Afternoon of awe

On one of the first warm nights last spring we were standing in the pastor’s kitchen in our shorts and flip-flops after a meeting.
“I keep having this dream about a concert,” Nancy said, “in the parking lot at the church. Over and over again I’m dreaming this. I’m getting the feeling that I’m supposed to [...]

Like Gideon’s army

We lost a couple more families at church recently, people who were very involved. Not only is it hard to watch them go, but it’s hard to fill the void they leave behind. And given that our church is small, and that those who contribute tend to wear many hats, that void is significant. We [...]

Yes, Lord

The church where I attend is dying.
Neighboring farm families who settled in northwest Marion County founded North Liberty Christian Church in 1839. Their names are on the gravestones around our building.

The congregation has has its ups and downs in 170 years. We’ve built two log cabins, a brick church, and the current brick-faced cinder block [...]

The temple’s grandeur

Thanks to Solomon’s sins, Israel found itself exiled, scattered across Babylon. Jersualem, and Solomon’s glorious temple with it, was destroyed. But much later, as God said would happen, King Cyrus allowed any Jews who wanted to return to Jerusalem and rebuild. 50,000 of them went back, and right away started work on an altar and the [...]

A cappella

Ten years ago my wife and I visited a little Church of Christ in a plain building that stood on an empty highway in a rural corner of the city. The warm and friendly members eagerly accepted us as guests. The service began simply with a welcome and a prayer. Then a man walked to [...]