Posts from March 2025
Take this Cup from me!
My dad was an extrovert extraordinaire and often the life of social events. He was deeply dedicated to the cause of Christ, the work of the Church, and had a tremendous love for community at large where he lived. He was my dad first, and the Pastor of the church I grew up in second. Certainly, he had his flaws like the rest of us, but was a really good dad, a well-respected Pastor, and a well-known community figure. He…
“What are you bringing to the Church Potluck Dinner?”
In the early days of our planting this Church, somewhere around 1986, we had several people who had recently come to faith in Christ and had never attended or been engaged with a Church of any kind. Everything we did as a congregational practice was new to them. I have wonderful memories during these years of explaining why we did what we did, but it was the first time I had ever been around people that knew nothing about Church…
New Covenant in Christ’s Blood
Here at LifeWay, we come together and have communion as a body of Christ, once a month. We do this in remembrance of our Savior and Lord Jesus Christ. During communion, we firstly eat the bread. Then secondly, we drink from the cup. When we take the cup each month, however, have you noticed that Billy, more often than not, recites from Luke 22.20? He says, “Jesus took a cup and said, ‘This cup is the new covenant in my…
Jesus’ ‘Bloody Parable’ – leading to Jesus’ ‘Bloody week’ ahead
I titled this article in a way to hopefully force you to do a double take – “A Bloody and Violent Parable!” One of the preachers from the past that I enjoy reading used this title for the story that we are focusing on this week. When I saw it, it certainly captured my attention, and I hope it does the same for you. Parables are one of the most popular and wonderful tools of teaching that Jesus used during…
ESL at Park 16
“Reaching unreached peoples is not just about going overseas anymore, and reaching your local context is no longer about reaching people just like you. We have to change our understanding of both in order to understand today’s mission equation.” – IMB News From Our Neighborhood Often, when we discuss local missions, our version of the “Jerusalem” in Acts 1:8, we think of the Federal Way neighborhoods we’re most familiar with. However, a quick study of Federal Way and South King County…
Jesus’ Victory Parade
In 2014 when the Seattle Seahawks won the Super Bowl by beating the Denver Broncos (with a blow out score of 43-8 by the way!), Patty and had I international students who were living with us at the time — 2 young men from China and 1 young man from Thailand. We decided to treat them to a fun American and NW experience by going to downtown Seattle for the Seahawks Super Bowl Victory Parade. It was indeed a cultural…