World Communion

It’s hard to imagine everyone in the world agreeing on anything. Nations, governments, families and individuals stand at odds with each other on almost everything. How could there ever be true communion? For true unity to occur, there would have to be something pretty important as the basis.

Actually, once a year, on the same day all over the world, Christians celebrate their oneness. Yes- Roman Catholics, Orthodox believers, Baptists, Lutherans, Pentecostals and even Methodists all join together on the first weekend of October to celebrate our common faith through The Lord’s Supper. We may not agree on many things, for in the world there are wide variances on how we “live out” Christianity, but we all agree on one thing: Jesus died on the cross and God raised him from the dead and He is LORD!

Theologian N.T. Wright has written that when we celebrate the Eucharist, (the Lord’s Supper) we are doing more than telling the world that we are going to heaven or have found a personal relationship with Jesus. The message of the Holy Communion is a radical declaration to the whole world of God’s powerful, loving revelation of redemption: Christ died, Christ is risen, Christ will come again. Read more »

Choosing Mary over Martha

No doubt about it, we live in a Martha world.

Martha was a woman who lived at the time of Jesus and had the good fortune to know him, first-hand. On one occasion, Jesus ate in her home, and it appears to have been one of the most stressful days of her life (Luke 10:38-42).

I totally relate to Martha. Wouldn’t you feel the same if the Son of God was coming for dinner? Don’t you want to make a good impression? The place needs to be swept; there is dog hair everywhere! The kids have left their things all around, and the whole house is a wreck. There isn’t enough food to feed all who are coming. How will it all get done in time?

Read more »

Grand Opening

Do you remember when Sheetz first opened on Firetower? People were talking about it everywhere! The buzz was all about the price of the gas, the food order screens at the gas pumps, the unique products and so many other things that make Sheetz unique. I remember specials every day, newspaper articles, and everybody chatting about a company from Altoona, Pennsylvania that hardly anyone in Greenville had ever heard of!

Now Sheetz stores have been become so much a part of the fabric of Greenville, (with 4 locations) people now spell my name with a “Z.”

Grand openings don’t last forever, but they are opportunities to get people excited about something new. They are innovative marketing tools. I believe I read that “grand opening” prices on gasoline can only last a certain amount of time by state law. Of course, the low prices at Sheetz worked! Read more »

On his heels

“If anyone would come after me…” (Mark 8:34).

What would I have done if I had heard this live? If Jesus had looked directly at me and invited me to follow Him—“come after me”—I sure hope that I would have done so. What an amazing, real-time journey it would have been!

Think about it—if you or I had followed Jesus’ heels, where would it have taken us? Read more »

I want to LIVE!

“He who has the Son has life.” 1 John 5:12

This past weekend turned to be sort of a wake-up call for many of us. The message was simple, but painfully honest. The response was almost overwhelming as person after person began to express how desperately their hearts were crying out to live like never before. (If you missed the sermon, get it here)

As one person emailed me, “Too often we allow ourselves to get caught up in the day-to-day busyness of living and not deeply following the path God desires for us.” We were created with a passion to live, not a passion to be busy. God is inviting us, the people of Covenant Church, to embark on this wild adventure and journey with Him. It is not about becoming busy for Him – Read more »

Chiggers, wasps & briers

Some of you may have seen the yellow disc golf chain baskets on the back part of our property. The Trustees gave our Free Market disc golfers the go-ahead to install a disc golf (Frisbee golf) course on the unused acres at Covenant. Our hope is that we could put all of our land into use for ministry. We want to create such a nice park that hundreds of people will soon walk this land because they love to throw frisbees or walk in the woods, but that eventually we will be able to invite them to meet Jesus because of our hospitality.

So far, there are eight baskets in the ground. One thing we’re discovering is that making wooded areas and overgrown fields ready for disc golf is hard work. We’ve been cutting some trees, moving brush, digging holes, moving dirt, building bridges over ditches and putting together the disc golf baskets. Our baskets were assembled in the garage behind the main office, and the rest of the work has taken place in the woods or through the tall weeds. That’s where I was last weekend.

Picture the scene: We were clearing a path through the woods. A professional tree cutter was cutting the path while I followed and moved the limbs. That’s precisely when I found the yellow jackets. Read more »