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On the eve of the Weird Teaching series, it may be strange, but I am gleaning some great ancillary benefit not only from the book we're reading as a church, but also - and here's the strange part - a quote attributed to American business scholar W. Edwards Deming: "Every system is perfectly designed to…

Welcome to the Blog! Wait - What happened to the newsletter? In late July/early August, with Lendell Nolan leaving Grace (and Sean taking on responsibility for the web page, the Class 401 team, and needing to concentrate on Developing Leaders), it became apparent that I needed something LESS time consuming like doing lay-out editing on…

(note: I know I started a series based on my evolution of discipleship, but I've since had to put it on the back burner because , first, I was getting set for a sermon, and second, I am also preparing for the Marriage Retreat. BUT I just saw this and had to share!) This morning,…

I used to have a “drug” problem. Every child in my family did. Dad and mom were leaders in their churches, so we got “drug” to church every time the doors were open: Sunday morning before anyone got there, Sunday lunches, frequent evening meetings, Wednesday night prayer, and Christmas – lots more practices and services.…

If you come to Grace, you know that we serve communion (or the Lord's Supper) every Sunday. And before we - as a group - practice the corporate discipline (or Sacrament if you desire) of Communion, we have brief thought by one of the pastors. Some may ask a couple of things: First, why do…

Hear the words of the Prophet Isaiah from Isaiah 53: Who has believed our message and to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed? 2 He grew up before him like a tender shoot, and like a root out of dry ground. He had no beauty or majesty to attract us to him,…

One of the hard parts of discipleship is that God develops character in is by not avoiding problems but teaching us to get through them with Him. I think that's why James wrote in James 1:2-4 "Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that…

As the end of the year closes – and as I think about one of the gifts I received for Christmas – I’m overwhelmed by a couple of details from last week’s message Rick gave. Don't forget to check the stuff at the bottom! First, a take-away from his message: I know it seems a…

Long ago, in a church in a Korean church in Kansas City, my Sunday School teacher presciently decided that we should know the Apostle's Creed and The Lord's Prayer. The Apostle's Creed goes like this: I believe in God, the Father almighty, maker of heaven and earth, and in Jesus Christ, his Son, our Lord,…