Short-term mission trips are a ubiquitous feature of the lives of many American churches, LPC included.  Over the past thirty years or so millions and millions of American Christians have donned brightly colored team t-shirts and traveled the globe to build houses, run Vacation Bible Schools, serve soup, pass out tracts, offer medical care and much more.  LPC has opted out of the brightly colored team t-shirts, but we’ve done our share of short-term mission trips.

At their best, short-term mission trips are of a help to our global mission partners and open the eyes of North American Christians to the reality of life in the “two-thirds” world.  At their worst, their affect has been summarized by an important book, “When Helping Hurts,” and by the online hucksters who offer sucker churches an opportunity to give their members “a vacation with a purpose.”  “Vacationaries” they call us.  One week to change the world. Non-sense. Continue reading →

As I made my way to our Men’s Bible Study Wednesday morning, the moon was shining brightly in the early morning sky. iPhones are not designed for astronomical photography, but I stopped the car anyway and caught the shot of Wednesday morning’s moon.

The moon seemed full enough to the naked eye, but it turns out it was still sixteen or so hours from full which would occur that evening at 9:43 p.m. I looked it up.  That’s when I realized Easter 2019 is going to be an asterisk Easter.  You may not remember, but the general rule for setting the date of Easter is that it is to fall on the first Sunday after the first full moon after the vernal equinox.  It turns out, though, that there’s a sometimes difference between the astronomical vernal equinox and the ecclesial vernal equinox. Continue reading →

I’m a pretty good driver.  Never been in an accident and I count on one hand the number of traffic tickets I have received in nearly 50 years of driving.  Good driver or not, I find myself oozing through yellow lights more frequently than I used to. My best excuse for this bad driver habit is one of those rationalizations – you know, our “rational lies.”  I’m pretty sure if I were to hit the brakes when the light turns from green, that guy who has been riding my tail would end up in my trunk. I’m just running the yellow for safety’s sake.

The fact of the matter is that, some people follow too closely and have already hit the accelerator when the light first glowed yellow. I really could be in serious trouble if I used the time when light is yellow to come to a stop. Continue reading →

A friend recently shared an observation made by a college ministry worker and quoted in a Christianity Today article. The Intervarsity area director said, “There’s this new thing with Gen Zs I don’t know what to do with: The most important thing is not the experience; it’s that other people know you had that experience.”

We’ve been at this generational politics thing for a long time. “Don’t trust anyone over thirty,” my generation said when we were under thirty.  Author Tom Wolfe called the 1970s the “Me Decade” as the first Baby Boomers passed thirty. Twenty years ago Tom Brokaw named the Boomers’ parents the “Greatest Generation.” And ever since we’ve been picking on our own kids in the Millennial Generation. Continue reading →

Leo is a college graduate. I write the sentence and then pause. Quiet, deep, joy. Thank you God for allowing Becky and me to have played a small part in the story and to have seen it unfold chapter by chapter.

Leo is a college graduate.  Yes, this is very good.

We have known Leonardo for nineteen years. He was fourteen years old, was spending more time on the streets of the favela than was good for him, and, like most of the kids on the streets of the favela, had no idea that life might take him to someplace good. Continue reading →