Dear Faith Community Church, Church is not just a building. Church is not a social club. Church is a community, centered around Christ. You, Faith Community – leaders and members alike – have been for me a family deeper than blood. For 24 years you have taught me the truth, trained me for ministry, and…

My custom at the end of the year is to take some time to reflect on the past year, thinking through both the joys and the challenges and looking to see God’s faithfulness, what he has taught me, and where I should try to continue to grow in the new year. This year, as I…

I have so much to be thankful for this year. First (and foremost), my salvation. The grace of God has been poured out into my life. My understanding of the gospel and of what took place at salvation has grown and deepened this year through reading books and having conversations with my (now) fiance. I…

I am in a season of life where I am preparing and teaching Bible lessons for kids almost every week. In the process, I have to take the passage or story and tell it in a way that kids can understand, drawing out truth about God clearly and helping the kids to see the main…

“What then? Are we Jews any better off? No, not at all. For we have already charged that all, both Jews and Greeks, are under sin, as it is written:                 None is righteous no not one;                                 no one understands;                                 no one seeks for God.                 All have turned aside; together they have…

Churches are not required to be ADA compliant.[1] This may surprise you. It should shock and anger you.                 It was determined that it posed to great a burden on religious institutions to provide accessible spaces. It was a “needless injury to religious exercise.” Amy Kenny, a disability advocate, says that this sends a clear…

I found my latest soapbox. I don’t know enough about it yet to get going for hours and hours on end if you asked me about it, but what I do know is enough to get me riled up. I am writing a paper about the way that the disabled have been treated throughout American…

I despise feeling weak or limited. Yet I am constantly reminded of my weaknesses and limitations. My back hurts. I need to eat. I have to put my books down and sleep. I get sick because I’ve pushed myself too hard. I run out of ideas for how to help a student with challenging behaviors….

This weekend, my boyfriend and I spent about an hour with a pair of Mormon Missionaries. He has been in contact with these guys for a couple of weeks and had met with them once before, and invited me join in this time. They wanted to share a message/lesson with us, and we agreed, as…

This was the year that I reached the point, as C.S. Lewis would say, that I realized I am old enough to enjoy fairy tales again. I read and thoroughly enjoyed all four books of The Wingfeather Saga, which is rich with redemption and faith themes. I also re-read some of The Chronicles of Narnia…