Posts with the category “pastor-s-desk”

Do you feel like your life is out of control and pulling you in every direction? Do you wake up with the very best of intentions, but by the end of your first cup of coffee, all of those intentions ha...  Read More

If you have driven through the church parking lot at night recently, you might notice something different. Our parking lot now puts off a wonderful glow from our new LED parking lot lights, making it ...  Read More

Last week, we learned of a new method to share announcements and help make information easily accessible to our guests when they walk in. Yes...I'm changing things. 🙄 I don't make changes just for the...  Read More

In December, the women had a Christmas party with 21 ladies present. They do this every year with good food, games, and fun. But the party is more than simply celebrating the holidays together. Years ...  Read More

This past Saturday, around 20 people from our church came to worship, eat, and plan how God can use us this year. The day's theme was Overflow: Planning for Loving Others in Abundance. I enjoyed being...  Read More

God is often at work through the ordinary: ordinary people, ordinary objects, ordinary grace. Through the ordinary, God communicates epiphanies, salvation, revelation, and reconciliation. It is throug...  Read More

Thank you! Once a quarter, we take the time to give a special offering for the United Methodist Children's Home here in Florida. Your gift makes a difference in the lives of children right down the ro...  Read More

Sometimes you must try a church for weeks or even months before you feel like you can decide if it's your "forever spiritual home." Other times, you walk in and know right away.That's what happened to...  Read More

In December, we joined with Sacred Heart Catholic Church next door for a joint parking lot food drive. My heart was so warmed with Deacon Rich contacted us about joining forces to serve those around u...  Read More

It's hard to believe January is almost finished. As February arrives, we have Valentines Day (2/14), then Ash Wednesday (2/22), which starts our season of Lent. If you've always wondered about Lent, t...  Read More

February 5, 12, and 19, 2023 Do you do This? This opens doors and solves problems. This inspires others to do This, too—it’s the good kind of contagious. When they tell our life stories, we want them ...  Read More

The pastor I grew up with, Rev. Dr. George Mathison, or Brother George as we called him, is known by a few things:His dedication to prayer - He gets on his knees early every morning and prays for peop...  Read More

Francis Asbury Moonlit Approach Painting by Richard G. Douglas Courtesy of B.L. Fischer Library, Asbury Theological Seminary Right before Christmas, it was shared that I would be serving two churches ...  Read More

I hope you receive a Christmas card from me, but if you didn't, then I wanted to share the contents of it here for you:It's hard to believe it's been 6 months since AJ, Abigail, and I moved to Fleming...  Read More

I had the pleasure of helping pack our thanksgiving boxes for a bit. (My box is on the left side in the back. 😃) I was blown away by everyone's generosity. Through our church's generosity, we collecte...  Read More

It's been the goal of our missions committee to find ways for us to serve our community, building relationships with others and those within our church at the same time. There were some things that mi...  Read More

Sunday is the first week of Advent and the Christian New Year! As we enter the worship space, you'll see all the beautiful decorations placed by the volunteers this past week. (Thank you to everyone w...  Read More

I mentioned in my sermon this past Sunday, that I am having a hard time believing that Advent is almost here. 😳For those who are like me, and you grew up Methodist/Lutheran/Catholic/Episcopal, Advent ...  Read More

October was a busy month, but we have so many things to celebrate. Many know this, but I wasn't in favor of doing the pumpkin patch this year. Why? Because I was worried it would over-tax our congrega...  Read More

If you were in worship this past Sunday in-person, you might have noticed our new welcome setup in the entry way. I'm thanking to the many hands that helped me get this space ready. I'd like to explai...  Read More

Joseph in the Old Testament is known for lots of things:The Coat of Many Colors (Genesis 26)Being Sold into Slavery by his Brothers (Genesis 37)Being Thrown into Jail after Refusing Advances from his ...  Read More

Before I preached my first sermon at Shalimar, a woman I didn't know snuck into the sacristy and handed me three crosses in bags. She said, "These are for you and your family." I soon learned she was ...  Read More

Type your new text here.......  Read More

It was such a wonderful day in worship on Sunday! In addition to starting a new sermon series, we also received three persons into membership.Howard and Nicole Rieger started worshipping with us on Ea...  Read More

I want to thank everyone for your amazing spirit in worship on Sunday. I could feel your openness to God as we walked together towards him. The posters from worship this past Sunday are going up in th...  Read More

I'm not sure if you've figured it out, but there's a reason, a method to the themes of the sermons. I spend a lot of time praying over worship planning and what to preach. It's part of the long-term p...  Read More

September 4th, we welcomed Cathy Perry and Katie Strickland into membership. It was a joy to receive them both into membership as they renewed their belief in Christ. They are officially committed to ...  Read More

This past Sunday, I preached on dreaming big and praying about those dreams. That brings me to the question, what dreams have you claimed and are now praying for?It's tough to believe, but we're in Se...  Read More

Believe it or not, we've unpacked, hung the pictures, and the Parry family wants to invite you over to see all the work the church has done in the parsonage.Everything done to prepare our home for us ...  Read More

Admin West, or the Youth Room, has undergone a transformation over the past few weeks. The Café, as I'm now calling it, isn't done. With a little bit of paint, some cleaning, rearranging, and some new...  Read More

The phrase "being good stewards" has lots of meanings. The best way to describe it is from Luke, when Jesus talks about how we're to be ready at all times for him to return: And the Lord replied, "A f...  Read More

A lot's been done in a small amount of time! I want to give Katie a big thank you for all her hard work to get ready for the Back to School bash we had this past week. It was a different kind of Sunda...  Read More

I haven't had the blessing of being at a Vacation Bible School in many years. At my church in Ft. Walton Beach, our VBS was always the first week of June when the pastors had to attend our Annual Conf...  Read More

There are lots of ways people show love. According to Gary Chapman in his book The 5 Love Languages, there are 5. I wanted to pause and point out that through the past 6-weeks, we as a family have rec...  Read More

Have you ever thought about what it means to be a blessing to someone? According to the dictionary, the word blessing (n) means (1) God's favor and protection or (2) a prayer said before or after a me...  Read More

"Stop Going to Church" is an odd for me, your pastor, to say. But I'm saying it because......  Read More

Make one change to your Sunday worship habits and help share our church with others. Find out more......  Read More

It was such a wonderful Sunday on the 12th. The one good time about being sick–you get to slow down a bit. In my slowing down, I decided to reflect on all the things recently I’ve been blessed by…...  Read More

I’ll admit, there are always moment during Annual Conference that I get tired and wonder why I travel for meetings and reports. But there are moments…...  Read More

Over the past week, as I have been cleaning, painting, moving furniture, and preparing the office, I’ve been thankful for the time…...  Read More