What a party it is going to be this Sunday! People showing up, dressed in team colors. A buzz in the room! Lots of preliminaries to get everyone warmed up including some very clever commercials. An epic battle between the good guys and the bad guys… with the good guys guaranteed to win. To top […]
Radical – Do I have To?
Radical. That’s the title of the sermon series I’m preaching on Galatians. You don’t have to wade very far into that letter to understand why that title is appropriate. This is Paul at his youngest and greenest as we find him in the New Testament. It is his very first letter of the 13 that […]
Going to the Chapel
About five years ago I was approached by a friend of our church, Jan Vance, with the germ of an idea. What if we had a display at the Harbor History Museum on the religious heritage of Gig Harbor? Surely, you cannot tell the story of the settlement of our community without including the role that faith […]
“You Get Me”
In the early nineties, Chapel Hill was gearing up for our first major building program since I had arrived as pastor in 1987. Although we desperately needed a larger sanctuary, the session decided to begin with classrooms and a gymnasium. In a time before the YMCA and the Boys and Girls Club, there was no […]
Happy New Year!
One of the reasons I think we like the idea of a “new year” is… it’s a do-over. A massive re-set. It feels like a chance to wipe the slate clean and start over… new exercise habits, new eating habits, new relational commitments, new financial goals. (After you pay off those credit cards from your […]
A Look Back Over Our Shoulder
It can be said of every year, “There will never be another one like that one.” But it can really be said of 2013, “There will never, ever be another one like that!” Jubilee. Fifty years of ministry. Jubilee in the Park, public baptisms at the Old Ferry Dock and, of course, our Jubilee Celebration […]
What Are You Hoping For?
Last Tuesday I got a call from my one-week-from-being-done-with-college daughter, Rachel. She said, breathlessly, “Daddy… I got into Gordon-Conwell!” G.C. is an evangelical seminary near Boston. (In fact, it is Pastor Larry and Megan’s alma mater.) Rachel is a theology major at Whitworth with a biblical languages minor. She wants to be a professor someday […]
The Awkwardness of Thanksgiving
Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday. I love it for all kinds of reasons: It is the most unsullied religious holiday of the year. My baby comes home from college. It always lands on the same day of the week thus insuring a predictable, extra-long weekend. I like earth tone colored foods and I love leftovers…especially […]
Wow! Jubilee Indeed!
Jubilee Sunday was one of the most moving and joy-filled worship services I’ve ever been a part of! Last Sunday we celebrated our 50th year as a congregation and we packed more into that service of worship that seemed possible. Where to begin? The joy of welcoming as our guests the Neels and the Smalls, […]
Fire at Chapel Hill
I was pounding away on my Jubilee Sunday sermon when I received the following text from Pastor Megan: “There’s a fire in Memorial Chapel.” As you might imagine, that got my attention! I hustled over to find eight fire rigs surrounding that end of the church, hooked up to hydrants, fire fighters on the roof checking […]