I've been deeply moved the last few days as I’ve watched individuals serve Jesus in our simplified church structure in very effective ways. I sat outside Terry Fryer’s ICU unit last night and I reached out to folks in my small group to pray with me as she went to heaven. When I had prayed with her on the sixth floor early in the afternoon she was in a bad, bad, place physically. Sometime that evening, I realized she was with Jesus and I was overwhelmed with the joy she wa

Our family has read through our copy of this fantastic children's Bible at least 10 times so far. We love it. Why? Because its simple. It tells God's BIG story and shows how the little stories of the Bible each whisper the name of Jesus. Each night we can grab it and read a story for our family worship time and know that, over time, our children will learn to read the whole Bible with Jesus in mind. As a church we love it because it makes a great gift. Every child (and most t

First Baptist Church was recognized as being in the top 25 churches (out of 492) for per capita giving at this year’s Northwest Baptist Convention. That means we gave more per person than most other churches (even if most other churches may have given a bigger total amount). Sounds great, right?! Well, yes, in one sense: giving the way God says to give is a great sign of Christian maturity. But here’s the problem: We don’t want to be a church full of mature Christians. Wait,