On a recent road trip, I was listening to a song called “I Am A War Machine,” by an artist known as Sontalk. It was a song I’d listened to before, but as happens often…
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I just finished reading, I’m Still Here: Black Dignity in a World Made for Whiteness by Austin Channing Brown. It’s interesting to recognize the ways that her experience of blackness…
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Ever since Rob’s sermon on giving last month (see immanuelspokane.org for a recording), I’ve been thinking about how we, as followers of Jesus, engage with the topic of money. As Rob brought up in his sermon, the church in the U.S. generally…
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I am asked from time to time what I am reading. As most of you know, I am a pretty determined and intentional reader. Note: This post might come off as a “humble/brag” but it is just a reality – I read a lot. Sorry, if it comes off that way.
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Reconciliation. What does it mean in today’s cultural milieu, one in which racial incidents are on the rise. I have been trying to use the word differently in the last bit of time…
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When I started practicing the spiritual discipline of sabbath, I thought that I was just committing to a day of rest; I didn’t realize that the journey I was embarking on would be the beginning of deep inner healing…
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I’m reading about five very different books right now, all very slowly, which is quite possibly the least effective reading strategy I could muster up. Somehow, though, the stars (and books) aligned this week and the overlap has been insightful…
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I have to admit, when I first found out about Jarabacoa, I remember thinking how intimidating of a place it was. The Dominican Republic as a country stands at such an interesting spot in it’s history…
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I’ve been thinking a lot about how we talk about other people (myself included). How we can gossip and be incredibly cruel to one another. Or maybe even worse, how we can (sometimes even unintentionally, but we do it) think of ourselves as better than other people…
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On Friday I was at the fairgrounds with the Cup of Cool Water team getting ready for the Bike Swap. One of our clients had been earning community service by helping out at Cool Water Bikes, so he came along with us…
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The month of March was a difficult month to say the least. Literally on March 1st, I received a call that my aunt had passed away quite unexpectedly. And while we were dealing with the many details of this death…
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My friend and fellow Immanuel member, Mike Midkiff posted this image on FB yesterday. It is a section of the Bible, Psalm 82, which speaks to the engagement of God’s people with the vulnerable of the world…
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“I am no scientist. I explore the neighborhood. An infant who has just learned to hold his head up has a frank and forthright way of gazing about him in bewilderment. He hasn’t the faintest clue where he is, and he aims to learn…
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A couple weekends ago, I took a trip back home to Gig Harbor to spend some quality time with my brother, Alec. A special bonus of my trip was visiting my mom’s 5th and 6th grade classroom.
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Sometimes as a worship leader, it can feel like your role is to be a cheerleader. And not even a cheerleader for a good and mighty God, but for the church itself, propping people up every week...
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I learned something new this year during the Martin Luther King, Jr (MLK) observance: his views on racial and economic equality were not widely embraced by either the white or black church.
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Last week Rob brought an article to our staff meeting entitled, “Communion, a Counter-Monument,” which sparked discussion about the social reality that communion historically declared, and ought to still be declaring.
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I’ve struggled with the Old Testament for a long time. I never understood the passages where it seems like God is behind the killing of many people. Or when the psalmists would talk about getting revenge on their enemies…
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In my role as executive minister of Serve Globally, people often ask me how I got into missions. I answer this question differently depending on who’s asking, but my response usually includes the following elements in some form.
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As Christians, we’re given an alternative way to think about how we inhabit time. There are two kinds of time in the New Testament Greek. Chronos is time as we typically understand it, time as duration: this happens, then this, then this.
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