Advent Conspiracy Promo Video The story of Christ’s birth is a story of promise, hope, and a revolutionary love. So, what happened? What was once a time to celebrate the birth of a savior has somehow turned into a season of stress, traffic jams, and shopping lists. And when it’s all over, many of us [...]
Happy Thanksgiving! This is one of my favorite holidays. Family, friends, food! It is a time to remember–there is so much to be thankful for. Today at some point in the day–simpy pause. Look around the room, where ever you are and just give thanks to God for good gifts. Sometime today–simply pause and remember all [...]
We don’t listen to each other enough. Stories are being lost because we don’t the take time to listen. We are a culture with amnesia. A culture with too few memories. Here is a great project. StoryCorps is declaring November 28, 2008 the first annual National Day of Listening. This holiday season, ask the people around you [...]
When we start to think that we are too important, and when we feel the burden weighing too heavily, it is good to listen to these words from Archbishop Oscar Romero (1917-1980), martyr of El Salvador It helps now and then, to step back and take the long view. The kingdom is not only beyond our [...]
This weekend, the Free Clinic of Simi Valley hosted a fundraising open house. The Free Clinic serves the working poor and the homeless with medical, dental, legal, and counseling needs. The event was pretty great–wonderful food, an amazing band and wonderful people from the community. The mix of people who attended was quite diverse. One of [...]
Before coming to Fuller, I was a pastor at Simi Covenant Church. I know first hand about the joys and the challenges of serving a local congregation. It is easy to become cynical or bitter. Maybe even develop a “thinly veiled sense of contempt.” But, there is no church but the local church with all [...]
There is a revolution going on. Followers of Jesus in the US are taking to the streets, concerned about a wider variety of social issues, believing that the church has something to say about this issues, and must say something about these issues. This is not a rehash of old social gospel…there is a much stronger [...]
This is an historic presidential election. And a night when I am so proud to be a person of faith and an American. People in record numbers turned out to vote signaling a desire for change, for a new direction for our country domestically, as well on the world stage. The economy did not trump faith-based issues, though [...]