Coming to the Still Waters

  The Ukraine flag reminded us this Sunday to pray for the gospel proclamation around the world.  While Ukrainians are in the midst of armed conflict, the effects are felt throughout the region and the whole world.  The gospel outpost in Ukraine is great with many missionaries stationed there and also seminaries to train nationals for the spreading of God's word.  Some have sought the safety of neighboring countries while others have chosen to stay and serve those who remain behind.  The church and educational buildings are now being used as shelters, physically and spiritually.  We pray for a resolve that comes through the governing authorities seeking what is right in God's eyes.   Haggai is a minor prophet with a major message.  It is not only a new book to venture into on Sunday mornings but I had 2 weeks to prepare for this first message.  We started with the 3 "a"'s of author (who wrote it), audience (who was it written to) and aut...

  Sunday morning brought a couple more inches of snow just prior to our Sunday morning gathering.  If in December, we would have all loved it but now that it is February, we had other comments about it.  50's promised for a couple days this week so we will see what we have left. I order one of these batons for each church that I work with.  It is a symbol to the new pastor that he is joining the team at WCC.  Just like in the relay race, the team members take a turn at carrying the baton while the others cheer him or her on.   It is a learning point for us all to see the church body as a unit rather than a top down structure.  The 3 circles of WCC are elders, teams, and members.  Each circle is of the same size in necessity even though each circle is not of the same size numerically.  The circles overlap each other and the more they overlap the larger the common area becomes which is the mission of the church.  You could see this as...

  Here is a wintry shot of the WLPO sign on top of roof of the radio station in Illinois.  It comes into play with the sermon post this Sunday and my opportunity to provide a radio spot for 3 years between 2016 and 2019.  I miss those days in front of the microphone and also the practice of producing a concise 4 minute presentation to share about a truth from the Bible. Here is another winter shot from Ohio.  This is looking out the fellowship hall door of the Weymouth Community Church and if you blow it up and look very closely you will see one of our signs out by the road.  God has given this part of the country some snow to look at for awhile.  Maybe better put, we are not only looking at the snow but dealing with it to get around. This was a stand alone sermon that took us to the event in Jesus' life of an encounter with a chief tax collector called Zaccheus.  This is found in Luke 19:1-10.  It will be followed up this Sunday with a more in-...