We spend years in the trenches of parenting between car seats and curfews, timeouts and tantrums, grades and guidance. For two decades (give or take), we pour everything we have into shaping, steering, and correcting. We raise them to grow up, to think for themselves, to stand on their own two feet. But here’s the…
Drive through almost any county in America and you’ll spot them: gorgeous brick steeples hovering over empty parking lots, sanctuaries built for 300 now echoing with twenty voices and a stubborn furnace that costs more than the weekly offering. We’ve become better caretakers of drywall than of disciples. And the numbers back it up. Lifeway Research…
I think it’s safe to say. The modern American church is addicted to safety. We’ve built sanctuaries that feel more like coffee shops than spiritual battlegrounds. We’ve traded sermons that pierce the soul for talks that soothe the ego. We’ve made small groups “low commitment,” worship “non-offensive,” and mission trips “Instagrammable.” Somewhere along the way,…
Let’s be honest: most of our prayers are weak. They’re soft. Safe. Domestic. “Help me have a good day.”“Please heal Aunt Carol’s bunion.”“Let the traffic be light.” We toss these up like God is our cosmic butler, here to make life smooth, not holy. And when Paul drops to his knees in Ephesians 3:14-21, he blows…
Out There – Part Three Let’s talk about Monday. Not the highlight reel kind of Monday.Not the coffee-cup quote, “new week, new goals” kind.No, the real kind. The one where your alarm drags you out of bed.The one where your inbox is overflowing before you even brush your teeth.The one where you feel more like…
Out There – Part Two Let’s be honest, when we hear someone say, “You’re called to make a difference,” we often think of big, flashy things: feeding the hungry, starting nonprofits, flying overseas, preaching in packed stadiums. But you know where it really starts? Right outside your front door. Literally. The people who live 30 feet from…
Out There – Part One There’s a lie we’ve all been sold, and it’s a sneaky one:Life is about surviving the week, paying the bills, and maybe squeezing in some happiness when you can. We wake up, grind it out, scroll a bit, sleep a bit, then it’s like rinse and repeat. Maybe post a…
Let’s get one thing straight: Life doesn’t just work better with Jesus, without Him, there is no life at all. This week in our “Rooted and Ready” series, we hit one of the most honest, humbling, and hope-filled passages in the Bible. Ephesians 2 doesn’t sugarcoat anything. Paul starts with a punch: “And you were dead…
They’re Not the Same, and It’s Hurting Us Let’s cut through the fluff: empathy is not compassion. And pretending they’re the same is making us soft in all the wrong places, blind to what’s broken, and oddly proud of standing still while people suffer. Empathy says, “I feel your pain.”Compassion says, “I see your pain, and I’m going to…
Trauma doesn’t always look like what we expect. It’s not always tears or trembling hands. It isn’t necessarily someone lying in bed, unable to move, or openly speaking about the nightmares that haunt them. More often, it’s hidden in plain sight—in the bright light of day, in the loud, busy moments when the world keeps…
