We had a great Sunday Celebration. I did the part two of talking about God’s grace. It was encouraging to see some of the Ann Arbor church members join us. This is the beauty of being connected like this as a church. People from both churches are able to visit one another and lift one […]
The Leadership Life of the Senior Pastor
Whenever I meet up with people, one question that comes up time and time again is: “So, Pastor Seth, what is your life like outside of Sundays?” I always look at them and ask them if they want the abridged version or the long version 🙂 Being a lead pastor is not for everybody; and […]
Chicago Weekend of 04.19.08
I will be heading out to Chicago this weekend. It will be another jam packed couple of days with gatherings and meetings. Christina and I talked this morning that it if we had to choose between laziness and busyness, we would choose busyness. But she did say, she wouldn’t mind a […]
Awareness Test
It is amazing how we can get so focused on something that we lose sight of the bigger picture. But more than that, it is easy to lose sight of the important things. There have been many times when I have been so focused on something regarding the church or ministry that I forget things […]
Sex Ed
Tonight Christina and I went to Josiah’s school’s sex education program for the 5th graders. Yes… Josiah went with us. This is one thing good about sending kids to a Christian school at the early and formative years for a child – they are able to address big topics with a Christian worldview. They had […]
What’s on Your Calendar?
I was just recently reading an article that caught my attention. It read, “What’s on Your Calendar?” For some reason I was drawn to read the article because my mind was thinking, “there are a lot of things on my calendar.” The article was written by H. B. London Jr. who oversee the pastoral ministries […]
Running with Christina
This morning was a beautiful day to run outside. After all the snow storms and cold weather, it was nice that the weather was getting warmer. As some of you know, Christina loves running. She has mentioned that it is her way of “getting away” and being in her own sanctuary. For me, I am […]
The Original You
As I talk with other pastors and church leaders, I am finding out that one of the things that we struggle with is comparison. I guess it is pretty obvious. Sometimes it is easy to look at someone else’s ministry and wonder why God is “using them” or “blessing them” more than my ministry. The […]
Miracle Sunday Offering Update
It has been quite a journey for the last 40 days. When we started, I wasn’t quite sure how everything would turn out. All I knew is that God wanted us to respond in faith and obedience. Sometimes I wonder if some of the characters in the Bible felt what I felt going through the […]
A Reflection on the 40-Days
As my family and I are getting ready for the Miracle Sunday Offering and the Pledge service tomorrow, I couldn’t help but to feel this sense of gratitude in my heart. It is amazing that our whole church went through 40 days of reading the Bible together, as well as spending time in prayer for […]
American Idol and “Shout to the Lord”?
Did you hear? This week in American Idol at the closing of the program, the top 8 finalists all sang, “Shout to the Lord.” This is huge! Even though they took out the word, “Jesus” in the beginning (replaced it with “shepherd”), it really was shocking to hear that they sang a worship song on […]
Q Conference Update 2
Today was another day of non-stop brain food being delivered within 18 minutes per session. I am still amazed how these communicators can speak on things that are on their heart for only 18 minutes. Not only does it take discipline, but it takes the wisdom to cut out all the “fat” and just give […]
Q Conference Update 1
The first day of the conference has been incredible. We are meeting right in the heart of the city in Gotham Hall. At this conference, it has been like drinking out of a fire hydrant – just so much of the good stuff coming out all at once. Each speaker gets exactly 18 minutes to […]
MORE in 40-Days to Destiny
As we are coming to a close of our 40-Days to Destiny Campaign, I have been blessed to hear of various testimonies of how God has been working in the lives of our church members. But one question continues to come up – “After the April 13th service and when we obtain the facilities, then […]