She was grieving, and telling me what she so desperately wanted in her marriage. "Have you prayed for that?" I asked. You know the answer: no. But not just "No", but "no" accompanied with a look of puzzlement - "Why have I not asked for this? Huh . . ." I can relate to the feeling. Why don't we pray? When God is so near, and so powerful. When God is so full of love towa...

Why church membership? Those words are in no verse of the Bible. So why do we practice it at EFree? Because it's biblical. No, it's not in any verse, not those words, but the practice is implied in the early church. In Acts 6:3, the elders tell the congregation to choose from among themselves seven men to be the first deacons. Implied there is that there must have been so...

"Mindfulness" is the self-help of our day, and for good reason: we are bombarded by messaging from all kinds of sources. We can barely hear ourselves think. And much of world is dehumanizing: take the statistical analysis one can do on anything now with your phone, or take a trip on an airplane - dehumanizing. We have to stop and put down our screens and force ourselves to...

Want to grow, and change? Me too. But I frequently have trouble identifying what exactly it is that I'm trying to change. Like a black hole, I know something's there - I feel its gravitational pull, but I don't have light to see it. My heart does worship the way a black hole does gravitation: it is automatic - and profligate. It can't not worship, and it pulls anything int...

In the coming year, I believe there is one thing that, in all our doings, we should do. Beneath this is the assumption that the gospel is working, from the pulpit, in our groups, and in our conversations. While we can always grow, we are on a good trajectory here. I also assume that our community is on a good trajectory. Again, while we have room to grow, we are on a good ...