Blog (Page 2)
An Introduction to Mark
To those few among you who still write old-fashioned paper letters, how do you begin? Will you begin with a salutation or greeting? Will you ask about their health? Will you follow with a little chit-chat, or small talk? Will you complain about the economy or the Mariners? Well, the Gospel of Mark doesn’t do any of those things (I know, I know, it is not really a letter). The writer of Mark offers no pleasantries. He wastes no time.…
The Promises of God: Proverbs 3:5–6
If you’ve been around awhile you might recall that frequently have told the story of how I came to memorize Proverbs 3:5-6. As I was pledging a college fraternity at Baylor in 1976 one of the members of the fraternity was a Christian and forced me to memorize this verse before he would vote for me to be in the club! It might seem strange to you and not match your view of fraternity life, but I will tell you…
The Promises of God: Matthew 28:19–20
This coming Sunday morning August 18 I am honored to have a relatively new friend with us, Brad Schneeflock. Brad is relatively new to the Northwest as he moved here with his family over a year ago from Arizona to lead a collegiate outreach ministry in the Puget Sound Region. He led a great collegiate ministry outreach in Arizona for years, but now brings his expertise and experience to our area. This is of special interest to us at LifeWay…
History of LifeWay (Part 8)
I am continuing to write out some personal reflections and the missions’ history that my wife and I have experienced over these 4 decades of ministry. Today is part 8 of this story. After the merger of Palisades and Calvary and the significant partnership with Don Turner that I wrote about last week, there were in the days to follow some adjustments for sure. From 2003 at the merger until around 2008/2009 there were some wonderful victories, but we…
When Is It Acceptable To Lie? (Part II)
Read Part I When I think about why the Bible teaches us to always tell the truth, my mind goes to two places. The first place is that our God is a God of truth. He always tells the truth. There is zero untruth in him. Every part of his being is truth. For this reason, we can take it to the bank every word he says in the Bible. It makes no sense for us to say God is…
History of LifeWay (Part 7)
LifeWay Church honored Patty and I this summer for our 40 years of history here. It has inspired me to write out some meaningful moments and people over these four decades. Today I write part 7. Don Turner and the “Merger” that became LifeWay Church: It’s been more than two decades now, but for the most of the early 2000’s here in our church people would often ask about the merger of churches that occurred in the year 2003. Yes,…
When Is It Acceptable To Lie? (Part I)
Parents from hundreds of years ago, and from every part of the planet, knew one thing they must teach to their children. They all knew that teaching their own children to tell the truth, and to always tell the truth, was the right thing to do. Or do you know anyone who taught their children to tell the truth only some of the time? I hope you will say none. No parents bring home their newborn baby from the hospital,…
History of LifeWay (Part 6)
Today is part 6 of my ongoing recollection of the last 40 years here. Again, I write this out for the sake of ‘missions history’ and I hope you find it interesting and maybe inspiring. The Russia Report: For those who are ‘old-timers’ here at this church (those of you who have been around for 20+ years) this expression “The Russia Report” usually brings up a laugh and reminder of something I gave as a report to the Church family…
The Promises of God: He Always Finishes What He Has Started!
The top of this article is from me (Billy) and the 2nd half is from Scott Jackson. This Sunday, August 4, we are honored to have our own Scott Jackson bring us a message in our summer series we call… “The Promises of God.” Scott and Diane serve in Eastern Europe and have been workers on the international field now for over 14 years. And LifeWay is their home church (and of course Diane is our daughter!! — and sweet…
The Promises of God: He Gives Strength to the Weary
A few years back Patty & I met a family while on vacation. As is common with my wife and I we began to enter into a conversation with them as we are often intrigued by people’s stories. Not only where they had been on vacation, but what they’ve seen and what interesting places they have visited. At some point the conversation turned a bit more personal and we began to ask talk about family things. We were certainly not…
Reflection on the 40 year Journey (Part 4)
I am continuing my reflections of 40 years of history that highlight specific people that have been part of this journey, but also special events and places. 40 years is a fairly long time and there has been a great deal of ‘water under the bridge.’ This series of articles is my way of recalling and recording missions history. Today is part 4 of my reflections and remembrances. The Living Nativity Tours: In the early 1990’s not too long…
History of LifeWay
In my continuation of the review of our 40 years here at Palisades/LifeWay, each week I have taken some time to thank God and remember some very special people and very special organization. This week this is part 3! I am thinking through the 1990’s and those very special years right after we had built the building where we now worship weekly. My wife and I had now been at this church for just about eight years and we were…
Reflection on the 40 year Journey
Two weeks ago this Church family recognized Patty and I for 40 years of ministry here. Thank you once again for this. This led me to do a great deal of historical thinking of this journey. So last week I decided to do a walk down memory lane by writing out the people who stand out to us over those 40 years. Essentially… our story here at this church and the significant people who stand out to us in this…
Jesus’s Promise of Rest
Are you sick and tired of being sick and tired? Have you ever wondered what Jesus is referring to when he promises us Rest in Matthew 11? He says “Come to Me, all of you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.” Are you weary? Are the burdens of life weighing you down? I have to admit that I feel that pressure sometimes – ok, really a lot of times. There are pressures of work,…
For God knows the Plans He has for Us
This past Sunday, the LifeWay family honored Billy and Patty for their 40 years of service to God. Sometime this month, or last month, forty years ago, when God called them to plant a church here in the Pacific Northwest, they said yes. I thank God for how hard and how focused they have worked to bring hope to many Washingtonians living in darkness. Tradition says that the prophet, Jeremiah, served God for forty years too (I am not at…
A Remembrance Walk among Heroes of the Faith
Part 1 of a few more to come. Last Sunday June 30th, the family at LifeWay honored Patty and me for our 40th anniversary of being here at LifeWay/Palisades. As many of you know we were The Church at Palisades for 19 years, then LifeWay for the last 21 years. We came together with Calvary Community Church in 2003 and re-formed and moved forward as LifeWay. That too is a wonderful story that needs to be told sometime. But either…
Where are the Promises of God when the Crops Fail?
