This past weekend at Refuge we brushed up on the story of Jonah. I took some extra time to point out something about Jonah’s story that struck me for the first time. Jonah, if you don’t know, is the guy who God called to go to the city of Ninevah (a center of corruption in that day) and let them know that if they didn’t clean up their act, He was going to wipe them out. Jonah didn’t see that as the best option for...

In my few short years in ministry, I’ve been blessed to work with churches in different phases of growth, life, and community. I’ve served as a small part of a staff at a church of 1,800, and been the only paid staff member at a brand new church plant, and seen the in-between as well. Across the board, I’ve seen that the greatest challenge for churches, no matter what their individual situation, is figuring out how to...

The other day, I met a man who’s dying. Stacey and I were sitting on a bench eating french fries at the fair, and an older guy a couple seats away just started talking to us. He was puffing away on a cigarette. I got a vibe from him like he was lonely and he was a nice guy. We chatted for a few minutes about this and that. Then the conversation turned quickly. I’m not even sure how it happened. He told me he had already had two...