If you read this week’s “Ask the Pastor” question and my response, you might enjoy this photo.
Now you know what about 2,500 piercings looks like.

I just now read this and boy, is it ever something we need to remember!  Especially in a world like ours, with so much stress and so much need for margin in our lives (don’t miss the next installment this weekend!) – we just really need to remind ourselves of Deuteronomy 14:2.
That’s all….just stop what [...]

Another ’sticky’ one came in this week, as someone asked, “What are your thoughts on tattoos and what I will call extreme body piercing? I know what the Old Testament says but what about the New Testament?”
First, I think the New Testament is relatively silent on this issue, unless you count 1Cor. 6:19-20.  Now that [...]

Well, the holiday is just about over….I’m ready to hit the sack to get some sleep before attacking my day tomorrow, which is always one of my busiest, with several meetings already scheduled, but I’ve got two questions to ask after this weekend’s opening message about ‘margins’:
1.  What are you going to say ‘NO’ to [...]

 I can’t remember when we last tackled such a seemingly-unspiritual-yet-practical-and-very-needed-subject as our new “Margins” series.  Nor can I remember when we had so much FUN together as the 9am service in Tinley Park.  (Dunno why it was so different than the other services?)  And I really don’t remember when I last had as many comments [...]

This week I had another fun question from a CLCer who wants to know what I’d be doing if I wasn’t a pastor; i.e., what profession do I think God had predestined for me if I hadn’t accepted the call to ministry?
Believe it or not, I’ve never been asked that before, and honestly hadn’t given a [...]

If you plan to see the movie, but haven’t yet, STOP READING THIS
I’m serious.  I don’t want to spoil it for you.
I went with my family this week to see it, and 3 things really stood out for me:

I stayed awake for the entire film!  Now, that may not mean much to you, but my [...]

We’ve all used that term when we meet someone from our hometown, etc., but I’m thinking of how the internet is shrinking our world.  Earlier today I had a phone call from a 52-year old church planter in Tacoma, WA.  He basically just wanted to know a little more about us and explained that he [...]

That’s exactly what Paul said in 2Cor 11:23-28.  It was part of my devotional reading recently, and I was so struck by his ‘boastings’ to prove that he was a servant of Christ – especially in light of today’s ‘Americanized‘ Christianity and our comfortable Gospel.
I don’t know that any of us will ever be called [...]

Where do I start?  This was an extra-full weekend, with several highlights:

MEGA (our quarterly gathering of key leaders from all 3 CLC campuses) : it was really neat for everyone to get to visit the Shorewood campus (many for the first time) and Dan & Pat Johnson were great hosts for us.  We revisited the vision [...]