"One generation shall commend your works to another, and shall declare your mighty acts." (Psalm 145:4)

October gives us a picture of Psalm 145:4 at work. Three times this month we will see one generation passing the faith on to the next.

On the first Sunday we honor the women of the LWML. For decades they have served the Lord with gladness. They have prayed, taught, cooked, visited, and filled mite boxes one coin at a time. Much of their work goes unseen, but it has carried

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    Throughout the summer, our Epistle Lessons have come from Paul’s letter to the Romans and I’ve pretty much let them slip by. But, the first two Sundays in September have us finishing Romans with readings from chapters 13 and 14. As Paul wraps up this letter to a church he had never met before, he puts to them a question that  every church eventually has to answer: what does it actually cost to live together as the body of Christ? Paul's answer comes in two parts, and n

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    Every Fourth of July, we celebrate something genuinely worth celebrating. Political freedom is a hard-won, fragile, remarkable gift — the ability to speak, to worship, to assemble, to live without the arbitrary power of a tyrant over your daily life. We should give thanks for it.

    But there is a second kind of freedom that no declaration has ever granted and no army has ever secured. Unless we understand the difference between the two, we will ask political freedom t

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    June is here, and so is something we have been praying toward: on Sunday, June 7, we launch Sown Together, our new intergenerational Sunday School — and we could not be more excited about what God is going to do through it.

    This class is not just a new item on the calendar. It is a living expression of who we are called to be. As a congregation, we carry a vision of Bridging the Gap — actively building relationships with people in our community across generational d

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There is something quietly profound about standing in the middle of a bridge. You are not quite on one shore or the other. You belong, in that moment, to the space between — suspended above the water, connecting two worlds that would otherwise remain apart.

I have been thinking about that image a great deal lately as I reflect on where we are as a church and where God seems to be leading us.

Our vision — Bridging the Gap — is not simply a catchy phrase. It is a calling roote

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As we step from the solemn days of Lent into the radiant dawn of Easter, the journey of honest repentance reaches its joyful fulfillment.

This Lenten season, we have walked through six themes drawn from the Easter Vigil readings-Law, Chaos, Faith, Repentance, Purification, and Salvation. Together they have called us not to hide from our sin like Adam, but to sit honestly in the ashes, grieving how we have wrecked the good life God designed for us. We have seen God's law not

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    In our November Congregational meeting, I unveiled our vision for the next few years, which we are calling “Bridging the Gap.” Here’s the statement for that vision once again:

    Over the next seven years, we envision a church that builds meaningful connections across generations, using technology to BRIDGE THE GAP and reach our community. Through these relationships, we will plant seeds of the timeless Gospel, trusting God to bring forth His harvest in the right seaso

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    In our November Congregational meeting, I unveiled our vision for the next few years, which we are calling “Bridging the Gap.” Here’s the statement for that vision once again:

    Over the next seven years, we envision a church that builds meaningful connections across generations, using technology to BRIDGE THE GAP and reach our community. Through these relationships, we will plant seeds of the timeless Gospel, trusting God to bring forth His harvest in the right seaso

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At our November Congregation Meeting, I shared some of the results of a visioning meeting the Church Council had with Rev. Dr. Keith Haney from our Iowa District West office. In this process, we learned that there are two main things that separate us from our community: age and how we communicate. We can’t do anything about the first gap but we can do something about the second gap. That’s the vision going forward: engaging people where they are even if it’s uncomfortable

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The book of Isaiah spans one of the most turbulent periods in Israel’s history. Isaiah prophesied during the 8th century B.C., a time when the once-unified kingdom of Israel had divided into the northern kingdom (Israel) and the southern kingdom (Judah). As Assyria’s power surged across the ancient Near East, the northern kingdom fell to its armies in 722. Meanwhile, Judah watched anxiously as the threat of foreign domination grew.

Isaiah’s ministry in the capital of Judah,

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As we enter this season of gratitude, it’s worth pausing to reflect on what it really means to live with a thankful heart. Thankfulness is more than a polite “thank you” or a momentary feeling when life is going well. It is a way of seeing the world—a posture of the heart that recognizes God’s goodness in every circumstance.

Scripture reminds us, “Give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you” (1 Thessalonians 5:18). Notice Paul doesn

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In 1517, Martin Luther nailed his Ninety-Five Theses to the door of the Castle Church in Wittenberg, igniting the Reformation and reshaping the Christian world. His bold stand for Scriptural authority and salvation by grace alone through faith alone remains a cornerstone for our congregation. As we reflect on this pivotal moment, Luther’s legacy compels us to reach out with renewed vigor, sharing the Gospel in a world hungry for truth and hope.

 Luther’s Reformation was not

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    As I prepare to step away from my role here, I find myself filled with gratitude for the incredible journey we've shared. Looking back, I’m humbled by the ways God has worked through this congregation to serve, grow, and love well.

    One of our most visible and valuable ministries in my opinion has been our free meals in the park. What began as a simple act of love blossomed into a community-wide effort lead by our Board of Discipleship to share Christ’s love through

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    “Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves.” –Philippians 2:3

    I still remember the tears coming down my mom’s face as we sat at the kitchen table that Saturday morning.   I was 18 years old, home for the summer from my first year away at college.  It was my first time on my own but not really on my own.  My fees included room and board so I wasn’t struggling to make rent or cooking my own meals.  But I

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In Matthew 25:31–46 we encounter a call to embody Christ’s love through service, a call that resonates deeply with our understanding of faith in action. This passage reminds us that when we serve those in need, we are serving Jesus Himself. Whether it is feeding the hungry, welcoming strangers, or clothing the naked, each act of love reflects our commitment to the Gospel and our gratitude for the saving grace of our Lord.

We believe our salvation is a gift of God’s grace, n

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