A discussion (September 17, 2024) between Philadelphia's Lighthouse Production host Joe Watkins and me concerning my walk as a Christian over my many years. He was particularly interested in why, with my somewhat fancy academic credentials, as a former professor, I found myself happiest in serving in very humble settings (prison ministry, street ministry and ultimately Christian high schooling). This gave me the chance to explain what I have taught my own kids, namely that life's greatest joys come in finding ways to be of loving service to others ... the way Jesus himself exemplified. Enjoy the conversation!
I was asked by my son-in-law Rimi to give the sermon for the lead up to the 4th of July (2024). Actually it's not a sermon but more a "conversation" – about God's call on America to be a "Light to the Nations" ... Christ's way.
This Sunday message (February 18, 2024) is sort of "Part Two" of the sermon below, requested by parishioners who wanted to hear more of my story about my spiritual journey. The first portion of this sermon is a summary of the last portion of the previous sermon ... my initial return to the faith. The rest brings us up to date ... the journey (in pursuit of Christ) as a born-again husband, father, pastor, teacher and finally author ... letting God, not my sense of reason or personal programming, lead the way. My part actually begins 6 minutes into the video.
In this Sunday message (November 26, 2023) I explain my own journey ... my movement from a rather standard form of Christianity as a youth, the loss of that faith – though I took up numerous adventures only because I knew there was a "Hand" on my life – then a journey into a well-programmed professional life (professor, housing construction, political-risk consultant), then into a world of total confusion when that well-programmed world failed to make any sense at all, then the arrival of individuals that brought Christ (not just Christianity) into my life, and finally my own call to Christian ministry. My part actually begins 7 minutes into the video.
This is a Sunday sermon, or rather teaching, about how the American commoners who in 1776 declared their independence from the highly authoritarian English King George III were able to achieve a totally unprecedented success – against all odds (all other historical examples ending up with the rebels all being hung or shot) – because they understood that they were doing God's work in their fight to preserve the American social experiment as a "City on a Hill," a "Light to the Nations." They full well knew that they were a society established by God himself to show the rest of the world how God wanted deeply all of his people to be able to govern themselves fully, inspired to undertake greater things simply by their full faith in God ... and directed wisely by his (Biblical) instructions. In short – the American effort to preserve its independence succeeded only because God was with them. My part actually begins 8 minutes into the video.
A sermon/history lesson delivered on December 27, 2020 at the New Awakening Church in Schuylkill Haven. I teach when I preach, and I preach when I teach. This is a bit of both ... about how God has "awakened" America in the past rather repeatedly – when it drifts off into self-rationalizing projects, projects which bring confusion and breakdown in the American social fabric. And he sparks these awakenings through just ordinary people ... people like us, people willing to let God (and not human rationalizations) lead them. And ... it seems that we Americans find ourselves in exactly the same condition today – needing God to deliver us from our social folly with another Awakening. We need a "New Awakening"!
A discussion (November 25, 2020) between my son-in-law, Pastor Rimi Xhemajli, and me concerning the Pilgrims who held that famous Thanksgiving feast honoring God ... in the face of all the personal suffering and loss they had recently experienced in getting their Plymouth Plantation up and running. Many are the lessons we could draw today from the way they understood the dynamic that shaped them as a people.
Another discussion (August 13, 2020) on a wide range of issues, but most importantly concerning what it was that motivated and directed the writing of my three-volume history of America's covenant with God.
Here's my first podcast ... with my son John. It's just a general look at America ... and where it is headed. It comes at the subject from two different generational perspectives, (more than 50 years separating us!).