Bruce’s Blogs
Simple Program
It’s cool to be a parent and to be able to say, “Because I said so.” Whether my kids do what I say is another story, but it’s a simple concept to grasp. There’s a benefit of being under that kind of authority as well. Whether you agree or not, you know immediately what you [...]
Simple Mercy
In Luke 10:36, at the end of the parable about the Good Samaritan, Jesus asked, “Which of these three do you think was a neighbor to the man who fell into the hands of robbers?” In verse 37 we find the reply: “‘The one who had mercy on him.’ Jesus told him, ‘Go and do [...]
Simple Commands
As we work to become a simple church, one that focuses on a single purpose-to share the Good News of God’s love and forgiveness with the whole world-we ought to consider the simple nature of our relationship with God. While the church is a body with a corporate purpose and goals, it is made up [...]
Simple Church, Simple Goal
As we face the new year, I have a single resolution: to help us become a simple church. The word simple, unfortunately, sounds like “easy” or even “dumb” to some, but that’s not where we need to go. If we go back to the word’s Latin roots, simple means “single-fold.” So a simple church is [...]
Get Connected in Joy
I’ve never really understood the song “It’s the Most Wonderful Time of the Year,” at least that part that talks about “scary ghost stories.” Other than Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol, I’m not aware of any Christmas ghost stories. The idea of being frightened at Christmas doesn’t make a whole lot of sense. Unless you [...]
Get Connected for Strength
Halfway between Thanksgiving and Christmas, many people are wondering how they’re going to make it through the holiday season. On one side we have the preparations for our Christmas celebrations-shopping, baking, cleaning, decorating-and on the other we have the pressures of everyday life-work, bills, health, family. We’re overbooked, overworked, and overextended, and we’re wondering where [...]
Get Connected in Thanksgiving
If we’re honest, there are truly a lot of things to get us down these days. It’s in times like these, as Mark and Adam preached on November 16, that we need to come together and get connected to each other as we connect with God. In 2 Corinthians 4 Paul writes about how our [...]
Get Connected as a Family
First, an invitation: everyone is invited to join together in prayer at the church every Wednesday from 1:15-2:15. It’s during this prayer meeting that I am frequently moved to see how many of our members are requesting prayer for their parents, children, relatives, coworkers, friends, and neighbors. Often I find myself praying not only for [...]
Get Connected in Submission to Our Leaders
I look at people who write letters and thank-you notes and send birthday cards on time with envy, desiring to be a better friend and encourager. The apostle Paul was a great letter writer. Sure, much of our doctrine comes from his letters, but you can tell from them that Paul was pretty good at [...]
Get Connected Through Participation
We have a great opportunity to get connected through participation this fall. Our upcoming Christmas program will combine choirs, children through adults, to share the message of Jesus’ birth through music and song. There will be several portions sharing the message through drama. This program is planned to be performed over several evenings, and there [...]
Get Connected in Submission to Each Other
Perhaps the biggest obstacle to unity, whether in the family, in the church, or in any community, is our tendency for selfishness. We all have different wants and needs, some good, some bad, some legitimate, and others… not so much. When our individual wants and needs come in conflict with the wants and needs of [...]
Get Connected For a Purpose
Back-to-school time is kind of like my New Year’s Day. Ever since I was a child, I’ve always thought in the terms of a school year. So, with a new year comes renewed purpose. For the past year, I’ve been focusing on the idea that the church is the body of Christ. And just like [...]
Get Connected Through Knowledge
I don’t think my kids are looking forward to going back to school as much as Sandi and I are, but I love this time of year. I love school and the whole educational process, and I believe that it’s one of the central points of what we do within the church. Paul makes this [...]
Get Connected in Confession
The current sermon series ?Real Revival ? has been kind of dangerous, in the sense that it brings up issues that we might rather leave alone, that it focuses attention on things that make us uncomfortable, that it calls attention to the places where we fall short as individuals and as a body. But that [...]
Intercession Made an Impression!
On Monday, July 14, about a dozen of us from Memorial climbed into the church van and headed out to the intersection of Telegraph and Schoolcraft to meet up with Larry Simmons, pastor of Babe Memorial AME Church, and a couple dozen more folks from other churches to intercede for Detroit, Michigan, the United States, [...]
