A couple of years ago I spent a season visiting with a counselor in the Twin Cities. I think it was in the third session where my counselor told me that he was going to Florida for a few weeks and would be unavailable to meet during that time. He gave me his cell phone […]
A few things have happened since I stepped away from full-time ministry at Hayward Wesleyan Church: HACIL On July 1, I started working for HACIL, a virtual charter school in the Hayward Community School District. I was hired to work with high school students and their families in the area of social studies as well […]
Yesterday, Pastor Chad shared some more details about my impending departure at all three services at Hayward Wesleyan Church as well as how things are looking for the new positions. Sunday, June 9 will be my last day on staff, and I get the honor of preaching that morning. This definitely hasn’t been a secret. […]
Yesterday was the last Followers at Hayward Wesleyan Church of the school year and my last Followers. What a fun afternoon! We put our hand-prints on the wall, ate amazing food, played games, laughed, celebrated, and just had a good time. It was bittersweet. Sweet because I’m happy at what Followers has done in the […]
What is gossip? “We gossip when we talk about someone, rather than directly to him. Two people move closer to each other at the expense of the gossiped-about party, who is focused on in a critical or worries way. You can measure the amount of anxiety in any system by the amount of gossip going […]
As of Thursday, November 8, 2018, after talking with Pastor Chad and the HWC Board, I have submitted my resignation as an assistant pastor at Hayward Wesleyan Church. The hope is to finish out the school year with the students @hwcyouth. I was not asked nor was I forced to resign. There is nothing wrong. […]
Terry Esau is a fantastic writer. I just love analogies and metaphors and parables and stories that seek to describe the human condition and the divine conspiracy in this world. Stories have a way of connecting with me in ways that logical, didactic teaching doesn’t. Anyway, Terry Esau wrote a book called: Blue Collar God […]
source mamiverse.com
From a journal entry dated July 30, 2017: At the moment, I feel insecure. All day I have not felt important… that I am not a good leader… that I’m not cool enough… that I’m not an extrovert, “out there” or flashy. I’m just Jeremy… simple and quiet. I guess I’m just feeling insecure in […]
“A STORY IS HOW YOU CAPTURE A CHILD’S HEART.” Sally Lloyd-Jones, author of the Jesus Storybook Bible, talks about her appreciation for C.S. Lewis. “SUCH AN INCREDIBLE MIND WROTE CHILDREN’S STORIES.” I appreciated Jones’ words toward Lewis and I agree that those who write good children’s stories tend to be incredible and often deep thinkers. If […]
“THE WORLD NO LONGER CARES HOW MUCH OUR STUDENTS KNOW. KNOWLEDGE IS A COMMODITY. WHAT THE WORLD CARES ABOUT IS WHAT THE KIDS WILL DO WITH WHAT THEY KNOW.” Critical thinking and problem solving. Begins with the ability to ask really good questions… the right questions. The world is more interested in problem formulation, than problem solving. Collaboration […]
A while back I read an article entitled: Why I Would Never Force my Kids to go to Church. Below is an excerpt from that article: “My parents forced me to eat three times a day growing up. No joke. Three times. Every. Single. Day. And it wasn’t always stuff I liked, either. Matter of […]
A couple of days ago I finished reading John Walton’s book: “The Lost World of Genesis One: Ancient Cosmology and the Origins Debate” His view of Genesis 1 is that it concerns functional origins, not material origins. Walton contends that the ancient author isn’t concerned with the stuff of creation (matter), but how the matter […]
Hayward Wesleyan Church has graciously given me a gift of sabbatical starting November 1 through the end of December. I will pause pastoral duties for two months and resume them on January 2, 2018. Every seven years, HWC offers their pastors this wonderful opportunity to step back from the often frenetic pace of ministry and […]
History Being a children’s pastor came out of left field for me. I wasn’t looking, aiming, or intending to be in children’s ministry. It came while I was interning for Hayward Wesleyan Church (HWC) in the summers of 2001 and 2002. During those years, Pastor Mark Wilson was looking to hire a children’s pastor. After […]
Amanda and I and our two girls, Sari and Macie, are going to Hungary to visit for a couple of weeks at the end of April and the beginning of May. I have been involved with a youth ministry movement in the country of Hungary with our high school students and the partnership is continuing […]
This morning, my oldest daughter, Sari, who is 9 years-old, was digging through our journals. She wasn’t meaning to do anything conniving, but it was a little unsettling when she walked into our bedroom this morning reading an old journal of mine from my college days! I didn’t even know where she got it from! […]
I just deleted the Facebook app off of my phone. I’m just disgusted with it. Now, I’m not a Facebook hater in the least. I have had an account on the popular social media site since 2008 and I will continue to use it. It is an extremely useful and wide-reaching tool. I use it […]
A reflection from my journal dated: May 20, 2014 We are chronically late to school. I could share a number of reasons why, but it still doesn’t excuse our constant tardiness. As I reflect, one of the most challenging things is being a long-tenured pastor to students (ages 0-18) in a small town. The plethora […]
For the last several years, I have directed a Kids Camp. I ran all the operations, led the staff, tried to keep everyone safe, and managed the environment and expectations of all those involved. No small task. This past year, however, I demoted myself. Because I’m in graduate school I needed to step back from […]