I love speeches—at least good ones. A large part of my job as a pastor is to give speeches (sermons). Words can be so powerful and, when put together well, they can be works of art. Yesterday, Joseph Robinette Biden, Jr., gave a speech at his presidential inauguration. As I listened, I noticed that my guard was up. This has been a reality …

Since we began our twenty-one days of fasting as a church, I wanted to share some thoughts on food. One of the toughest questions I am asked in my life comes when my family is all together in our big van and everyone is hungry. The question is, “Where do we want to eat?” This seems like a simple question. It seems like it could even be fun. But, oh! …

After yesterday’s disturbing events at the capitol building, I am trying to hang onto what my daughter said about 2021 being full of flowers.After all the unhelpful and inciting sound bites and rhetoric filling up the American mind so starved for truth and wisdom, I am trying to hang onto what my daughter said about 2021 being full of flowers.

One of the gifts I received this Christmas was a noble thought. It came as a beautiful, artistically written saying framed in a pleasant wooden frame. It said: “There, peeping among the cloud-wrack above a dark tor high up in the mountains, Sam saw a white star twinkle for a…

Last weekend felt like Christmas already came. On Friday night we enjoyed the “Living Streams Kids Got Talent Christmas Variety Show.” The kids sang and danced, did some stand-up comedy, and played piano. It was a lot of fun. It even snowed in our sanctuary for part of it.

We finally got some rain in the desert! It’s amazing how one day of rain can totally clear the air and make it healthy to breathe again. One day of rain washes all the dust off and brings out the vivid winter colors of our desert city. And one day of rain stirs up great excitement in all the children—and winter lawns.

Talk about missing the mark. Yesterday I played basketball with some guys who play better than I do. It was exciting. I started off hitting some shots, so they thought I must be pretty good. Then they started passing the ball to me a lot and encouraging me to shoot. At that point, I missed...and missed...

If you are like me, you don’t really want to hear any more election commentary. But as I prepared to write this, I heard a discussion on the Rebuilders podcast, which compelled me to write this…. There are a lot of words (including curse words) one could use to describe this year and its election season.

Man, I loved what Mark Buckley had to say last Sunday in his sermon at Living Streams. He said we have to make sure we are keeping God’s priorities above our personal preferences. He mostly applied this to marriage and family, but it also applies so well in the realm of governing society—or as some refer to it, politics. So, if we, as followers of Christ,

The other day I was sitting with two gentlemen. We were about to work on something together and, while we were waiting to get started, we talked. The conversation was very ordinary, and then …

It was really nice to follow the anxious uncertainty of Tuesday night’s election with the hopeful peace of devoted prayer and worship on Wednesday night. We sang all the anxiety, fear, offense and anger out of our souls with lyrics like, “I'm gonna see a victory for the battle belongs to You Lord,” “Yours is the Kingdom, Yours is the power, Yours is the glory forever, Amen,”

When 2020 began, I liked to joke around with people by saying, “Who’s excited about another election year?” Everyone would laugh and roll their eyes a bit. It seemed like a fun, unifying, and pressure-relieving joke back then. But now, mentioning this year’s election does not lighten the mood. It feels super divisive and

Last night was the first of five Fam Nights with a focus on Evangelism. I was not sure what to expect since we are still trying to navigate a global pandemic—and evangelism is a word that usually conjures up the opposite of excitement. I was prepared to be happy with thirty or forty folks who were ready to take on the challenge of understanding and practicing this most unappealing topic.

In this cultural climate of pandemic anxiety, racial unrest, and political division, why in the world are we calling our church together for five Wednesday nights to study Evangelism? Shouldn’t we do five weeks on “How to Recover from All the Disruption and Depression”? Or how about five weeks of studying “Race Relations and Justice”? Or, since we are just nineteen days from E-Day, it seems five weeks on “Unity” or “Philosophy” would be appropriate.

When Stevie Wonder wakes up next to his wife, he tells her she’s the sunshine of his life and the apple of his eye. This morning when I woke up next to Brit I said, “You are my fall and winter lawn.” She gave me a big smile, knowing that is about as good as it gets.

For Phoenicians, fall is a big deal. We have survived. We no longer are the butt of every

I have a question. If a spoonful of sugar helps the medicine go down, what can help us Americans get the substance of that presidential debate down?

Since I am at a loss for words and don’t know if there was much substance worth choking down, I will rely on the word of God and prayer:
Our Father in heaven, You always know exactly what to do.

Normally I’m inclined toward stoic contemplation over charismatic inflammation. Yet, lately, I feel like my desire and value for the charismatic has come to the forefront of my thoughts. Maybe it’s something like the scientific-minded Spiderman when he feels his “spider sense” start tingling. At Living Streams Church, the words and meaning of contemplative and charismatic have …

What should I write about today? I could write about the latest Covid-19 news, except, at this point, everyone knows that nobody knows for certain what is happening or exactly what to do. I could write about some political thoughts like everyone else, but I already did that. I could write about how perfectly the weather change set up the kickoff to the NFL season. I could write about school…

Though I am usually skeptical about everything, I am convinced about a few things. I am convinced that Jesus is Lord and He is holy. I am convinced that humanity is amazing, yet inherently flawed. I am convinced that ice cream and duct tape are humanity’s greatest inventions. And I am convinced that, right now, Christians in America need to grow as intercessory prayer warriors.

I have so much I want to write, but let’s start with Star Wars. The last scene in The Force Awakens shows the island in some far reaching part of the galaxy where Luke Skywalker had been hiding out. In actuality, that island is in the westernmost part of Europe, off the coast of Ireland. It is call Skellig Michael.