When I was a kid, somehow I managed to find myself in a strange church on a Sunday morning with my parents.  We were visiting my mother’s hometown of Franklin, Indiana and I was dragged into the church where she had grown up.  It was the first Sunday after New Year’s Day.  Not only did

     Tomorrow begins our vacation.  Susan and I will once again be heading off to the Outer Banks of North Carolina.  We join with other members of her family (the Anderson clan) on the beach, sharing a 15 bedroom, 15 bath home.  This year we are especially excited because three of our four children, their

Following a fantastic celebration of Pentecost on June 12, my wife and I packed a borrowed Ford Explorer and headed southward to Florida to take some “things” to our daughter, Sarah.  These “things”, such as her china and her high school yearbooks, had been collecting dust in our basement for several years.  We really didn’t

The weather changes.  Last week we reached 95 degrees!  Today it’s 65 degrees.  As the saying goes, “If you don’t like Michigan weather, just wait, it’ll change!”
We’re about ready to experience the change from school year to summer time.  We live behind the East Middle School in Farmington Hills and we watch the students as

It has been a week since Easter morning, but I’m sitting at my desk still basking in a glow fueled by all kinds of resurrection experiences.  For the engineers among us, allow me to say that the numbers of people in worship hovered around the 800 mark, more than 100 over last year.  The generosity

My wife, Susan, and I have been privileged to be the parents of four children – two boys and two girls.  All of them were born between March 21 and April 17.  For us, this means that the Season of Spring is also known as the Birthday Season.  We have watched them grow up, sprout their

On Saturday, March 26, 20 people from Nardin Park attended the annual Cass Community Social Services fund-raising dinner at the Inn of St. John’s in Plymouth, Michigan.  Since we never had attended this event as a church it was fantastic to reserve two tables of ten and then to fill them for a very special

Over this last year there has been a small group of people discussing about the possibility of establishing a second worship service at Nardin Park.  We have read various articles and discussed a variety of possibilities of what kind of worship experience we need to provide and when.  As a part of the exploration our small

For the January church newsletter I wrote about writing New Year’s Resolutions.  This last week I received an email from The Barna Group, a survey group that poses questions across the country centering on faith issues.  Their missive focused on their nationwide survey of 1,022 adults which provided a snapshot on the role of resolutions in

While in graduate school some twelve years ago, two of our children, Walker and Kate, arrived at our house with their newly acquired prized possessions – two puppies.  Since the kids were in residences that didn’t allow pets, they asked if we could temporarily house their new friends.  Mojo and Hesse were two small bundles of

Every year Cass Community Social Services holds several fund raisers.  At Nardin Park we have become very involved with their annual golf outing.  Part of our motivation came from two ladies who served on the planning committee – Bev Fletcher and Susan Miller.  In 2011 the golf scramble is being held on September 19.  So,

Over the last two months there is a group within the church called the Nominations and Leadership Development Team that is responsible for identifying, deploying, and monitoring spiritual leadership for the church.  Nardin Park has 30 Boards, Committees and Ministry Teams in place to accomplish the ministries to which we have committed ourselves.  We need lots of

Last Sunday I walked into the church building as usual but the rest of the Sunday morning experience was different for me.  Yesterday was High School Youth Sunday.  Under the direction of Rev. Susan Youmans the youth developed a worship theme, planned the mechanics of the service and provided the talent and leadership for the

     One Sunday morning Paul Merritt introduced me to a young guest that he had brought to church.  Jayden is four years old with a wonderful smile and a charming personality.  He had never been in a church building before and was quite taken with all of the people and especially our Sunday school.  During the

For almost my whole life I have been a “night” person.  I stay up late to read, to watch old movies, or maybe even to enjoy a video game.  That’s the kind way of saying I’m not a “morning” person.  I usually only need about 6-7 hours of sleep per night, so I do get