September 2018

September 20, 2018   Dear Pastor & friends, Two disconsolate, disillusioned and discouraged disciples slowly walked the eight miles from Jerusalem to Emmaus. Somewhere along the way, a stranger sidled up beside them and listened to the news of the day, that...

August 2018

  August 22, 2018   Dear Pastor & friends, I have tried to be a keen observer of the trends in fundamentalism and especially as they lately have seemed to merge with the trends in our culture. If there is anything that should go against the grain of...

July 2018

      July 17, 2018   Dear Pastor & friends, The summer days are full upon us and busy is the by-word of the day. Sometimes I believe too busy, especially with the minutiae of the daily duties becoming a deterrent to the ministry. When one gets...

February 27, 2018

Dear Pastor & friends, Wow! Whew! Wonderful! Well, I don’t know which word to describe the meetings and busy days I have enjoyed and sometimes endured in February.  God gave two excellent meetings, back to back, one in S.E. Ohio and the other North Carolina.  Many...

May 29, 2018

Dear Pastor & friends, The sweet Psalmist of Israel wrote these comforting words; “Thou hast beset me behind and before, and laid thine hand upon me” (Psalm 139:5).  The key word to me isbesetwhich simply means to be surrounded, hemmed in or encircled. Since he...

April 30, 2018

Dear Pastor & friends, I am thankful that the ‘winter’ of April is over!  This global warming stuff is a little more than these old bones can take!  The snow, sleet and freezing rain of the month of “showers” was the coldest on record in our area and I think...

March 21, 2018

Dear Pastor & friends, The first day of spring in southern Ohio turned out to be a ‘white-out’!  We got about three inches of snow (that is the most we had at one time this whole winter…so far).  It is a little shocking to my old bones after being in the deep...

January 2018

January 24, 2018 Dear Pastor & friends, Well, we have sure “enjoyed” some of winter’s best or worst this season (maybe I should have used the word “endured”). While preaching in Florida recently they experienced the coldest temperatures of the year! I was blamed...

November 2017

November 20, 2017 Dear Pastor & friends, The Holidays officially begin this week and I guess about six weeks of festivities, family and too much food will be the order of the day. As people of faith we enjoy these times, but also look at them as a time to reflect...

October 2017

October 24, 2017 Dear Pastor & friends, Zophar, one of the erstwhile friends of Job, remarked in Job 20:3; “I have heard the check of my reproach,…” This is the only time this word check is used in our Bible that I am aware of, and it has an interesting theme. It...