Diana Setter has served on our staff in the Student & Family Ministry Department since 2014. Her final day on the job was July 31, as she is moving back home to family and community in Wisconsin. We will miss her greatly. And, unknown to me, Diana...
Top Five Tuesday — Top Five (Or Six) Reflections On A Week In New Jersey
As you know if you follow this blog, I spent last week as the guest teacher for the Daily Bible Hour at the Ocean Grove Camp Meeting in Ocean Grove, New Jersey. This video gives you a sense of that place, its people, its purposes, and its hymnic history:...
Unhappy Campers, Week 4 — The “Wildwood” Sermon Rewind
Below you will find my sermon from July 23, the final message in the Unhappy Campers series called "Wildwood." Due to Sunday travel, unfamiliarity with a new laptop, and lack of time, I did not post this last week. So, with Ron Dozier preaching at Good Shepherd...
Talks & The Talking Talkers Who Give Them
I spent both Monday and Wednesday afternoons in Ocean Grove, NJ with this group of student ministry interns. In between their programming, counseling, and shepherding of the teenagers who are part of this Jersey Shore based camp meeting, they gave several hours...
Some Time With A Benevolent Czar
On Tuesday night, I had dinner with David Benjamin, who was my tennis coach at Princeton University from 1980-1984. Here we are at a local Princeton eatery: As I shared in an earlier post, I am in the Garden State this week preaching and teaching at the Ocean Grove...
GREETINGS FROM ASBURY PARK, NEW JERSEY (Well, Close Enough)
GREETINGS FROM ASBURY PARK, NJ (well, close enough) A small handful of you will get the rock reference in the post's title. The rest of you will lament your lack of education. I don't normally post "on location" when I am out of town, but this is too much fun. I am at...
Sovereignty & Money
John Piper said it this way: “He (Jesus) said more about money than he did about heaven and hell because where your treasure is there will your heart be also. So why do we have money? Money is God’s idea, what’s it for? Here’s the reason we have money: we have money...
TOP FIVE TUESDAY — Top Five Reflections From A Carolina Cross Connection Trip
TOP FIVE TUESDAY -- Top Five Reflections From A Carolina Cross Connection Inc. Student Mission Trip I spent last week at Camp Loy White in rural Cleveland County, NC as part of a Good Shepherd Church Student Mission Team who in turn joined the larger Carolina Cross...
Unhappy Campers, Week 4 — Wildwood
One of my favorite of the classic Southern Gospel Camp Meetin' Songs is The Church In The Wildwood. Here ya go: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wpOeU28951g This Sunday, we won't necessarily be that church in the wildwood, but we will explore a wild story from...
The Social Solitude Of Preaching
Preaching is an intensely solitary activity. Preaching is a thoroughly social exercise. Which is it? Solitary or social? Yes. My own process of preparation is wholly wrapped in solitude. I study, I jot, I brainstorm, I fret, I pray, I get excited, I become...