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Good afternoon, church family!   It’s time for a midweek check-in, and I want us to focus on the theme for this season: Hope. In this season of Advent, the first week is all about hope. There may be no more significant difference than the gap between someone who is filled with hope and someone experiencing utter hopelessness. Like many households, our family has an Advent calendar this time of year. It’s shaped like a house with enough windows and doors to match each day of A

Good evening, church family, and Happy Thanksgiving!   I’m writing this from Nashville, Tennessee, where we’re celebrating with a house full of grandparents, aunts, uncles and cousins! Tuesday night we enjoyed our annual trip to Opryland Hotel, complete with matching jammies for the cousins. Some of them even smiled for the photo!   Whether you’re gathering with a big group of family and friends or just keeping things small this Thanksgiving, I hope you know how thankful your

Good morning, church family!   Today I want to tell you the story of a little boy. His dad took him to church every Sunday. And his dad was known for having a powerful voice – one that really stood out when he sang. In fact, he was considered one of the best singers in the church. So the little boy made it a habit of standing close to his father each Sunday morning just so he could hear his dad’s voice ring out as the church sang.   Years later, this young man, now grown up,

One year ago this week my family and I finally moved into the house we purchased here in the Wichita area after a few months of commuting from our previous home in Winfield, KS.   If you’re standing in the street in front of my house, you won’t see my house. There’s a tree. A big tree. A bent tree. It is literally bent. I don’t know why or how, but part of the trunk runs parallel to the ground for several feet before making a 45-degree turn upward and finally sending out its

Good afternoon, church family!   I’m a day late on our midweek check-in. As many of you know, I spent the past week in Ohio, where we had the funeral for my dear grandmother. She passed away Oct. 30 at the age of 91, and I’m so thankful that I was able to get there in time to spend that morning with her.   Many of her grandchildren and great grandchildren participated in her funeral. We told stories full of wonderful memories. She used to send us out to pick blackberries in t

Good morning, church family!   Let’s take a midweek check-in to celebrate something we saw this past Sunday.   The kids who are part of our Sunday School program stood before the church and recited the 23 rd Psalm! Weeks of work and memorization brought them to this point, and they were awarded memory medals, engraved with each child’s name, to celebrate their accomplishment.   But more important than our applause or an award is the truth that God’s Word now lives in their h

Good evening, church family!   It’s a beautiful autumn Wednesday, so let’s pause to check-in.   Trees are simply amazing. They can grow to be taller than your house, wider than a city street and older than any other living thing in your neighborhood. And that’s just the visible parts. Under the ground their size doubles with root systems branching out far beyond what’s above ground. Fully grown, mature trees can often survive the worst of nature – rain, wind, hail, drought, f

Good evening, church family!   Let’s take a moment to check-in, and I want to update you on the amazing work of our young people! This past Sunday we welcomed Kansas District NMI (missions) President Kelly Love to share about a need in a hospital in Papua New Guinea. Kelly demonstrated how clean, usable bandages are needed for treatment of injuries at the hospital. Then our kids got to work preparing those bandages!   This missions project was funded by the $700 raised from c

Good evening, church family!   I want to check in with you on this Wednesday with a heart turned toward prayer. I had the pleasure of...

Good evening, church family!   On Saturday my family participated in the Annual Doug Unruh Memorial Disc Golf Tournament on the campus of...