The culture of GO

My wife is a packing magician. I guess it comes from moving every two or three years when she was growing up as her family followed her Air Force dad all over the world. This summer, it has really come in handy. She has helped at least five of our Covenant students pack suitcases to go on mission trips out of country. Read more »

What a Weekend!

If you weren’t here last weekend, you missed a memorable event! I was blown away by the excitement I beheld at Covenant Church on our First Fruits Weekend.

First, there was “the number.” As you know, I did not announce the total amount of our commitments together, mostly because everyone had not had the opportunity to turn in a card. Over the last three weeks, we’ve had another 100+ families join in the task of “finishing what we had started” three and years ago when we began our expansion. When I announced the number this past weekend, the worship center was electric. Read more »

A new season is dawning!

As spring arrives, it brings with it a whole new season at Covenant. Charlie and Mary Lou Halley’s upcoming summer transition to Texas is prompting a handful of shifts among staff roles, not to mention several new hires. Here is a quick update of where we are in the process.

A new role emerges: Executive Director of Ministry

One of the great benefits of working at Covenant has been having a right-hand man. In my last church, I did a little of everything from preaching to plumbing! At Covenant, however, I have been able to focus more time on the things I do best because of Charlie’s capacity to partner with me in leading this church. I know I need strong partners to steer this big ship. Read more »

A Picture is Worth

Thanks to all of you who have been praying for my voice!

About ten years ago, I noticed that occasionally I sounded hoarse and had trouble with a raspy-sounding voice. I didn’t realize that it started with preaching. It was most apparent when trying to conduct a meeting, but ultimately it did affect my ability to speak in public.

People had their theories:

“You must be Read more »

Urgency

With a church the size of Covenant, communicating clearly and effectively to everyone is a big challenge. We are always striving to find the best mode of communication to get important information to you, as well as the most effective time and place to share it. It’s probably a bigger problem than you realize! Read more »

Our Neighbors

As we’ve been working through this current sermon series, I’ve noticed that I have been reading the story of the Good Samaritan very differently. I’ve been reading it personally. I hope you have too. It is not enough to shoot for loving God with all your heart if your eyes stay closed to the people around you that He loves too. Part of loving God is loving our neighbors.

As a church, we’ve been asking ourselves the question, “Who is my neighbor?” Over time, we’ve discerned the Holy Spirit leading us to focus our neighborly efforts in three places: West Greenville, the Dominican Republic and our Main Campus.

This weekend, we’ve prepared an innovative worship experience to take you to all three of these strategic locations via our fictitious CovenantAir. Read more »

Humbled

If you were here this past weekend, you got to witness a clear God-moment.

Not that the other three weeks of our “No Regrets” series haven’t been powerful, but I, like many of you, were blown away as hundreds of people during the weekend remained in their seats instead of taking communion. People took me up on the challenge to bypass receiving the elements this month until they could make a relationship right, forgive someone who had hurt them, or at least, “as far as it depends on us…make every effort” possible to repair brokenness in a relationship.

I talked to dozens of people. They all have stories similar to these (paraphrases): Read more »

Mustard Seed

Again Jesus said, “What shall we say the kingdom of God is like, or what parable shall we use to describe it? It is like a mustard seed, which is the smallest seed you plant in the ground. Yet when planted, it grows and becomes the largest of all garden plants, with such big branches that the birds of the air can perch in its shade.” Mark 4:30-32 (NIV)

Apparently Jesus understood the power of a small contribution. Jesus said that the Kingdom of God is like a tiny, little mustard seed. It starts small and then becomes a tall and powerful tree. You might remember that Jesus said if our faith is even the size of a mustard seed, we can move mountains. Read more »

Lessons

When I woke up on Friday, I knew something was up with my throat. I had not been sneezing or coughing. I didn’t have a runny nose. In fact, I felt fine, but I could feel my throat closing up on me.

AND, it just got worse. I talked with people at the Four:Twelve Event with Tom and Betty Tyndall on Friday night, but by the next morning I was struggling to talk. I gargled with saltwater, drank hot tea and water almost all day, but by the time I got to church, I was hardly able to speak. Somehow, I got through it.

Sunday, though, was worse. Read more »

A Weekend to Remember

A few years ago, Teff and I celebrated our 18th wedding anniversary by attending a Weekend to Remember gathering in another city. We realized we hadn’t been away alone together since having children. For us, it seemed like there was always a little one in the house to tend to, home school to teach or church work for me to do that continued to prevent it. Finally, however, the time was right, and off we went for four days!

Weekend to Remember is sponsored by a ministry called Family Life, but it’s like many other marriage enrichment weekends. You and your spouse get away together in order to spend time talking and working on your marriage. An experienced couple also leads the sessions, which are both humorous and inspirational.

I must say, that weekend was awesome for us! Our marriage wasn’t necessarily in trouble, but we understood that every marriage can use intentional effort. After our experience, I began then to think about what a delight it would be for Covenant to host such a marriage enrichment event. Guess what? The time has come! Read more »