Good morning, On Sunday we are going to look at John 7 and Jesus’ eventful trip to Jerusalem for the Feast of Tabernacles.  Something that I won’t have time to do a deep dive on is the interaction between Jesus and his brothers, found in John 7:2-5: But when the Jewish Festival of Tabernacles was near, Jesus’ brothers said to him, “Leave Galilee and go to Judea, so that your disciples there may see the works you do.  No one who wants to become a public figure acts in secret.

Good morning, On Sunday I gave a number of congregational updates during the Sunday School hour.  Unfortunately, our system “glitched” during it and we don’t have a recording of it.  I will have copies of my presentation notes available on Sunday for anyone who wasn’t at the meeting and would like them. Copies of the proposed changes to the church By Laws are available in the lobby.  I would encourage you to look them over and talk to myself or an elder if you have any questi

Good morning…a number of “Church Business” updates this week as we start the new year. 1.      On Sunday I will giving a Congregational Update during the Sunday School hour.  I will be discussing some proposed changes to the church By Laws, giving some financial updates, and talking about some goals for 2026.  Copies of the proposed changes to the By Laws will be available in the lobby before and after the services.  Everyone is encouraged to attend.  There will be a Sunday S

Good afternoon! Thanks to everyone who helped make Sunday morning happen while I was away this weekend.  Thanks as well to the carpet-cleaning crew who worked at the church yesterday. It is hard to believe that we will transition to 2026 in a couple of days.  Transitions in life can be fun things but they are often very tricky to navigate.  Sometimes the transition feels like it is happening way sooner than we’d like, and that can be scary.  Sometimes it’s the opposite situat

Thanks to everyone who helped with the teen choir and the children’s program on Sunday.  It was a great morning! Shorter Check Ins for the next couple of weeks.  I hope that everyone is about to enjoy the holidays!    Here’s what’s happening: 1.      TOMORROW NIGHT - Christmas Eve Candlelight Service at 7 pm.  This is our most “traditional” service of the year.  We’ll read through the Christmas story, sing those favorite Christmas Carols, and light our candles as we sing “Sil

Thanks to the Yerkes family for taking care of the church parking lot last weekend.  My favorite Christmas Carol is “Angels We Have Heard On High.”  At Memorial Church we always sang it during the Christmas Eve service.  The sound of a packed church singing it while the organist played on the pipe organ is something that I think of every year.  We didn’t just sing that song, we felt it! Of course, the most famous part of the song is its chorus or refrain: Gloria in excelsis D

This past Sunday we concluded our fall sermon series on the book of Acts by looking at the story of Philip and the Ethiopian found in Acts 8:26-40.  If you were using a modern translation like the NIV or ESV you may have noticed something peculiar – verse 37 is skipped.  The passage jumps straight from verse 36 to verse 38.  However, if you were using a KJV translation, you might have thought that I skipped verse 37, because the KJV includes it! Here is the “controversial” ve

Good morning,   Thank you to everyone who provided food for the fellowship meal on Sunday and a big thank you to the kitchen committee for all of their hard work! You may be wondering how in the world I am going to finish up the sermon series on Acts with the Advent season upon us.  It is going to be easy…I am planning to preach for 10 hours on Sunday.  Pack a lunch! On Sunday we will wrap up this portion of the series as our thoughts start to turn to Christmas.  I am plannin

Good morning,   This past Sunday we looked at how Stephen’s witness for the Gospel comes to an end with his death.  But as Stephen’s story ends Saul’s story is beginning. And it begins with him as the young man who watched over the garments of the witnesses as they stoned Stephen. There is no indication that Saul (who, of course, will later be known as Paul) himself actually lifted a stone, but he was in total agreement with what the Sanhedrin had instigated.  Luke mentioning

Good morning,   This week we are going to be looking at the story of Stephen, the first Christian martyr. Stephen’s story is found in Acts 6 & 7.  If you know Stephen’s story, you know that it ends with him being stoned by a mob.   According to Jewish literature, there seems to have been two different methods of stoning.  One was more a formal method within the Jewish legal system and one was more of a “mob” method.  The mob method is one that is more well-known – a group of

Good morning,   This week we have another edition of our much-beloved and long-running series “Pastor Scott has too much sermon.”   After writing the account of Ananias and Sapphira at the beginning of Acts 5 Luke transitions to another “progress report” for the early church in Acts 5:12-16.  He notes that at this stage of the church’s life the apostles were regularly performing “signs and wonders” among the people to draw them into conversations about Jesus.   I’ve mentioned

Good morning, During the sermon on Sunday I mentioned that we need to seek to both avoid confrontation and being confrontational when we talk to people about Jesus.  That’s not easy to do, because at some point when we talk to people about Jesus we have to talk to them about sin.  It does people no good to tell them that they need a Savior without telling what they need saved from! So how can we confront people about sin without being confrontational?  Here are a few thoughts

Good morning, On Sunday I mentioned that one of our goals for 2026 is to is to revamp our connections ministries – those ministry opportunities for folks to get to know each other at a deeper level than what is possible on a Sunday morning.  This fall we are offering Ladies Quilt Knotting on Thursday nights (during youth group) as a time for the ladies of the church to connect with each other.  We are also bringing the Mens Breakfast back to the church to see if that is a bet

Good morning, This week we are continuing with our discussion on heaven.  Here’s the question we are tackling: What will we do in heaven?...

Good morning, We have another episode of “Pastor Scott has too much sermon” this week.  This Sunday we will be studying the events of the...

Good morning, Hopefully by now you’ve had a chance to watch the video of the congregational meeting from 9/9.  If you haven’t, you can...

Good morning, A couple of Sundays ago I mentioned that I don’t talk about hell a whole lot because I’m not interested in scaring people...

Good morning, It’s hard to believe that Labor Day is upon us.  That was a quick summer!  Labor Day weekend brings with it the beginning...

Good morning, I have some very exciting news to pass along to you!  We will be having a congregational meeting on Tuesday, September 9 th...

Next Sunday we will be gathering at the Mark and Andrea Hoover farm at 6:30 pm for a baptism service.  The Hoovers’ address is 2391...