We would Love to hear from you. Fill out the form on the right and we will be in touch.
123 Street Avenue, City Town, 99999
(123) 555-6789
email@address.com
You can set your address, phone number, email and site description in the settings tab.
Link to read me page with more information.
Filtering by Tag: God
The weekend sermon has me approaching a common myth “Science and Christianity are not compatible.” The argument is a common fallacy among people living in modern first world countries. The “New Atheists” like Richard Dawkins have asserted that any belief in God means you have to throw out all reason and intellect.
Read MoreIt was reported this week that a Chinese scientist has claimed to have created the world’s first genetically edited babies—“twin girls whose DNA he said he altered with a powerful new tool capable of rewriting the very blueprint of life.”
Read MoreOur family is resolute in glorifying God in all situations. Some Days are easier than others. Stuart Scott is quoted saying “You beat cancer by how you live, why you live and the manner in which you live.”
Read MoreDear Church Family,
This week my family received some terrible news. On Wednesday, an MRI told us that my wife Kellie had a lemon-sized tumor on the left side of her brain. Friday morning she went into surgery to have it removed. The surgeon was quite certain from his professional eye that is was malignant. A formal biopsy is being done and at that point the Doctors will inform us on our next steps. This is a difficult time for our family and we covet your prayers right now. While the news is still fresh to us, one might imagine that there has already been an incredible outpouring of love from our church, friends and family. So many people have asked, “What do you need?” and I thought I would sit down and give you a list of immediate things that will help our family navigate this journey better.
Please respect our family's privacy. Being the wife and children of a public figure can be difficult. We want to create as much of a sense of normalcy as possible for our children.
Please pray for, but not with, us. I know this feels incredibly impersonal but let me explain: As I have spoken to mentors who have been through similar circumstances, they all spoke of the incredible weight they and their children had to carry when every week hundreds of people would ask them ,“How are you doing?” and then wanting to lay hands on them to pray. God is a mighty God, he can heal and and comfort from any prayer. Your proximity to us is not an issue for him.
Continue being the church! The Lord has used us in so many ways over the last two years. Let’s not let the enemy take any ground. I will be back in the pulpit in two weeks and plan on preaching my heart out!
We would love meals! My boys eat a lot :) (Please don’t just drop food off. The church will set up a system of delivery to protect our privacy.)
What we know:
“This is news and not the truth” is a quote from Lysa Terkeurst that came up in Kellie’s devotional the morning we received the news from the neurologist.. The news we received was devastating, and to be honest it still does not feel real. I know if you’re like me, you have always equated news and truth as the same thing or somewhat similar. What our doctor told us was honest news based on test results and medical facts.
But the truth always transcends the news. Things that seem impossible when heard as “the news” become much more livable when you know the truth. We are asking God for a full healing but we also believe that his will is always better than ours.
So let me give you the truth.
HE IS THE WAY AND THE TRUTH AND THE LIFE.
Jesus said, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me” (John 14:6)
HE IS FOREVER FAITHFUL.
“He is the Maker of heaven and earth, the sea, and everything in them — he remains faithful forever.” (Psalm 146:6)
HE IS HOLDING US.
“Yet I am always with you; you hold me by my right hand.” (Psalm 73:23, NIV)
HE WILL NEVER LET GO.
For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord. (Romans 8:38-39)
Kellies Surgery was on Friday morning and it went incredibly well. The surgeon was able to extract 95% of the tumor with only minor damage to the speaking portion of the brain. Her speech is good and will get better as she works with a speech therapist. The formal biopsy is still being run on the tumor but the surgeon was certain it was an aggressive level four cancerous tumor. Her recovery has been faster than normal due to the fact that Kellie is very fit, eats clean and has thousands praying for her. She is up walking and has even walked around the block a few times! We will meet next Wednesday with her team of doctors as we plan to go to war against cancer.
We Love You,
Shawn and Kellie
Today, I am trying to be more mindful of my words. It only takes a few words to change the life of others. Words that may not mean much to me can stick to a person for a lifetime. So which words will you use?
Read MoreHere is the Link to our First Podcast! We hope you enjopy it as much as we did making it!
Read MoreAll weekend, I saw comments on social media about the white nationalist incident in Charlottesville and its tragic aftermath. Comment after comment rolled through the feed from friends who lean both left and right. Of course, all of them to one degree or another are denouncing the evil of racism and then proceeding to place blame on people with the opposite world view. For the few of you who care, I want to make a few observations.
Read More"Help lord for the godly are no more" What does it even mean to be godly?
Read MoreThe Huffington Post recently ran a short article about fear. It featured a series of comics depicting common fears that children have alongside similar fears held by adults. Titled "Childhood Fears vs. Adult Fears," the cartoons illustrate the following pairs:
The article notes that though the fears of children are often discounted as irrational or silly by us "older" and "wiser" adults, they are not far off from our own fears. "They're proof that no matter how old we get, we're never alone in our fears," it says. In the end, however, it would seem that there is a line of logic that explains why the most common fears among adults are often as irrational as those of children: everyone has a fear of the unknown. There will always be uncertainty about jobs, relationships, finances, health, and any number of other daily concerns that can bring down even the most spirited people.
Is there a way avoid the downward spiral that anxiety brings? In a world as chaotic as this one, you definitely can't replace uncertainty with certainty. You can, however, fight against it with hope.
Read MoreIn 1957 a graduate student at Columbia University named Gordon Gould had been working with "pumping" atoms to higher energy states so they would emit light. As Gould elaborated his ideas and speculated about all the things that could be done with a concentrated beam of light, he realized he was onto something. In his notebook he confidently named the yet-to-be-invented device a LASER (Light Amplification by Stimulated Emission of Radiation).
Read More