The Basics: DO NOT allow some argument about things we all find hard to decide distract you. Keep it simple and live. As you know all people everywhere do things they know they should not do. It is such behavior that separates us from God’s love and presence. Without God,...

His Kingdom first. People all over the world have a very familiar and similar reality. Each of us rise each day and face our individual circumstance, which, with little variation, is full of griefs and struggles and some comforts. How perfectly ordinary we...

Every week I pray the same thing for my wife and I. I pray that our marriage would be a picture of the Gospel. I know it is a lofty goal, perhaps unattainable, but I pray it...

It was on the road to Emmaus when a stranger approached us as we contemplated and discussed the events over the last few days. We thought for sure Jesus was going to free us from the oppressive rule of the Romans. Then the stranger asked...

What is our view of peace? We all search for peace in our, but there are daily struggles that disrupt our sense of peace. The workplace, the transit to the workplace, the tasks and priorites of our workday. Then there is the homelife as well. There are children to care...

The best defense against sin starts with the thought. As a Christian we must determine ahead of time to purge our minds of sinful thoughts. If, on the other hand, we give in to the sinful thought and begin to fantasize about the feelings we might enjoy our walls are...

Recently God worked in a particularly beautiful and not so subtle way in my life; He has worked through the snow storm...

With the presidential election moving towards us at the speed of politics, I want to take this time to give you advice. You should vote for…just kidding. It is not my place nor my legal right as the pastor of a church (see 170(c)(2)(D) of the Internal Revenue Code) to...

On February 26, 1965, Jimmie Lee Jackson, died. And at his funeral Martin Luther King Jr. issued a fiery indictment, saying, “a state trooper pointed the gun, but he did not act alone.” You see, Jimmie Lee Jackson was a Black American Civil Rights activist who was...

Imagine for a moment that you live in a place where the rule of law is explicitly intertwined with religion, such that even beliefs, the content of your mind, if judged to be an error by religious authorities, could lead to your torturous execution. Now imagine further that you find...

In talked about the following interview in my sermon Sunday, but I thought it was worth repeating in blog form... The late Charles Templeton was an evangelical minister turned agnostic and was well known for his falling away from the Christian faith. Templeton was a good friend of Billy Graham and...

Lashes bore into his skin with ruthless indifference, leaving mangled, sanguine flesh to hopelessly cling to his back, like a colored leaf to an autumn branch. Even then, death whispered in his ear a taunting call for surrender, but he would not submit to it, not yet. Spit on and...

Here is the familiar the Parable of the Mustard Seed: Then Jesus asked, “What is the kingdom of God like? What shall I compare it to? It is like a mustard seed, which a man took and planted in his garden. It grew and became a tree, and the birds perched in its...

"In those days the word of the LORD was rare; there were not many visions." - 1 Samuel 3:1 In seminary, I had to take a class on prayer and I remember being incredibly scared. Scared, as it were, of the painful reality of God's conspicuous silence. I have often...

For more on this topic, please listen to our series of sermons on Comfort. Dictionary.com defines suffering as follows, “[to] experience or be subjected to (something bad or unpleasant).” If Dictionary.com is right, then suffering is as universal as it is unquestionable. That infamous serpent of long ago slithers through the lives...

Yesterday afternoon as I was walking in the Pearl District when I was approached by a man from Green Peace. I could tell he wanted to tell me about his cause so I pretended not to see him. It didn’t work and he quickly said, “I only need a minute.” I let him...

I have been drinking a lot of water lately because the experts say that this is good for me. I can attest that it does almost always make me feel better. The only exception to this is when there is not an accessible bathroom. Last week I drank 32 ounces...

Ephesians 3:10-11, "10 His intent was that now, through the church, the manifold wisdom of God should be made known to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly realms, 11 according to his eternal purpose that he accomplished in Christ Jesus our Lord." Usually, in the spring, around the time of Pentecost,...

