The following article is posted in full on the Patheos Website.  It is part of a web series called The Cross Examinations, in which different Christian leaders respond to questions on current cultural issues.  This week’s question was: “Evangelicals are often portrayed as homophobic or hateful toward gays.  If you could envision the ideal relationship [...]

As a church planter in a community that is attempting to be more relational and organic, Parker Palmer’s words on leadership really strike a chord.  He argues that it’s in the less rigidly defined community that leadership is most important not in the structured and hierarchical system: Unfortunately, our idea of leadership has been deformed [...]

Yesterday we successfully had our first public worship service for our new church plant New City Covenant!  It went really, really, well.  It was so much fun to see everything come together.  The praise band sounded great, the welcoming crew did a fantastic job, the volunteers who helped setup were tireless servants, the kids had a [...]

When I read that God said to Abraham, offer up your son as a sacrifice, I wonder if this story should have been left out of the Bible.  What does it have to do with a loving God and his relationship with his people?  Isn’t this just at best a bizarre case of emotional manipulation [...]

Have you heard this song by The Fray called Over My Head?  It’s a catchy tune.  I’m not really sure what the song is about, but the chorus speaks to me.  Every time I hear it on the radio it reminds me of my own inner turmoil.  Over and over throughout the song, the lead [...]

It’s amazing how broken our world is.   Since I’ve started planting New City Covenant, I’ve become more aware of both my own brokenness and that of others.  I sit down with anywhere from 2 to 10 people each week and share my story and the vision of our church with them.  I also listen [...]

This sums up  the driving metaphor behind what we want our church plant to be.  This quote explains why our church is named New City Covenant Church. Key images of God’s alternative community, the missional church, are found in the Gospel’ descriptions of the people of God as “the salt of the earth,” a “light [...]

Check out this interesting commentary by Skye Jethani on consumerism in the church in this short video: I think he raises an interesting point about the assumed cultural values the medium of our church experience communicates.  If Sunday morning church experiences are dedicated to the “entertainment” and “comfort” of the parishioner, then it is no surprise [...]

Do you ever feel like God has abandoned you?  Do you ever feel like the path that you set out on isn’t going to work because God is no longer leading you?  Do you go through ups and downs spiritually or emotionally as you wonder about God’s involvement and direction in your life?  I do. [...]

This past weekend Mary and I finished up our time at Emmanuel Covenant Church.  Where for the past six months I had been working as a church planting resident.  It was a great experience for our whole family.  Throughout our time there, we were able to engage in a variety of ministries that encouraged and [...]