Recent Posts

Dear Ministry Partners,

We cannot thank you enough for supporting us personally, and the ministry work we have been doing through HCDS. Your encouragement, financial support, prayers, notes, phone calls and meals have been God’s lavish grace to us in a difficult season. You have both ministered to us and invested in us, and we are truly both humbled and thankful for each one of you.  Continue reading “Letter to Ministry Partners / 2020” →

Last November, Tim and our good friend – Kevin Turner – began a project to build office space for our Soul Care counseling ministry.  Kevin was an incredible leader in this project and gave much time and attention to creating an ideal space. Our son, Camp, also helped with several stages of the work.  On February 15, 2020, we completed the project -all for under $2000!  Thanks so much to all of you who were praying for this need and for your kind gifts to help us get it accomplished.  Praise King Jesus for his steadfast love endures forever!  Below are several pics that show the progression of the entire project. Continue reading “New Office Space!” →

LENTEN DEVOTIONAL / Genesis 3:19
“We are all from dust and to dust we shall return.”

I believe that most of us, especially in the US, live with a false sense of security. Subconsciously, we believe that we will live forever. We believe that we are immortal. Death is for the other guy, not us. After all, the world cannot possibly go on without us. Right? We are the center. We are the straw that stirs the drink. We are busy living that way. We are daily occupied with building a life, a marriage, a family, a business, and a nation – without realizing that, at any moment, our lives on this mortal planet may suddenly come to an end. Continue reading “To Dust We Shall Return” →

Christmas is not Coming, it has Come! / Sinclair Ferguson.

When I was a child, Christmas seemed to die every year by bedtime on December 25th. I know now why that was true for me, just as it is for every child. It was because the true meaning of Christmas eluded me. In the true sense, Christmas never did really ‘happen.’ I was looking in the wrong direction for the wrong things instead of in the right direction for Jesus. The truth is, Christmas is not coming. It has come. The Word already has been made flesh. He already has lived, bled, died, and risen again for us. All that remains is to receive Him. For Jesus Christ Himself is the meaning of Christmas. Continue reading “Christmas Thoughts” →

There is a great discipleship article over at Gospel Coalition: https://www.thegospelcoalition.org/blogs/erik-raymond/take-your-medicine/

Here’s my favorite quote: ”Whatever God calls us to do (law) is anchored in the truth of what God in Christ has done for us (gospel). The trouble is we love us some law. Too often, we zoom past the indicatives while picking up a bucket full of daily imperatives. For some of us, our spiritual grammar is worse than our written grammar. To this, Ferguson writes us a script. “Thus the motivation, energy, and drive for holiness are all found in the reality and power of God’s grace in Christ. And so if I am to make any progress in sanctification, the place where I must always begin is the gospel of the mercy of God to me in Jesus Christ.””

Learning this is huge for me because I definitely “love me some law!” Fantastic article and good plug for Sinclair Ferguson’s book, “Devoted to God.”

Have you noticed over the last decade that it seems that the United States has become a nation of uncontrolled extremes?  In saying this, I’m not referring to a particular tribe or group.   I’m talking about ALL of us.  Every conversation, every movement, and every thought proposition seems to be dominated with radicalism. 

If you ask most active Christians what the Gospel is, you will get some version of “Christ died on the cross for my sins so I can have eternal life.” And while this is certainly “good news,” Pastor and Theologian Ralph Erskine would want us to know that it is not the “full banquet” of the Gospel.

When I was a younger Christian and Student Minister, I would often emphasize to my students over and over again that “Christianity is a relationship.”  Strangely, that was not always a popular thing to say.  In fact, I was often criticized by older pastors who warned me against saying such a thing because it was pietistic, mystical, and based on emotion rather than the firm foundation of scripture.  This always confused me. 

Ultimately, Hope Christian Discipleship will offer an online video discipleship resource that is built around the foundation of Union with Christ. It is called “Christian Discipleship and King Jesus.”

Lesson 1: Learning to Depend on King Jesus introduces the idea of Christian Discipleship.