Cracking the Code

Cracking the Code

During World War II, America’s Office of Strategic Services – the precursor to the CIA – was assigned the task of devising subversive ways to help defeat Japan.  Some of the OSS’s initiatives could best be described as non-traditional. More than two...
Connecting the Dots

Connecting the Dots

During the 1930s, the Soviet Union took aggressive steps to diminish the influence of the Russian Orthodox Church. As the dictator of a militantly atheistic regime, Josef Stalin ordered the execution of church leaders or their exile to Siberia.  Priests were...
An Unhurried Life

An Unhurried Life

“I’m tired of running this damn church.” If you’re a pastor who desperately wants to get the attention of your elders, try using a turn of phrase they aren’t expecting.  That’s what Eugene Peterson did about 10 years into his efforts to launch a new congregation in...
High Noon

High Noon

Lunch hour at school.  High noon.  For many kids it’s the loneliest hour of the day.  Lunch hour is when you find out if you have friends.  And everybody else finds out if you have friends, too.  In the cruel subculture of most schools,...
The Stuff of Life

The Stuff of Life

One hundred years ago, people were just coming to grips with a strange idea: Everything is made of atoms.The notion had been around for a very long time.  But all of a sudden a truckload of evidence emerged that it was really true.  Even though common sense...
A Person of Significance

A Person of Significance

On Easter Sunday 2001, I made a dramatic announcement to the congregation I was serving as pastor. Two years earlier we had joined with other churches in supporting the Billy Graham Crusade in Indianapolis.  I announced that I had received a phone call the prior...