It is always encouraging when a whole class sets up an appointment to meet up with me. I love meeting up with college students. Today I had the opportunity to meet up with the Junior Class (a.k.a. Roots). They really had a servant’s attitude as they prepared a mini-breakfast for everyone […]
A Prayer for the Virginia Tech Community
Our Gracious Heavenly Father, You remind us in Your Word that You are the God of all comfort. We pray that you will comfort the families and friends who have lost a loved one in this senseless tragedy. Lord, in their hurt and loss, I pray that You will come and touch them in a […]
The Virginia Tech Incident
The shooting at Virginia Tech has caught everyone’s attention. Even as I was getting off the airplane coming back from Chicago, people at the airport were glued to the T.V. watching the news update. It is very sobering to think that it happened at a college campus. It is another reminder that we need to […]
Blast from the Past
Our family hosted another pastor’s family in town for dinner yesterday. There is always a special connection with pastor’s families. It is a unique calling – unique struggles and unique stress. It was nice seeing Karissa playing with their daughter… they decided to play with all the toy food products and princess dresses. I think […]
Grad Luncheon 2007
I wanted to give some props to the FOCUS (single adult ministry) members who sacrifice their time and energy to serve the recent graduates. It was encouraging to see the single adults in our church serving and blazing the trail of investment in the next generation of single adults. A thought on the auction game […]
Graduation 2007
It is about that time of the year again. We will be graduating another class of students tonight. It is always a privilege to see many of them enter into the University of Michigan as freshmen and have the opportunity to influence them for the Gospel sake. It has always been our vision to transform […]
The Circle of Life
Yesterday, we had dinner with my parents. I was just thinking how a lot of things in life come full circle. When we are born, we are completely dependent on our parents to take care of us. Then, we go through the process of maturity where we learn how to be less dependent on our […]
April Snow?
It is SNOWING in Chicago right now! This is ridiculous. It feels like it is December. Always expect the unexpected… a principle in life. I am wondering if this is how some of the people in the Bible felt when God performed a miracle that no one ever expected.
An Observation at a Cemetery
Christina and I still had our breakfast date, even though we are here in Chicago. Afterwards we went to the cemetery to visit her parents’ grave site (her mom passed away in 1998 and her dad passed away in 2003). After going through a maze of headstones, we found their plot. But the interesting thing […]
Spring Break in Chicago
Our kids are on Spring Break right now. We drove to Chicago right after the Easter Celebration in Ann Arbor. After some time in the Chicago church (they even had an Easter Banquet), the kids were dying to see their grandparents. We will be here throughout the week. The schedule is already all pack with […]
2007 Easter
There are times when you just need to take a step back and realize all the great things that God is doing. Yesterday, we saw God do what He does best – transform lives. I am so privileged to pastor people who are passionate about God’s Kingdom. They are so passionate […]
2007 Easter Response Card
Don’t forget about the response card that we will be handing out during the Easter Celebration. It will be important to have every single one of us get ready to talk about which number best represents where we are after the message. I believe by faith that there will be many spiritual […]
Six Hours for Baptism
I am sitting at the airport (again) and waiting for my flight to Chicago. We will be baptizing people at the HMCC of Chicago church plant. As I am doing the math, I realized that I am going in for 6 hours to Chicago to do a simple baptism. During these situations, it is easy […]
1.5 Days Away Before Show Time
It has been exciting just to pray for our Easter Sunday Celebration. As we have been praying all together throughout our various gatherings the last 2 weeks, I can definitely sense the momentum building. I was particularly encouraged when I asked at Thursday prayer gathering how many people have invited friends, family […]