March 19, 1989. That was the answer to my question. I had several photos but I didn’t have the date. It didn’t take place in my home town, as the local priest would only perform the ceremony if the family attended the church. So, we went to my grandfather’s church, St. Augustine’s on the Fulham […]
Never Forget
I’ll never forget where I was 20 years ago today when I heard the news about the 9/11 terrorist attacks. I was a teenager and was just getting on the bus at the end of school (the UK is five hours ahead of the East Coast of the US), when someone said, “I just heard […]
Ready. Set. Go?
School starts on Tuesday, and I think many of us were expecting that this would be life returning to normal. And now all that seems up in the air…It is like we are starting a race and we have heard the starter go, “Ready. Set.” and then she says the word “go” but with an […]
The bell instead of the tape
I have never run a marathon, but I have friends who do. They tell me about the “wall”—that point midcourse where you don’t think you can take another step. But somehow, they find a way to keep going until, at last, they throw themselves across the finish line, utterly spent. But imagine this with me: […]
Other
I was talking with a member of my LifeGroup last week. He told me of a time when he was walking in downtown Seattle (before that was considered a life-threatening adventure!) and noticed a homeless person begging on the sidewalk. As my friend describes it, he literally crossed the street, walked 20 feet, and crossed […]
703 – Ready for Action!
I’ve been hosting more and more guests at our new base of operations at 703 Kitsap Street. Every time someone comes to visit, I have the opportunity to retell the story of the provision of God. How a trio prayed over this boarded up, burned out house on September 6, 2018, and how I walked […]
Sabbatical
This September will mark the beginning of my 34th year as Senior Pastor of Chapel Hill. This is unusual. The average tenure of a Senior Pastor in the United States is 7.7 years. I’ve been in Gig Harbor more than four times longer than that. When my large-church colleagues ask me how I’ve stayed in […]
Are you a sinner?
My wife, Megan, was out of town this last weekend to celebrate her grandmother’s life at a memorial. She recounted to me how the pastor officiating had shared that he had full confidence that her grandmother was with Jesus. His reason why? Because of the questions he asked her when she last took communion. The […]
Does This Happen Often?
“Does this kind of thing happen often in Port Orchard?” asked Rosemary, incredulous. “Well, it certainly seems to happen more when I fast and pray,” I responded.
I met a young mom and her daughter in a restaurant in the 3 minutes it took Rosemary to pay the bill. Ten days later a text from her read… […]
Spiritual start-ups
I don’t know when they installed it. It certainly wasn’t during my time living there. But I’ll never forget driving the freeway past my home town of Yakima and seeing a large, garish sign that declared: “Yakima: The Palm Springs of Washington.” I actually laughed out loud. I’m not sure what ad agency came up […]