Wrestling with God
Wrestling with my son just helped me teach him the Bible. We were doing our usual pre-dinner devotional routine. Tonight, it was the Spark story […]
Jeremy Bellsmith
Life Lessons from Zip Lining
This past July, my nine year old, adrenaline-junkie daughter and I couldn’t resist going zip-lining down Marble Mountain near Corner Brook, NF. Its advertised to […]
The Truth about Transformation
Transformation is a wonderful thing. It can be slow, sometimes imperceptible, but it’s results can be delicious. There’s a pear tree in my backyard that […]
Objectives Revisited
I’ve written about our leadership team’s work setting core values and objectives. Last Friday, we held another meeting to set new objectives for this quarter, […]
Transitions can be Tough
Transitions are tough. Even good ones, like a wedding or going to school, can be times of stress. My little guy just started kindergarten in […]
Teaching Kids about Money
Has this ever happened to you? Our family was in Target today, doing some back-to-school shopping when my almost 4 year old said he really, […]
Shaping Faith at Bedtimes
My wife and I aren’t experts at this, but we’ve come to believe that we are our kids’ first encounter with God’s love, and their first examples of what it means to be a Christ follower.
A Mission of Burgers and Dogs
Please forgive me, but I need to boast. Burns Church in Ashburn did something on Canada Day that was pretty amazing in my books. We […]
The #1 Parenting Tip? Consistency
Ok, I’m not an expert, but as I’ve been listening to what’s going on around me, I can’t help hearing lots of talk about parenting. […]
Confirmation as Coming of Age
In our branch of the church, many teens are invited to “confirm” their faith, to own for themselves the promises their parents or godparents took […]
Stewards-by-Design
I’ve told you about the work on core values and objectives we did as the congregation I serve with spent some weeks focusing on listening. […]
From Core Values to Objectives
Last week I started telling you about the day away Burns’ leadership team enjoyed. We paused to listen about the next season in the congregation’s […]
Getting to Know Our Core Values
What’s at our core? Knowing this answer helps us to know who we are and we we’re here. Then the answers to other questions like “what should I be doing?” come more easily.
Starving to Live
There’s a link between starvation and full, rich living. A few months ago, I was watching a TED talk by Dr. William Li on starving cancer. He […]
Sacred … in the flesh
I think I met Jesus again. I had just sat down across from one of our youth in my usual meeting space (a.k.a. Tim Horton’s) […]
The Art of Listening
Have you ever noticed that words come easy, but listening not-so-much? Anyone in a relationship knows this well. Listening is an art; something we need […]