Have you noticed something different at the end of our last decade? You can see it in services like Door Dash and Skip the Dishes. You can see it in demands for services like Amazon and Uber. You can see it in the way food is prepared in super markets. Many people have moved from doing it yourself to do it for me. When my daughter was young she got to the place where she would say “do it self.” She was about two. Now, her two-year-old is saying “do it self.”......
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Almost everyone loves a baby. Welcoming several into our church family through recent dedications has been inspiring. We readily stand as a church family and pledge ourselves to pray and to support the parents as they do the hard work. Then the teen years arrive and the wrestling for independence. What do we do with the next generation – especially when so many of them get busy and start caving to peer pressure? Researchers are optimistic and see this group as the most “connected, educated and sophisticated generation in history.” Tim Elmore......
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Have you had moments where you felt a tinge of loneliness lately? There didn’t seem anyone available to share in your joy, your challenge, your desire, your hope? The space around you seemed a little too empty? Vancouver continues to be considered one of the loneliest places for people who want honest face to face relationships. The pressure to accomplish, to survive, to be significant can be overwhelming. Even if you’re proficient with social media – sometimes that flow of seconds between responses seems like an unbridgeable gap. Most people have their......
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In a season of feasting, celebrating and giving it is not always apparent who or what we are hungry for. The health of Faith’s family depends on an ongoing hunger for God but when all our needs are met how do we stay aware of this underlying hunger? In John Piper’s book, A Hunger for God, he focuses the believer on the discipline of fasting and prayer. His thoughts are anchored on the teaching of Jesus in Matthew 9:14-17. Then John’s disciples came and asked him, “How is it that we and......
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In our recent Remembrance Day ceremonies, we recognize that many of the war’s leaders emerged under fire from necessity. Not often enough, we recognize that many of the church’s leaders arise from the reality of the spiritual warfare we are involved in. In our November Leadership Forum we will be envisioning the importance of younger leaders rising up to embrace the future movement and impact of the church. One of the standard works of leadership is Henry and Richard Blackaby’s Spiritual Leadership. The premise of their book is that spiritual leadership means......
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Seasons have a way of bringing their own hazards. Spring and Fall can bring floods, summer can bring drought and heat stroke, winter can bring frostbite and frozen flag poles. Churches can have seasons with hazards and benefits but first let me share a story of the frozen flagpole. It reminds us that there are skeptics who question whether the wisdom of others could be true. They have to learn the hard way. Jean Shepherd has written A Christmas Story of a different kind. In her story, Ralph, Flick and Swartz huddle......
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