When I imagine the first Thanksgiving in the Plymouth Colony, I picture long benches laden with food. Dozens of faces, both European and Wampanoag, contentedly tucking in for a meal after such a difficult first year learning how to survive off the land and through the winter. An interesting fact...

I’m enjoying – truly enjoying – the adventure of being a dad to a teenage daughter (soon to be two teenage daughters). It is a great privilege to love, lead, and team up with my daughters through this revelatory season of life. We’ve begun (I know, I know, I’m still...

Have you run a virus scan lately? You might answer, "Sure, my computer was running sluggish, so I ran a scan and found malware from an email attachment. The scan took care of it, and I'm up and running again." But I'm not talking about your computer; I'm talking about...

First of all, then, I urge that entreaties and prayers, petitions, and thanksgivings, be made on behalf of all men, for kings and all who are in authority, so that we may lead a tranquil and quiet life in all godliness and dignity. (1 Timothy 2:1-2) It is true that we...

Few things are more American than the spirit of plucky pragmatism. It is in our genes, it would seem, to imagine every problem is solvable with a little determination and some out-of-the-box thinking. We’ve explored the bottom of the oceans, walked on the moon, seen the rise of the world’s...

A dog is not a person. We have a puppy called Blaze, so I know this. Blaze is a dog. However, he is a bit like a teenager at this point in his training. The problem is that, unlike a person, he does not have a moral conscience. So I...

Dear men of VBC, I want to invite you to the kick-off BBQ of our Men’s Leadership Initiative. This event is Friday, Sept. 29, at 6 pm. Please sign up at spokanevbc.org/events and RSVP under “Men’s Leadership Initiative Kick-Off.” We are inviting all men to the Leadership Initiative. You might think, “But I’m...

I have come to love Psalm 78. It is such a down-to-earth, painfully honest description of a great God doing what He inexplicably loves to do – being gracious to petty sinners. If you have also enjoyed the Psalm and are continuing to meditate on it, there are some impressive...

When we were back from Trieste, Italy, on a 6-month “Home Assignment” in 2011, we enrolled our older three children in school for a semester. I remember chatting with the secretary in the office about what we’d been doing as a family in Italy while filling out the necessary paperwork....

Many years ago I had to confront my boss. I agonized over it because I had no experience confronting a brother in Christ. But this involved my family, and I knew I had to talk to him. So I prayed. I was a full-time seminary student working two jobs. Neither...

From the city of Ephesus to the port city of Troas was a journey, on foot, of 349km (about 217 miles). In the spring this would have taken about 12 days of hard walking. From Troas, a boat across the Thracian Sea to Neapolis in Macedonia would have only taken...

The sowing of a seed is such a common thing that it sometimes escapes us how marvelous and counter-intuitive it is. Imagine being asked to sow seeds if you had never heard of the idea or seen it done before! With a field of nothing but lifeless dirt all scratched...

I was in my final summer as a seminary student when I conducted my first funeral. The grandfather of a little boy Tara cared for had died, and his wife asked me if I would do his funeral. We had lived in a guest house for two years in exchange...

We were pleasantly surprised to see some old friends walk into church this past Sunday. They were a couple we knew in the first church Ben pastored; interestingly enough, that church’s name was Valley Bible Church. We had a great time reminiscing about those early years. It wasn’t long before...

For this week’s afterthought, I want to share a few short observations that struck me about our passage this week which we didn’t have time to fully explore on Sunday. First, it is not only in baptism that we see a picture and symbol of death and resurrection. God has...

One of the grand celebrations of the Christian faith is baptism. Several times a year, we perform baptisms in obedience to our Lord to “Make disciples, baptizing them in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit” (Matthew 28:18). In so doing, we are graced to hear...

The circle is only 9 meters across. The two wrestlers who tensely shift about one another are not going to run away. They watch for an advantage: the slightest of missteps, a dropped shoulder, an unbalanced stance, a distracted gaze. There it is. An overextension and an exposed torso. The...

It is graduation season once again, and that means a busy schedule for elite universities and colleges. Not only do our nation’s top educational institutions have to double-check transcripts, rosters, and facility plans, but they must jostle and vie to secure the most prestigious commencement speakers. This year, Harvard garnered...

The late '90s and early 2000s were the heyday of the infomercial. From deluxe CD compilations to car wash accessories, late-night cable TV was a hymn to the entrepreneurial spirit, and the refrain was that ubiquitous catchphrase, “But wait, there’s more!” It was the critical breadcrumb on the trail from,...

Music has been a subject of discussion in churches for ages. As the music director at Valley Bible Church, I wanted to share why I choose the music I do and why I include hymns in our weekly worship services. This article will specifically focus on the corporate side of worship, not...