Category: Uncategorized

The social media platform Nextdoor, to which I have been posting for nearly a decade, was initially tightly focused on serving specific neighborhoods, thereby ensuring that the posts pertained to a particular geographic community. It was perfect for the uniqueness of our bridgeless island, because we are, to put it kindly, logistically challenged when it… Continue reading Pastor’s Perspective in a small community June 4, 2026

In my ministerial capacity, I’ve performed many weddings over the years.  Weddings have a tendency to be days that epitomize some notion of love that we hold, and often times they are carefully scripted to showcase the love between two people.  The traditional vows are meant to stand as promises made to each other in… Continue reading Pastor’s Perspective May 28, 2026

This upcoming weekend is one of the most looked-forward-to weekends on the annual calendar.  Marking the unofficial start of summer, the three-day weekend created by the federal holiday of Memorial Day means that school is either over or nearly over and vacations are fast approaching.  It is a time to head to the beach, fire… Continue reading Pastor’s Perspective May 21, 2026

In an incredibly rare moment, I had the opportunity to sit around a table on Mother’s Day with my two daughters, my wife, my mother, and my mother-in-law.  Two grandmothers, combining for more than a century of mothering experience, being celebrated but also providing wisdom that only comes from specific experiences.  It was in that… Continue reading Pastor’s Perspective May 14, 2026

When I was on a mission trip to India several years ago, I spent time in the western portion of the country, an arid place not far from the desert.  For each family to survive, one of the family members was given the responsibility of making the trip each morning to the nearest spring, where… Continue reading Pastor’s Perspective May 7, 2026

Many of you reading this will remember the tag line of a particular financial management firm that was heard decades ago: “When E.F. Hutton talks, people listen.”  It conveyed a reality about communication that we would do well to remind ourselves today, in a world where it seems that everyone has a megaphone at their… Continue reading Pastor’s Perspective April 30, 2026

For more than 20 years, I have lived on an island without a bridge, and I would not change that for the world.  No one made us move here, and no one is forcing us to stay.  Frankly, we just consider ourselves to be blessed to be here.  Nearly everything about this community fits us,… Continue reading Pastor’s Perspective April 23, 2026

One of the major roles of a pastor is to communicate, which I do through my Sunday sermons and weekly writings, and over the years I have conveyed well over 1,000 such messages for public consumption.  And throughout all of those various communications, one of the most common pieces of feedback that I receive from… Continue reading Pastor’s Perspective April 16, 2026

I live in what is approximately the geographic center of our island, with the beach roughly one mile in one direction and the river roughly one mile in the opposite direction.  The same towering pine trees that surround my home line the road in front of my house, and the spaces that aren’t filled with… Continue reading Pastor’s Perspective April 9, 2026

In 1977, George Lucas reimagined the process of moviemaking by introducing a series of absolutely stunning visual effects that transported viewers into a galaxy far, far away.  Star Wars was an instant hit, forever changing how we watch movies, yet the story itself had been around for ages.  Lucas himself had mentioned that his movie… Continue reading Pastor’s Perspective April 2, 2026