His property was only a block from the northern Minnesota elementary school named Churchill and catty-cornered from my home. I don’t remember the man’s name. I only recall a vague image. Thin. Gaunt. Dark. Sad. Angry. Addled. Many children passed his property on the walk home. Many, when they walked
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I got my hair cut the other day. I knew the girl who cut my hair from previous visits to the shop. She is attending a local community college and is studying creative writing and journalism. When I sat in the chair, I asked her how her writing was going.
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Located across the street from an elementary and middle school as well as a fire station, Trinity Woodlands church plant has been the dream of many over a number of years. Previously organized as Christ Lutheran Church with a child development center (CDC), the leadership and members of both Christ
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Rev. Landon Ledlow from Redeemer Lutheran Church in Austin sent me a copy of a social media post a few weeks ago. The post was from a man who lives in the church’s neighborhood. This is what he said: “I have not been to church in over 10 years, so
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“He is not here; for He is risen as He said. Come, see the place where the Lord lay.” Matt 28: 6. The tomb is empty! Lent, Holy Week and Easter are the highlights of the Church year in the Ethio-Eritrean Christian communities; the pageantries, worship processions and devotional lives
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Notre Dame cathedral in Paris is burning. By the time you read these words, today’s catastrophe will be scores of news cycles in the past. But today, as I write this article, Notre Dame is on fire. I’m sure that in the weeks to come, French officials will determine what
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Yikes! Those are frightening signs, aren’t they? I see them almost every morning—while I’m running—at, of all places, a county park near my home. There, in the middle of a beautiful place dedicated to peace and relaxation, is the jolting reality that if you
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The piano music was absolutely beautiful on Sunday. A church member blessed us with his gifts. Every week, I see God’s gifted people pour out a blessing for the church and for the world. Every week I meet educators, business leaders, parents, grandparents, laborers, homemakers, students and more who shine
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When Redeemer Lutheran in Austin opened its new 15,000-square-foot cafetorium late last year, it was just the latest physical manifestation of a grand spiritual vision. Redeemer’s church and school for decades have worked in concert to bring Jesus’ love to their rapidly changing north Austin neighborhood. The new facility simply
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The shrink-wrap never used to come off the book. Like many, perhaps most, pastors, busy with the demands of congregational ministry, early in my ministry I felt no particular need to take a look at the new triennial edition of the Handbook of The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod. On to the
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