Ephesians 2:19-22, "Consequently, you are no longer foreigners and strangers, but fellow citizens with God’s people and also members of his household, built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the chief cornerstone.  In him the whole building is joined together and rises to...

In reading a Bible study, I had a vision come to mind regarding sin. As a child, we often found ourselves playing in the dirt even when it was moist and became mud. And the mud pretty much covered us from head to toe. We thought it was fun to...

Ephesians 1::22-23, "And God placed all things under his feet and appointed him to be head over everything for the church, which is his body, the fullness of him who fills everything in every way." Usually, in the spring, around the time of Pentecost, I do a series of sermons on...

One of the areas of confusion for me, when it comes to the Bible, is the comparison of Paul's and James' writings regarding faith and deeds. In reading the books of Ephesians and Romans we find Paul explaining we are saved through our faith in God and His grace. In the...

Recently my wife and I were out on a date and decided to visit a church service. As I think about it now, I'm not sure why Brynn thought this was a good idea. Perhaps it is because she loves church more than most. Perhaps it is because she saw...

Do you think that hypocrisy is a part of the numerical decline of the church in America? Have you been affected by hypocrisy in the church? What do you think Christians need to do differently to stop being seen as hypocrites? [bra_border_divider top='10' bottom='20'] I agree with Pastor Chad's recent...

Four weeks ago I finished a series of sermons called Planks & Specks: the Bible on Judging Others. Of course I'd be honored if you would listen to the sermons, but here I want to provide a once sentence synopsis of each sermon: 1. Do Not Judge - While Christians...

Do you love Jesus? This question, on the surface, seems simple enough. But, if you look deeper, it is difficult to answer. We have the demonstration, or behavior, associated with the love of Jesus. We have been baptized, we belong to a church organization, we read the Bible on a...

Last year I made an effort to blog once a week, which for me was a lofty goal. This year I haven't blogged once. Why? Church. Last Fall we realized that meeting in the Old Church at McMenamins was not going to work long term. Our time there was great! It...

John was born with cerebral palsy and no Achilles tendons. His mother was a drug addict and his only use to her was to provide a clean urine sample when she needed it. His father never came around because he was embarrassed because his son was “a cripple.” His grandmother...

This week we begin a series of sermon on grief - which is such a hard and yet important topic for people to think about. After all,  we have all been affected in one way or another by pain and sorrow. Whether it is someone we love dying, the betrayal...

Geshundheit! We hear that word often during the cold and flu season. What would you think of a medical facility named Geshundheit? Well, in 1971 Dr. Hunter Doherty "Patch" Adams founded the Geshundheit Institute. During his medical training he found that patients often responded just as favorably to tender, loving...

Solomon’s tweets (otherwise known as the book of Proverbs) is an amazing compilation of bits of wisdom from God to help us in our daily living. As Pastor Chad began to prepare his mini-series on “The Sluggard”, he found an abundance of material in Proverbs. But, as a farmer friend...

I am convinced God is a sports fan. I am sure some will think I am biased in my assessment but as I read through the Bible I find it replete with references to athletics. Now you may say that it is stretching the point to include warfare, but aren’t...

I have often recounted the philosophical warning, “Be careful what you ask for because you might get it.” That admonition came to my mind again as I was working my way through the 35+ football games over the holidays. These 6000 young men representing 70+ schools had done well enough...

Katie Couric recently focused her television talk show on religion today in the United States. I don’t know if Katie is a Christian but she seems to have some understanding of the basics of Christianity. Among the people she interviewed were a couple of pastors from two diverse mega-churches. One...

The Gospel according to Charlie Brown is not quite as eloquent as Pastor Chad but Charlie Brown’s Christmas does get its point across. Charlie Brown is depressed because of all the commercialism of Christmas. He is sent to buy a Christmas tree and finds a tree lot full of all...

