Over the past six months we’ve had the pleasure of sharing various ways that our program staff members are experiencing God’s presence in community. These stories have taken us inside local schools, and to other various places in town. Now it’s your turn. Starting with this...
Our gardening has come to an end for the season. We were able to give away produce to the Lord’s Cupboard, Beacon of Hope men’s shelter and Gateway to Discovery women’s recovery home. We also had produce to share with some of our church members and the KidZone kids. One time...
On Sunday, the 17th, we began our study of the Old Testament book of Nehemiah. This book describes the incredible events that transpired in the middle of the 5th century, BC. Nehemiah was a man living in the capital of the Persian Empire, the city of Susa. This city is in modern-day Iran, about...
On August 6th I had the opportunity to preach at my home church, Westminster Presbyterian Church, in West Chester, PA. They are celebrating their 125th year of ministry. I am one of the 14 children of the church who have gone on to become an ordained minister. This is the only church of which...
I have two close friends from seminary who are pastors in Virginia. One grew up in California while the other grew up in North Carolina. The three of us have a continual text message conversation. This morning after finishing a meeting, I had 176 unread text messages… In recent days, the...
Our session recently made a motion to halt all non-essential expenditures within the church for the next 60 days. This decision was not made lightly. Session spent considerable time discussing our current financial position and drew from recommendations from our Property and Finance Ministry...
Lesson Number Four: God Is Like Our Compost Bins... When I dreamt about the garden, I knew I wanted to include a composting bin. At first, I thought we’d build our own wooden compost bins. But I realized that open compost beds would produce a stench that no one wanted around the church...
Lesson Number Three: Doing Things With Consistency On May 17th the confirmation students and I planted the last of our seeds in the ground. They joined the pumpkin and tomato plants that were already in the beds. The confirmands added spinach, lettuce, carrots, beans, peas, cucumbers and...
By the time you read this letter, I will officially have completed my Doctor of Ministry degree. I am thrilled to complete this five-year journey. I am thankful beyond words… but I’ll try to use words anyhow. Naively, when I began the D.Min. program at Fuller Theological Seminary...
Lesson Number Two: BEING REALISTIC... When Heather Peck and I dreamed up our garden last year, we had grand plans. Our original plan included 8 raised beds and multiple large pots for herbs. It included a composting bin made from wood and then also doing a composting-with-worms activity with...
