An Open Letter to Survivors

This letter is dedicated to all those who in the last year have shared with me their stories. To those of you that have trusted me with some of the deepest hurts in your life. To those of you who years later are now able to look back and find something redeeming about your story. To those of you who are still in the midst of confusion about what the future holds. I have heard you. And I'm sorry.

5 Things to Learn from Jules Woodson and #churchtoo

I am not a victim. I have never been abused. In fact, being a pastor, I have more in common with the abusers than with the victims. On behalf of the church I want to apologize. Apologize for the silence of the church. Apologize for generations of Pastors who thought more about their position than victims. Apologize for churches who cared more about reputations than displaying the nature of God. If you have been abused this is not for you. This is a blog for the church. The church that has been silent for too long.

Deliver Us From Evil

The last few months have been alarming. Hurricane Maria has left Puerto Rico without power to this day. California has had several fires and now a mud slide that left at least 17 dead. In New Jersey we had a "bomb cyclone" that left the east cost covered in snow. North Korea gets ever closer to nuking the world. Just last month suicide bombers took out a church in Pakistan during a children's Christmas program.

Evil is part of the sinful world that we live in. There are times that the world seems so dark we cannot imagine how God can be in control. We wonder if there is anything that can save us from the evil in this world. Every day we hear of another case of sexual assault and abuse of power. Some of us have experienced very real evil in our own homes. When we pray for deliverance from evil often we think of immediate evil. But what Jesus was teaching us was about so much more.