I was shocked! Labor Day had just passed, the back to school items were being cleared out and now Costco was selling Christmas trees! I guess I should not have been so surprised as the onset of Christmas selling has been inching earlier and earlier each year. But as I...

The house was beautiful sitting high on the hill above Newport with a spectacular 180 degree view of the Pacific Ocean. We had lived there a year and, as we had agreed when we bought the house, we had just signed an agreement with the builder to finish the full...

Have you ever thought or said, “I wish God would give me a call (or send me a text or email)” so you could know for sure what He wants you to do? I know I have. But as I have thought about it I am not sure it really...

As she opened the door and looked into the distressed faces of the two men, her knees weakened and her stomach knotted. Indeed, the news was not good, her husband had just been killed in a tragic logging accident. She was a city girl who had moved to the rural...

When hearing the name Samson, the casual observer would say his story is about strength and courage not vengeance and lust. But, after reading the story of Samson and hearing Pastor Chad talk about him, our Connect Group was so disgusted with this scoundrel that they did not even want...

Yesterday was the first game of this year’s Major League Baseball World Series. One thing we know for sure already, the team wearing red will win. What we don’t know is if that is Red Sox red or Cardinal red. These are the two best teams in baseball this year,...

We recently spent a few days in Seaside, Oregon. Having once lived there we drove around to see what had changed. As we drove up “our” street, the houses looked familiar, most had been well maintained and there were some changes. “Our” house, which was old when we lived there,...

On Saturday, my wife and I returned from a week in Atlanta. I'm not one to spiritualize everything, but as I thought about what to write for this week's post, a couple of thoughts came to me about church from the week that was. So, I want to share these...

"Chad, Rachel needs to talk to you," said Shannon1, a long time Christian and faithful attender of our church. I looked and saw Rachel standing teary eyed by the wall. "Ok, just give me one minute" I responded as I hurried to greet a couple of new people at our...

 “Faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.” - Hebrews 11:1 (NASB) Last Sunday, Pastor Chad vividly recounted the story of Noah and the Ark. I was reminded that this is not just a nice kids’ story, this was a major event in human history....

As I was paging through the newspaper this morning looking for my crossword puzzle, a large picture of an older couple jumped out at me. They were sitting on a couch surrounded by paintings, castings, figurines, etc. The caption noted that these were their most prized possessions from 60 years...

Does God see you as a robber or a faithful worshipper? I had just turned 3 years old when my father was killed in a logging accident leaving my citified mother with me and my 3 month old sister alone with no income on a little farm 100 miles from...

I was nine years old with an insatiable appetite for the dangers of weapons. I had collected pocket knives and had filled an entire briefcase with my many flea-market spoils. My parents eventually bought me my very own BB gun, which turned out to be as much a source of...

The book Simple Church greatly impacted how I pastor Creekside Bible Church. The book offers data showing that when churches make clear a simple discipleship process and focus on doing a few things well (rather than trying to do a lot of things), they are better for it (primarily in...

It was a hot summer day in Ramona, California, a dead-end, desert town in the San Diego region. The dry heat radiated off the unbearable asphalt in visible waves. I was 7 or 8, walking with my best friend Taylor, to his house from mine. His parents were gone but...

I recently had a conversation with an awesome, God-loving, Christian man in which he expressed something that seemingly is thought and felt by more and more Christians everyday. In the middle of an hour long conversation on church, he said, and I paraphrase, "You can find a million good sermons...

My son, Rogan, is 3 months out from being born. And if it were the case that I did not believe in an omnibenevolent (all-good) creator of the universe, I think I would avidly avoid broaching the subject of how the universe began. I could, in different words no doubt,...

In my first post on weekly communion, I made a case for frequent partaking of the ordinance being the practice of the churches that existed contemporaneously to the writing of Christian Scripture. I think the evidence I presented is persuasive, but must admit that nobody can definitively declare how often...

