About a month after my resignation from Immanuel Baptist Church, I was invited back to preach. So, in keeping with my usual practice, we just picked up where we left off and moved forward to the next of the Essential 100 series: Joshua 3-4. The text of the sermon is below. I'm not sure about audio. If I run across it, I will link it.  ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ For better or worse, I am

On August 6, 2017, I preached my final sermon at Immanuel Baptist Church as pastor. Lord willing, I hope that it is not my final sermon, or even my final sermon at Immanuel, but it is my final one as pastor. As I considered what I should say in my final address, I concluded that the best thing I could do was "keep moving foward" in my Essential 100 series, and as God would have it in His good

Audio  Over the last thirty years or so, the world of banking has changed tremendously. I can remember when the use of ATM machines became prominent. No longer did you have to go the branch during business hours and deal with a teller to make your transaction. You could make transactions 24 hours a day, and many times somewhere other than at the bank. Then we started using debit cards

Audio  Why are you here? I suppose that there are a variety of reasons that people come to church on Sunday morning, so what is your reason? Have you come out of a sense of duty or tradition? Have you come to socialize with your friends? Have you come because you had nothing better to do? Or have you come because you realize that man does not live by bread alone, but by every word that

Audio  From the very first verse of Exodus we have been moving toward this climactic event from which the book derives its title. This is the Exodus! The word “Exodus” means literally, “the road out.” And the road out of Egypt for the Israelites leads right through the middle of the sea. Imagine what it must have been like for the Israelites. Egypt was a place of suffering and

Following is the announcement I made on Sunday, July 16, 2017 at Immanuel Baptist Church. I used quotation marks around the word "Resignation" in the title of this post, because I prefer to think of this as a "Reassignment," for reasons I explain below ...  ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  On Wednesday night (July 12), I announced that I have accepted an offer to serve as the