One of my intentional themes for this year is taken from Matthew 6:33: “But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.” I decided that throughout the year, I wanted to focus on that command to seek first the kingdom of God. But what does […]
From Announcement to Anticipation
Last Sunday morning I was on a plane back from a family trip. When I took my phone out of airplane mode at 10:30 am, I already had six text messages from people saying, “Did you hear the news?” I really wanted to respond, “What news?” and see how people navigated telling me via text […]
O Sacred Head, Now Wounded
Dependent on when you read this, we are about halfway through the season of the church calendar called Lent. During this 40-day period, Christians may fast from something like sweets, social media, television and spend time reflecting on Christ’s sacrificial death. I started Lent out strong. I love a good challenge. I love goals. I […]
Stuck in the middle
As I write this, I am sitting in the middle seat of a middle row about six hours into a 12-hour flight to Seoul, the first leg of my journey with Outreach Director Cara Taylor to Chiang Mai, Thailand. We are going to visit our global outreach partners with Thai Christian Foundation. At this exact […]
Building community in the stages of life
I am in a season of life when it could be easy to feel like a lot of my community building and relational connection happens on the go. My life is marked by conversations on the sideline at soccer games, or in the middle of the cross-country field during the meet, before or after a […]
Join the journey of service
Last Tuesday at the State of the Church Town Hall, about 230 attendees celebrated some of the incredible ways that the Lord has been at work at Chapel Hill in the last year. I say “some of” because it is a pleasant challenge to try and name all the ways we see God at work […]
Celebrating a fresh start
You know how some memories are seared into your brain? The first time I went to Celebrate Recovery is one of those moments for me. I remember walking into the Memorial Chapel on a Wednesday night, hearing people declaring freedom from addiction and past hurts, and I felt a little like Moses in Exodus 3 […]
New mercy for the morning
Last weekend we ended our services with a call to come forward for prayer. I was surprised by the number of people who came forward asking our pastoral team to pray for them. It was humbling and encouraging to kneel beside many in this congregation and pray for very real needs. I was surprised that […]
New life in Christ and his Church
This last week I had a renewed sense of hope. Maybe it’s that when I wake up in the morning, it’s a little bit lighter. Maybe it’s that we finally have some sunny weather. As a native Northwesterner, the rain doesn’t usually bother me…but this year it has been a bit much. I’m loving the […]
How to impact tomorrow’s disciples today
Last week, we celebrated my daughter’s 11th birthday. Of course, I am dealing with all those parental emotions of grief over how quickly time flies by, as well as pride watching her grow into this young lady who is so full of life. At her family party, I found myself overcome by gratitude by the […]