Last weekend several of us as church leaders took a group of wonderful teens to camp in a remote part of Washington, a ranching/logging/mining part of the state called Wauconda. As part of our “Camp Wauconda” long weekend experience we joined in worship at the Wauconda Community Church. It was delightful. We met some wonderful Christ followers, and even a couple of the families joined us in the afternoon for a picnic at the nearby lake. You might wonder what…
The Promises of God: 2 Corinthians 12.9–12
Officially welcome to summer and the longest days of the year! I love it! But it means for us at LifeWay a shift in what we will be teaching on Sunday’s during the summer. Of course we just went through 30+ Sunday’s in Romans from September to last Sunday. Beginning this Sunday, June 23, we will begin our summer series called… “The Promises of God.” Every Sunday from June 23 to Labor Day, (11 Sunday’s), we will focus on a…
The Gospel Truth: The Final Words of Farewell
This time of year is graduation speech time. There are some fun graduation speeches, some ‘boring and lame’ speeches for sure, but occasionally there are some amazing graduation speeches to challenge and charge graduates. But I think the best speeches are the farewell speeches because they are the ones that lay out the most critical things to live for. Dwight Eisenhower gave a great one when leaving the presidency. George Washington gave a great speech when he left office. Paul,…
Are All Sins Equal? (Part II)
Read Part I So, all sins are equal because any sin, large or small, cuts us off completely from a relationship with God. Is that it? Not so fast. It is a true statement one sin causes us to have zero relationship with God, no matter how big or how small is the sin, and so sin is sin. But the Bible seems to also say another thing. Actually, it seems to also say the opposite thing. I know it…
Are All Sins Equal? (Part I)
I think back to the many years when I was a young man, and not yet a believer in Christ. One day, I heard a Christian person say that all sins were equal. In those days, I didn’t ask many questions and I kept what I heard in my heart. But deep down inside, I knew he was wrong because I had already made up my mind there were different degrees of sins (back then, I called them “evils”) in…
The Roman Road to Salvation
2000 years ago the Roman Empire dominated everything that was Europe, North Africa and the fringes of western Asia. This Empire was unlike anything that the world had ever seen, and in some ways it has not seen anything like it sense. It amazes me that we have been studying this incredible New Testament letter that we casually call the “Book of Romans,” and it was to a Church family there in that was living out the Body of Christ…
Why Can’t I?
One of the most popular and repeated phrases of a young child when they become around 5 years old is….. “WHY?” When you tell a child to stop playing on the high bars of the playground, their response is… “Why?” When you tell them to stop being so loud when you are a restaurant, their response is… “Why?” When you tell them to eat all their vegetables instead of the ice cream, their response is… “Why?” Even as a teenager…
Accept the One Who is Weak in Faith
Once upon a time inside the church in Rome in the 1st century, there were the Jewish Christians and there were the Gentile Christians. The Jewish Christians were those who were ethnically Jews, but they had come to have faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. On the other hand, the Gentile Christians were non-Jewish, albeit also people of faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, who used to be people from all kinds of beliefs, and religious systems. We learn from…
How Then Shall We Live as Citizens of This Nation as a Christ Follower?
There is a bit of common bit of advice that is passed around every year at Thanksgiving time. Now I realize that it is May and we are all ready for summer, but let’s think about what happens at Thanksgiving time for many of us. It is a season when we gather with family that often we have not seen each other for some time, so we do a lot of catching up with one another. There are many topics…