Over the past three Sunday nights, ministrieslab has been popping up at Transitions and leading a communion-based worship service. We knew we were responding to a need for a community who had no worship service on Sundays and who had limited mobility to attend church services, but we weren’t sure what would come out of our
Listening to Need Rather Than Assuming Need Read More »
This morning, Sam and I (and Ben) served as volunteers for the Transitions Job Fair. Transitions is an amazing ministry in Columbia that helps aid and assist people who find themselves without homes. We were honored to be asked to help serve in the computer lab to assist clients as they created their resumes and tried
Serving Side by Side Read More »
Yesterday, I was being interviewed by the local news station about the disaster relief work Emmanuel headed up in response to the historic flood in October. We were sitting in the home of one of the recipients of the generous donations of FBC Orangeburg and Fernwood Baptist Church. We sat in Victorian Lakes Mobile Home Community
It Doesn’t Take Much to Have Church Read More »
It was one of those nights, where we had already been up a lot. I think Ben must have been going through a growth spurt or maybe he just wanted to spend some quality time with his parents throughout the night. I heard his rustling in the midst of the fog of slumber, and I thought
I’ve been asking the question, “What’s next?” throughout the Lenten season. I knew God was calling me to leave Emmanuel in capable hands and step into the darkness of the unknown. The unknown is not a comfortable place for me and my planning instincts. I’ve spent many sleepless nights wrestling with why I couldn’t see
I was recently being interviewed and in the course of our discussion, my interviewer remarked: “Well, you have gotten the reputation of talking about hot button issues, people usually don’t want to talk about.” I laughed, but after the interview was over I thought a little more earnestly about that statement. Why did I ask
Why I Ask the Awkward Questions Others Won’t Read More »
I’ve spent the last two and half years worship planning almost every week. As part of that planning process, I asked people to participate in our worship service. It would easy to ask the people who are always willing to participate to lead, but it’s much more difficult to take the time to examine the
Privileged Worship Planning Read More »
This Sunday, I told my story to a faith community I had never visited before. As I shared about the moment I shared my call to ministry and received in reply, “We don’t believe that,” I saw some of their faces cringe. It’s a story they have heard, and they have experienced personally. Now, years
We Don’t Believe That Read More »
This note fell out of my car yesterday. I found it in the parking lot as I was putting Ben back in the car and headed to Emmanuel Baptist Fellowship. It happened to fall into my path at a moment when I was thinking about the brief time I have with left with my Emmanuel
You’re Doing It All Wrong Read More »
Yesterday, I shared with Emmanuel Baptist Fellowship in Lexington, SC that we will be moving on after Easter. After a tearful reception following the morning service, the questions began to come in. Many of them were about whether we were moving or staying in the Columbia area. Most of them had the central theme of
On Leaving Emmanuel and Following My Call Read More »
