Last Edited: March 22, 2021 Original Date: March 25, 2018 A Brief Overview of Holy Week Dating back to as early as the third century C.E., Christians have commemorated the week leading up to Easter Sunday as Holy Week, a special time of observance and reflection specifically on several significant events recorded in the Gospels …
Neighboring
During a conversation over coffee yesterday with a friend, he asked why things like missional living, neighboring, being a student of the community where we live, collaborative partnerships, racial reconciliation, foster care and adoption, serving the poor, hospitality and expanding our relational capacity to include people across ethnic, socio-economic and generational lines into gospel-centered community were all so important to me personally. I thought …
Won’t You Be My Neighbor
August 3, 2018 After having several people recommend it to me in recent weeks, I finally went to see the movie, Won’t You Be My Neighbor - a documentary on the life and work of Fred Rogers; a man who is perhaps better known by many as Mr. Rogers. Besides the awkwardness of inviting someone (besides my …
Local Knowledge
A couple of years ago, one of our covenant members asked me to be a reference for a program she was applying for called Leadership Rowan. After looking more into the program, I decided not only to serve as a reference, but to also apply myself. Several of you may be familiar with or have …
A Church of Irresistible Influence
Almost two years go, we appointed a team of people among our church family to spearhead our missional reach as a church, both locally and internationally. Our Missions Team has since been working to help deepen relationship with our ministry partners, while mobilizing both covenant members, attenders and guests to be living expressions of the love of Christ by serving …
Freedom Carries Responsibility
The late English writer, journalist, philosopher and theologian, G.K. Chesterton once wrote, "America is the only country ever founded on a creed." The creed he was referring to is found in the first line of the second paragraph of the Declaration of Independence, which states the following: "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are …
A Symbol of Unity
August 11, 2017 You may be familiar with the Oak Grove-Freedman's Cemetery, located at the corner of Church St. and Liberty St. in downtown Salisbury. If not, let me give you a little background into what I've found to be one of the most significant symbols of unity efforts in our community. In 1998, …
well-rounded…
I'm currently coaching some friends through their StrengthsFinder® talent themes. It's fun and interesting to learn about how others see themselves, watching those ah-hah moments take place as someone gains a bit more perspective toward their own self-awareness - something of which few people actually possess. Today during one of my coaching sessions, I was …
Pacifiers
Tuesday marked a first for me – the first full day I was responsible for Julia on my own. And I have to say I was pretty excited about the opportunity. Molly had jury-duty all day and had left me very clear and precise instructions on Julia’s daily routine, along with supplies for meals and …
relational motive
what’s your relational motive? Recently I was having a conversation with a friend about the importance of extending ourselves relationally into the lives of people we're trying to reach with the love of God. Our conversation has caused me to rethink and clarify why it is we stress this idea of ‘relational community' when it …
a healing community
What fears are gripping your heart today? Have you ever found yourself ‘running to the hills’ (so to speak), or even pulling away into isolation out of a fear of hurt or rejection from people? Think for a moment about the fears that were gripping the heart of Jesus prior to His suffering on the …
home
“I am convinced that all of us are searching for a place called home, a place where we can close our eyes and sleep, a place where there is warmth and we are somehow unafraid, a place where we gather around the fire and the room is filled with laughter and love…Home is ultimately not …
craving intimacy
Have you ever had an unexplainable loneliness even while standing in the middle of a crowd? I heard a friend say several times recently that he doesn’t need anymore acquaintances in his life, that there is no more room for such relationships. He desires friendships that go much deeper than that, friendships that are authentic, …