A few years ago, I asked a pastor friend, “What are you doing for Easter Sunday?” He said, “We don’t focus a lot on promoting Easter itself. We usually have a large crowd and lots of visitors. Instead, I focus on promoting the Sunday after Easter.” “That’s interesting,” I replied. “What do you do?” “I start a new series […]
There are many religions in the world, and each one was started by a person. Christianity is different. It was started by Jesus Christ, the Son of the living God. So how do we know which religion is true?The founders of other religions have all died and remain in the grave. But Jesus Christ died […]
The Bible does not give a specific age for water baptism. Water baptism is an important step in the New Testament. It should not be taken lightly, but it also should not be ignored or unnecessarily delayed. Here are three helpful guidelines for parents when deciding if their child is ready: Water baptism matters because […]
This month, my wife, Debra, started a new Kids Pastor position at a church in Edina, MN. On Sunday, Deb asked me to give an altar call at the end of the message. In my mind, I felt all the kids had a relationship with Jesus, but I followed Deb’s lead. I was blessed when […]
“For by grace you have been saved through faith, and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God.” – Ephesians 2:8 NIV I’m convinced that many of the kids who grow up in church are not born again. What I mean is they have no understanding of God’s grace. I see two […]
I once had a supervisor tell me, “Don’t talk to the kids at church about sin.” Those of us that minster to kids don’t like to think of kids as sinners. We do what we do because we love kids. We love their hunger, and we love their “innocence.” If we are honest with ourselves, […]
We live in an angry world. The voices of hate seem to be louder than the voices of kindness. As followers of Christ, we cannot participate in hate. We cannot respond with hatred. Our kids can be affected by the anger and hatred, but what can we do about it? Here’s the deal. People are […]
One of the most powerful things about the gift of tongues is that you can supernaturally pray for things you don’t know about. “Now in the same way the Spirit also helps our weakness; for we do not know what to pray for as we should, but the Spirit Himself intercedes for us with [a]groanings too deep for words.” Romans […]
I’m not going to lie. Yesterday was a scary day for anyone who lives in the Twin Cities. A spirit of fear tried to get to me as events unfolded in Minneapolis. When I heard the rhetoric that followed the shooting and watched videos of lawlessness on the streets, I thought, “Here we go again.“ […]
“Look, the Virgin will conceive a child!She will give birth to a son,And they will call him ImmanuelWhich means ‘God with us” This time of year, we hear many people say, “Christmas is all about Jesus,” but thetruth is, Christmas is about “God with us.” “God with us” is the message of the entire Bible. […]