meet someone who is in a bigger and more frightening battle than me. Today I met a man named Rusty who is 54 (one year older than me). H...  Read More

As I write this blog I’m seven days into my radiation therapy which is exactly 1/5th of the way through. That might not sound like a big deal to some but it’s a big deal to me. Every day closer to the end is a big deal to me. It’s also enough time for me to formulate some random thoughts about where I’ve been and what I’ve experienced.When the Dr. first told me that I had cancer my first feeling w...  Read More