I recently read a blog post called I Love the Church. I Hate the Church. The post offers a pretty common sentiment:  The church is great, but  the author has been hurt by it. So, while she understands and loves the goodness of the church, part of her hates it....

Before reading, check out Scripture as Vital (part 1). I have heard some people defend the veracity of the Bible by quoting the Bible. Let me submit to you that such a method is an exceptionally poor way of convincing others. [bra_blockquote align='right']To appeal to the authority of the Bible...

This Sunday Chad is preaching on giving God our best  in sacrifice and worship. These topics (sacrifice and worship), as you might have guessed, are close to my heart. It seems that too often American's half-heartedly worship God and I'm excited to examine God's spoken word on the topic as recorded...

I once had a professor who informed my class that we ought to think twice about including the belief in the inspiration of the Bible as a core church doctrine when we worked on forming creeds for our latest assignment. At first I thought he was joking, but then when...

2 Timothy 1:7 says, "For the Spirit God gave us does not make us timid, but gives us power, love and self-discipline." This is the key verse from Chad's sermon this week the focus of our music set will be on the confidence (strength) we can have in the Lord...

The question of how often communion "should" be taken is often discussed. Here my point is not to attempt to answer this question, but instead my goal is to explain some of the reasons we, the leadership of Creekside Bible Church, have decided to have weekly communion in our gatherings....

This week we have the opportunity to hear from a visiting pastor - Bryan Bernard. Having the sermon preached by a guest offers the advantage of our church family hearing from a fresh voice and new perspective. His subject matter this week is one that every church music leader wishes...

Keep your eyes on the crucifix, for Jesus without the cross is a man without a mission, and the cross without Jesus is a burden without a reliever. —Fulton J. Sheen I think it only prudent to begin this series by talking about some of the Church’s most central doctrine....

I walked on the empty beach in Lincoln City, Oregon, hand-in-hand with my then high school sweetheart. She was very pretty, blunt (if not a little shy on wits) and Mormon. There is something odd about how proximity to the vastness of the sea can bring about some of our...

"When you want to change culture, remember, slow is fast." - Joey Bonifaco Creekside Bible Church has, for as long as I can remember, desired to do God's will and has been good at uplifting one another in the midst of difficulty. The pastors who have gone before me have...

A week ago I finished a sermon series called "Church As..." The series explored four metaphors that the book of Ephesians uses for church: Bride, temple, family, and body. While all of these metaphors have profound implications, I want to further share my thoughts on church as family. While Christians...

This week we begin a new sermon series, but my mind is still pondering the topic of church as it has been covered over the last five weeks. When you truly stop to process church as bride, temple, family, and body, it reminds us of what a wonderful gift God...

One of the primary concerns I hear when discussing the proposition of keeping children in church is that it "won't work." The reasons for this seem to be many. Here are three that have been directly said to me: 1) It will be distracting for others in the congregation 2) Kids...

In this post I want to continue to the exploration of children in church. In my last post I offered quotes from an article on the practice paedocommunion (communion administered to babies) in the early church to 1500 that demonstrated children's presence in the worship service. The practice of keeping children...

When it comes to the question of whether or not to keep children in the church service, it is valuable to examine the historical practices of the church. Surprisingly, information on this issue is not as easy to find as one might expect. I must admit upfront that my research,...

This coming Sunday is Pentecost and in our prayers we sought God's will on celebrating the gift of church, in regards to music, in the best way possible. As we often do, we started off our prayers by thanking God for all he has done and is doing in our church....

Last September our church changed the location of its Sunday gathering. Our new facility, the Old Church in Wilsonville, is a beautiful combination of traditional and modern. Plus, the location met all of the criteria we were looking for in a location (time flexibility, in Wilsonville, and in our price...

Note: I consistently read books about church. I do this primarily because God has given me the great responsibility of pastoring a church and I believe that the way in which I do this job should be well informed. However, I find that many of these books not only inspire...

