Esther's Baptism

The Brokenness of our "Good Friday" World

Malachi Christopher Young

Learning Some Letters

Hannah Giggles

Lent and the Economy.

Insightful reflections on Good Friday and the economy from an insightful biblical scholar, Walter Breuggemann.

I'm not a Steelers fan but...

this is just good stuff!

Hannah's First Birthday Party

Here are some pictures and video of Hannah's first birthday party. Thanks to everyone who joined us for the celebration.

My Daughter Can Dance

At less than 10 months old, my daughter already has more rhythm than I do.

Looks like she is working on driving a little early too.

Kid's Carnival

We hosted a kid's carnival on the lawn here at our church yesterday after morning worship as a part of our continuing effort to reach out in love and service to our community. It included several large inflatables, games, music, and concessions. The giant inflatable slide seemed to be a favorite of both the young and the old alike. We had picturesque weather for the event after rain had been forecast for Sunday all week long. All in all, it was a pretty awesome day.

Thanks to all of our sponsors who helped to fund a large portion of this event:
Wapella Automotive
Clinton Auto Auction
Hammer Enterprises
AAK Mechanical
Baum Chevrolet
K-B Welding
Douglas Pontiac
Farmers Insurance
Anderson Ford
Nelson Excavating

Thanks to the many members of our congregation who volunteered their time to make this event possible.

From VBS to District Assembly

Vacation Bible School has come to an end. This morning the kids performed some of their songs and recited the memory verses they learned this week as a part of our worship service. We opened service this morning with this video that Jess created consisting of clips from the entire week of VBS (as opposed to the last video I posted which was only scenes from Monday night).

This week will be another busy week with our District Assembly. I'll have the privilege of offering the benediction (for some reason I get asked to do benedictions a lot around here) after Dr. Spruce's report on Wednesday night and giving my report sometime on Thursday.

Vacation Bible School

This week our church has been filled with the enthusiasm and excitement of many children enjoying our week of Vacation Bible School. Here is a video that Jess put together of the opening night of VBS on Monday.

Upon exiting the church last night after VBS, we were treated to a remarkable mix of colors in the sky as the sun set. Jess tells me that I am obsessed with taking pictures of the sky. I have always been fascinated by sunsets and the vast expanse of sky over the farms of central Illinois serve well to further foster this fascination. Here are a few pictures from last night.

Tonight will be the last night of regular programming for Vacation Bible School since Friday night is the night for the parents to come and enjoy a cookout with their children and the VBS workers. As a result, we will have some type of invitation for the children in closing service tonight. I am still thinking through what exactly that invitation will look like (which is part of the reason I am writing about it now; I tend to think more clearly when I write out what I am thinking). There are a couple of challenges for me in a time of invitation like this one. The first is just trying to speak to children in a way that they will understand. This is a real challenge for me since I have so little experience speaking to kids, especially in large groups, and I really don't have much of a clue about how to communicate in a way that will make sense to them.

The second challenge will be the nature of the invitation itself and connecting it to the worshipping life of our church community (or at least some church community here in town, if the child's family already attends somewhere else). In other words, it would be all to easy to have an altar call where the kids who want to come to the altar, pray a prayer and that is the end of it. Instead, I hope to emphasize to the children that any decision that they make tonight is only the beginning of a very long journey. I want them to understand (again, without making things too complicated) that this decision that they make is not just a one time thing. If they really want to journey with Jesus and love God and serve others as they have been learning about over the past week, then it means becoming a part of the community that lives and teaches those things. Of course, this is not really a decision these children can make on their own and so it will mean speaking to their parents about the experience that their child has had and encouraging them to come to church or at least allowing our vans to pick them up. I truly hope that the time of invitation tonight can be more than a prayer soon forgotten. I hope that it can be a prayer that becomes a way of life for these children.

Hannah's Baptism

This Sunday, Jess and I “dedicated” our daughter to God through the sacrament of baptism. Of course, many of you who have been Nazarenes for a very long time probably know that the Nazarene Manual allows parents to choose between dedicating or baptizing their children. Parents can choose to dedicate their child as an infant and then allow them to make a decision for baptism when they are old enough to claim faith in Christ for themselves. Parents can also choose to baptize their infant and then the child can confirm or claim the baptism they have already received when they are older. Although our manual allows for both, infant dedication has been a more common practice in the Church of the Nazarene than has infant baptism. It is for that reason that I want to say a few words here about why Jess and I have chosen to baptize Hannah rather than dedicate her.


First, infant baptism symbolizes the reality that God chooses us before we ever choose God. Often, adult baptisms emphasize that the person being baptized is making a public proclamation of their faith in God. This is certainly an important part of the Christian journey and at some point when she is older, Hannah will have to make this decision for herself as well. However, as an infant or young child is baptized we are all reminded of the way in which each and every one of us came to God: weak, helpless, unknowledgeable, unskilled, and entirely dependent. Hannah’s baptism is a symbol of the ways that God is already working in her life no matter how unaware of it she might be.


Second, infant baptism reminds us that baptism is an initiation and entrance into a family and community that has a peculiar way of life. When parents choose baptism for their children, it is a reminder of the vital and essential role that other people play in our faith. If most of us were to recount the story of how we came to be Christian, that story would include a long list of people who were influential in bringing us to Christ and helping us to mature in the faith: parents, grandparents, friends, and church family. Most often, God does not just “zap” people with grace in order to transform them. God chooses to work through people, through families, through the community of faith. Hannah’s baptism is her entrance into Christ’s Church and our local church family. It is a reminder that, at some level, her salvation is dependent upon all of us; upon Jess and I as her parents, upon those who have influenced us, and upon her church family. Infant baptism is a reminder that our salvation is not individual but communal. We are all bound up together in this journey toward Jesus and his kingdom. Jess and I could not be happier that Hannah has began this journey as a part of this particular church family.