In my message last week , I talked about the hardest part of being a pastor: addressing the past bad experiences people have had of churches or Christians. People see the way many Christians engage others on social media, watch the way Christians are involved in politics, or hear the way certain preachers talk about other people and come away thinking, “I don’t want to look like that!” More person...  Read More

I’m back! The past few weeks I have been out of the office and not preaching, but this weekend I will be back and starting a new series. I am grateful for some time off, and it was packed with activity. I started the month of June speaking at a conference for pastors in Wisconsin, I took my daughter Carly on some college visits, our family spent time together on a vacation, and I spent about 10 da...  Read More

Faith Like a Child - Part 4 Dependency Written and submitted by Curriculum Writing Team Jen Jordan, Rebekah Backowski, & Sherrill Wall(This week our talk focuses on the word and idea “dependency” please be mindful of the use of the word in relation to addiction, this can be triggering to many people)   Opening Prayer Gracious God, we come together as a group to learn from your Word and each other....  Read More

As the school year winds down, I wanted to share some news about The Gathering’s Literacy Project.The Gathering wants to make a difference not just inside our church but more so in our community. One way we do that is through our Literacy Project, partnering with local schools to provide reading support for students, as well as support for teachers, staff, and the communities those schools serve.E...  Read More

One summer when I was around 10 years old, I was playing with some friends outside. There was a tree in our front yard that produced an inedible fruit that was a perfect size to throw. So one day, we decided to start plucking the fruit and throwing it at each other. Soon we discovered that when this fruit hit the ground, it splattered everywhere. We shifted course and started throwing this fruit o...  Read More

Faith Like a Child - Part 3 Saying SorryContributing Curriculum Team Writers:  Sherrill Wall & Rebekah BackowskiWelcomeToday we consider something almost all parents and teachers insist that children practice in their interactions with others at home, in school, and on the playground, and yet as adults we often have ceased to use in our own interactions – saying “I’m sorry.”  Rather than addressin...  Read More