As we plan and prepare for church services we often start be reading the passage and then we pray, seeking the Lord's direction. Sometimes his guidance seems to come quickly and clearly. After five minutes it seems pretty obvious that God has given us a clear direction; other times God's...

This month is the two year anniversary of my start as the pastor of Creekside Bible Church. As I reflect on the last two years, I want to use this blog post to tell you about how much I appreciate the people in my church and their attitudes towards me...

In "How to Go to Church (part 1)" I presented the idea that it is possible to go to church poorly. I also offered three tips on how to go to well. In this post I want to offer three more. Go to church... unified with others. Near the beginning...

Going to church is great. Going to church excellently is better. Perhaps you have never considered the idea that there are better and worse ways to go to church - most haven't. I have been going to church my whole life, but it wasn't until recently that I recognized that...

Donkey Sermon Before becoming the lead pastor of Creekside Bible Church I was in charge of our ministry to high school students for six years.  This week I remembered a sermon on donkeys in the Bible that I once delivered to the students...Yes, the donkeys of the Bible. Since Palm...

In middle of a discourse on spiritual gifts in 1 Corinthians 12:1-30 Paul uses the body as a metaphor for church. The context of the passage is important for understanding it. The church in Corinth, whom Paul is writing to, had placed far too great an emphasis on the spiritual...

We had a projector malfunction (along with some other frustrating factors) at church Sunday. It produced a long rant on several church related topics including the importance of God's presence in the midst of his assembled people, excellence in a church service, church unity, spiritual gifts, church attendance, holiness, and...

In this series, Defining Church, I have argued that the single most foundational and important aspect of defining church, aside from Jesus himself, is God's people gathered in God's presence on a consistent basis. This leads to the two major questions that I presented at the end of Defining Church...

In Defining Church (part 4) I showed how the beginning of the church was a God ordained reenactment of God's giving of His presence to the Israelites at Mount Sinai. I offered this as proof of the New Testament's support of the idea that a definition of church must begin...

In Defining Church (part 3) I concluded, "When defining church we must start with God’s people in God’s presence and we must recognize that the first century Jewish person would have recognized that this happens most clearly and powerfully when God’s people are assembled." Almost all of what lead to...

In Defining Church (part 2) I connected the story of the Israelites encountering God on Mount Sinai to the modern church and concluded, "When defining church we must begin with God’s people and God’s presence"  (if you haven't read part 2, please do so before proceeding). One of the most...

Note: In Defining Church (part 1) I said that the first chapter of the book, The Gift of Church by Jim Samra, "radically altered my view of church" and "began to help me define "church."" Much of what I say here and in the remainder of this series is owed to...

This blog is about church, but what is church? This question is more difficult to answer than one might think. In order to define “church” one might begin with a building that has pews, a steeple, and a pulpit. But, this definition negates the importance of people in church -...

What do file cabinets, country music, and closing statements have in common? This blog. As I have blogged through the first result for the search "church" in each of Google's main categories, I have tried to stick with major themes in each of my posts. As you will see, this...

Starbucks (Video) Unlike Church's Chicken and Abraham Lincoln's Church, the top Google video search for "church" was something I was already familiar with. I had seen the video titled "What if Starbucks Marketed Like a Church? A Parable." a couple of years ago and at that time my only thought about it was,...

Disclaimer: 1) I believe that Christians (along with all other Americans) should vote. 2) I think it is awesome when Christians run for a political office. 3) I think all political issues should be considered through a biblical point of view. Abraham Lincoln (image) The first result of my Google...

Pop quiz: Based on the title, how did I choose the content of this blog post? A) Spent time stressing about what to write about in my FIRST blog post. B) Googled "what to write in your first blog post." C) Found an article that suggested starting a post with...

My blog is coming. I've been wanting to do it for a long time (years). I've been feeling like I need to do it for a while (months). I just haven't done it. Sure, I tried once, but it didn't last - three articles in a year. And so, this week,...