We all want something solid to stand on. Something that won’t shift when life shakes. Most of us know the feeling of watching the ground give way from health scares to job loss, from betrayal to grief. The question underneath all of it is this: Will I be okay when everything around me is not? That’s…
Some people want to know why I haven’t addressed the assassination of Charlie Kirk from the pulpit. Let me be blunt: it’s not because I don’t care. I care deeply. The death of any human being, especially someone who sought to serve God, is tragic. But my calling as a pastor is not to turn…
If you’ve turned on the news lately, you know the world feels loud and chaotic. Anger and division dominate headlines. Violence seems to hit closer and closer to home. Families are busy and stretched thin. Neighbors live side-by-side but hardly know one another. In the middle of all that noise, people are searching for hope….
If you’re planting a church, leading a growing congregation, or simply longing to see your city reflect the love of Jesus, hear this: your prayers need to come with feet attached. We talk about being the light of the world. But light only matters when it’s positioned where darkness is already present. That’s neighborhoods, schools, city…
When’s the last time you sat across the table from your mayor, city council member, or school superintendent not to complain, not to lobby, but simply to listen? Too many churches talk about “being the hands and feet of Jesus” but never step into the very community where those hands and feet belong. If the…
At Living Word, we celebrate every time someone is baptized. Some people wonder, “Why make such a big deal about it? Isn’t Baptism just a personal, private moment between me and God?” Simple answer: Baptism is never just private. It’s always communal. It’s always family. This is why I rarely, if ever, will do a private baptism…
If you’ve ever tried to read through Leviticus, you know it’s not exactly beach reading. It’s full of laws, sacrifices, and instructions that make our head spin. But buried in all of that detail is something powerful that points straight to waters of Baptism. The priests of Israel had one job above all others: bring…
Yesterday at Living Word we opened our new series Washed, and we started with a simple but courageous truth: Baptism is not about what we do for God. It’s about what God does for us. That’s bold, and it cuts against the grain of how we usually think. We live in a world that says “prove yourself, earn…
Most Christians don’t struggle with saying Jesus is Lord. We just struggle with living like He is. Sure, we trust Him with our eternity. We trust Him with our sins. But when it comes to the everyday stuff like the calendar, the bank account, the retirement plan suddenly the throne of our lives gets very crowded. Let’s be…
It’s no secret, giving can be hard. Sometimes it feels like kale. We know it’s good for us, but we’re not exactly craving it. And yet, generosity is central to what it means to follow Jesus. The problem? Most American Christians give like they eat kale, occasionally, reluctantly, and only when someone guilts them into…
