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I'm a planner. The only times I have an ounce of spontaneity in me are when I plan to do something spontaneous, and I'm not even sure that should count. For better and worse, I like to plan for the future and do everything I can to prepare well for that future. That's one of the reasons I love lent. It is a time of preparation. We know resurrection Sunday is coming, but in order to get there and to have it be meaningful, we have to go through a time of preparation. This takes

This coming Saturday morning at 11:00 we will have an initial training on Simplified and Accountable Leadership Structure (SAS). This is a structure that many United Methodist Churches of all sizes have adopted in recent years and have found it has helped them be more effective in ministry. Still, just because it has worked elsewhere doesn't automatically mean it would work for our church. Why do I believe it will work here? 1) We have great people. In my seven months here,

When I started ministry a little more than 10 years ago, I was appointed to a church in Battle Creek. It was a great church that deeply cared about their local community, and I wanted the community to know about it! It was a few weeks before Easter and I was looking at ways to get the word out. That's when I was walking around the downtown area and one of the most popular local restaurants was promoting a special Easter-day brunch...at 11:00 a.m. AKA THE church hour. Here's w