I’ve given up candy, dessert, alcohol, second portions of dinner, playing video games, checking social media and various other things for lent over the years. I’ve also taken up new practices, like praying for an hour daily, or reading through the whole Bible in Lent. But what is Lent and why do people give things […]
What’s in a name?
Hello, Chapel Hill Family! I’m so excited to share some wonderful news with you! It also gives me the chance to thank you for your continued prayers as we have followed God’s lead to plant a community of faith in Port Orchard. Today is a great day to reflect on our shared journey and to […]
The freedom to be a servant
I’ll admit it: one of my all-time favorite movies is Braveheart. It’s a VERY fictionalized account of a Scottish rogue-hero named William Wallace. VERY fictionalized. But it’s also very fun. One of the iconic moments is when Wallace, played by Mel Gibson, cries out, “…they may take our lives, but they’ll never take…our freedom!” I […]
Knocked down but not knocked out
The Apostle Paul once wrote these words to the Corinthian Christians: “But we have this treasure in clay pots so that the awesome power belongs to God and doesn’t come from us. We are experiencing all kinds of trouble, but we aren’t crushed. We are confused, but we aren’t depressed. We are harassed, but we aren’t […]
Making a home everywhere we go
Bert Miner pointed out something to me that I had missed. We had been looking for places where we might gather for worship around Port Orchard, and I had naively valued location, price and ease as the top of needs for a temporary location. Bert, however, having worshipped with us with his wife, Cathy, since […]
Seeking good-news ambassadors
When people ask me what I do at Chapel Hill, and I tell them I lead the Communications and Marketing team, sometimes they ask, “Why does a church need to market itself?” It’s a fair question. Ideas about the role of communications in a local church have evolved over the years. I remember my former […]
Celebrating Alpha!
Today, I’m filled with joy and gratitude for how good our God is. Alpha launched last week and I couldn’t be more thrilled to report how well it went! I’m especially celebrating the engagement from our congregation as we launched our first Alpha in person since the pandemic…last week we had 54 people praying for […]
What it’s like to be an exile
“What’s it like, living in a country that isn’t your own?” That was the question I was asked as our pastoral team began studying a new book called Faith for Exiles. If you didn’t know, I grew up in a “green and pleasant land,” as the old hymn goes, namely, England. For more than a […]
Teaching trust takes time
The Exodus story about manna serves as a great comfort at first glance – daily provision of bread; no hunting for it, no waiting, no wondering, just there, every day. Sure, it became bland and repetitious, but at least you could count on it. How good of God to deliver it to people wandering the […]
Strong start, strong finish
Will you indulge me as I take one last backward glance at 2021? I know—many of you would rather leave that year firmly in the rearview mirror. But 2021 brought a lot of blessings to Chapel Hill and the last two weeks felt like God’s huge exclamation mark on those blessings! Let’s review: • GLOW, […]