Not long after we moved to Oak Park in 1989, I met Don Gerig, my immediate predecessor as pastor of Calvary Memorial Church. He served with great distinction for ten years and led the church through the relocation process after the devastating fire in 1977. During all the years of my pastorate at Calvary and in the years since then, Don has b…
This afternoon I made a trip to the lodge where my books have been stored since October 2005. The lodge once housed a Christian conference center that flourished for a few years in the early 80s. When my brother Alan bought the property, it had been vacant for six or seven years. We lived in a cabin on the property for 20 months. Now that we’…
“I wouldn’t trust my best fifteen minutes to get me into heaven.”So said the preacher and I agree with him. In that one sentence he uttered a profound theological truth. I can think of five reasons why it must be true:1. Fifteen minutes isn’t long enough. 2. Fifteen of my “best” minutes can’t make up f…
A few months ago we announced a Holy Land tour for October 2009. Because of changes in airline schedules, we have had to slightly adjust the dates. The tour is now set for October 18-28. You can read the entire brochure online. We hope you will join us for this trip of a lifetime. When we adjusted the dates, we also slightly changed the itinerary s…
Yesterday during my bike ride I was listening to various songs when “How Deep the Father’s Love” came up on my iPod. The words and music make a perfect match. Among the many versions on YouTube, I particularly like this one by Sarah Sadler. I hope you’ll pay attention to the words. There is enough good theology here to take …
It’s been over a month since my last Bible Bus update. In January I committed to reading the whole Bible book by book. I’m not following any particular plan, simply reading one book at a time from beginning to end. Since my last update I have read the following books: Leviticus, Joshua, Judges, Hosea, Psalms, Amos, 1 Corinthians, Coloss…
This morning I happened to pick up my well-worn copy of Spurgeon’s Lectures to My Students, a book I have read and re-read over the years. It remains in the top handful of most useful books on the ministry I have ever read. And by chance (or I should say, by providence) I opened the book and read again Spurgeon’s famous chapter called T…
That’s the number of subscribers to the Keep Believing weekly sermon email, according to our webmaster Derek Taylor. The number is the highest ever and continues to climb. I can remember when I started sending out the sermons in late 1998. We started with 15 names and slowly added from there. Each week I would write a brief introduction and t…
Then the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain where Jesus had told them to go. When they saw him, they worshiped him; but some doubted. Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the S…
Many years ago I was asked to perform a graveside service for a man I barely knew. I was young and inexperienced and wanted to say a few words of comfort. I fumbled my way through the ceremony and came to the closing prayer. When I got to the part about the resurrection of the dead, the words stuck in my throat. I could barely finish my prayer. I …