Recently my middle child (Seth) randomly approached me and said, “Dad, I have some ideas for our student ministry I want to share with you.” I say “random” because this sort of thing doesn’t usually come out of his mouth. Honestly, this sort of thing doesn’t come out of any of my children’s mouths. It is rare when we talk about church stuff. They know what I do. When I began to probe about their thoughts of this or that,... Read more
Yesterday morning at The Church at West Franklin, I began a new sermon series called “God is the Question.” In complete transparency (I hope!) I shared (in the sermon and on today’s West Franklin Talks Podcast) that I borrowed the title from a really good book by Martin Copenhaver, called Jesus is the Question. If you are looking for a good summer read, especially a good devotional summer read, I commend it to you. A few other books that deal... Read more
West Franklin Family, Quarantine sure has been interesting, hasn’t it? On the one hand, there is a whole lot of bad stuff going on. Lots of people going crazy. Like, stupid crazy. On the other hand, remarkable things have emerged. Like, miraculous. Let me give you two examples of the remarkable. Both have to do with my sons. (Go ahead, judge me if you like. But this is my letter, so I can brag on my children if I want... Read more
West Franklin Family, Five – O – Nine. 509. Five hundred and nine. It’s an important number. It’s a revealing number. It’s a number that leads me to push us a bit. 509 is how many viewers West Franklin had last Sunday morning for our livestream on Facebook and/or YouTube. 509. Think about that. It was our first Sunday back since the COVID-19 fiasco. Know how many we had in the room, on our property, at 700 New Highway 96... Read more
West Franklin Family, Tomorrow we open our doors for corporate worship for the first time since March 8th. Had you told me then that June 7th would be the reopen date, I would have laughed in your face and told you we’d never be able to make it that long. But you are resilient and God’s grace is simply amazing. We are scheduled to have a little less than half of what we averaged pre-COVID19. This tells me something very... Read more
Here is a trustworthy saying that deserves full acceptance: Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners—of whom I am the worst. 1 Timothy 1:15 I don’t have to tell you this. You see it. You hear it. You read it. Opinions about rioting, Trump, and COVID-19 are everywhere. If you say something, you mess up. If you keep quiet, you mess up. If you protest violently, you are wrong. If you protest silently, you are “saying” something offensive.... Read more
West Franklin Family, It’s funny, isn’t it? When you just hear the name “George” – if you’re like me, anyway – you think of a white man. If you add the name “Floyd” to it, everything changes. The name “George Floyd” has changed a lot in recent days. I feel compelled to write this morning for several reasons I will share below. One, you need to know that what you will watch today on-line was recorded on Tuesday, May 26th.... Read more
West Franklin Family, We are by no means “out of the woods†on this whole COVID-19 deal. There still much change, transition, pivoting, and figuring out left on the table. A. LOT. However. . . You, West Franklin, need to know something. Your staff team has blown me away. The last 3 months has been hard. Weird. Different. Uncharted. But the staff I get to work with, and the staff who loves you so much, shifted on a dime in... Read more
Based on a sermon preached on May 24th, 2020, I encourage you to consider this passage of Scripture, get alone with the Father, and honestly ask yourselves the questions that follow. Matthew 6:25-34 (25) Therefore I tell you: Don’t worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Isn’t life more than food and the body more than clothing? (26) Consider the birds of the sky: They don’t... Read more
West Franklin Family, If you’ve been on an airplane, chances are you have experienced turbulence. A good pilot will warn the passengers of what is coming and ease everyone’s fears by navigating them through the rough skies. It can be disruptive. It can be startling. It can give the nerves a jolt. Turbulence shakes the entire aircraft, knocking everything and everyone around for a few seconds or minutes before returning to smooth air. If the pilot warns of oncoming turbulence,... Read more
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