Today is John Sergey’s 90th birthday. Just a few minutes ago I called to wish him happy birthday. I first met John and Helen in 1989 when we moved to Oak Park. Back then he was 72 years old, and he and Helen were still traveling to Russia at least once and sometimes twice a year. In the 1930s God called him to ministe …
A few days ago I posted some pictures from the Anchor Book Depot in Chicago. That day we were shipping books to Dr. Bob Cosby in Logansport, Indiana. Here is an email we received from him this morning:Got the Anchor books the other day and have already had an inmate relate his testimony of having been saved as a result of h …
This is Monday of wedding week. By this Saturday our entire family will be in Atwater, California (in central California, in the San Joaquin Valley, between Modesto and Fresno, more or less due east and over the mountains from San Jose) for the wedding of our son Mark and Vanessa Friesen. Already the westward migration has …
I was glad to go to church this morning because we celebrated the Lord’s Supper as the climax of the worship service. And instead of being tacked on or hurried through, the entire service led to us to the Lord’s table. We began by singing songs that reminded us of Christ’s death on the cross. The pastor pr …
Here are some pictures of Dudley and Gary taken by MaryAnn Spiegel who is visiting with us this week. They were taken in the living room of our home in Tupelo. Note that I spell Gary with one “r” despite the note from Anonymous who claims that I should be spelling it with two “r”s. Garry just doesn’t look right to me …
I suppose most of us hardly recognized the name of Louisiana Senator David Vitter until his name popped up on the phone list of a Washington “escort service.” He made a public confession and, with his wife by his side, asked for forgiveness. That much was unremarkable. It turns out that he was an outspoken leader in the cru …
So what is the state of the church in China these days? It all depends on who you ask. I have heard several knowledgeable people say the same thing. “Everything you hear about China is true somewhere.” It’s a big country with 1.3 billion people. Everyone agrees the church is growing at a phenomenal rate. That obviousl …
The phone guy just left after spending a few hot and sweaty minutes getting our phone service working again. After checking things outside (ok) and inside (no dial tone) and after venturing into the attic (temp around 125), he discovered a broken wire from the box in the attic to the jack in our bedroom. Took him maybe five …
What would happen if a pastor and an atheist decided to visit some of America’s largest churches together? That simple question led to a book called Jim and Casper Go to Church. Over a period of several months in 2006, Jim Henderson (the pastor) and Matt Casper (the atheist) dropped in unannounced on Willowcreek, Sadd …
A few days ago the Vatican issued a document that has stirred up a bit of theological controversy about an argument that has been around for 2000 years—Which church is the “real” church? Admittedly, in these days of ecumenical give-and-take, this is not a Politically Correct question. We aren’t supposed to think like …