One of my favorite ministry activities here in Estonia is participating in congregational consultations for the churches within our ECB Church Union. The churches our team consults vary in their structural choices, size and situation. We have consulted both rural and urban churches, both traditional and "emerging" churches and both small and moderately sized churches … Continue reading Assessing Congregational Readiness
2025 Song Festival Reflections
In July Lea and I will once again be attending Estonia's National Song Festival, which is one of the most astounding cultural events you may ever see. The festival runs from Thursday to Sunday if you include the dance festival which precedes the song festival. The song festival itself begins with a parade starting at … Continue reading 2025 Song Festival Reflections
Kallas on the Cost of Isolation
https://www.youtube.com/embed/25G5uX2wlBw https:news.err.ee/1609256361/kallas-in-munich-if-us-isolates-itself-it-will-eventually-cost-more
In the Jaws of the Beast
This weekend in Bible School we taught on apocolyptic literature in the intertestamental period with a focus on the visions of Daniel (chapters 7-12). The vision of the four beasts in chapter 7 is explained later in that chapter as identifying four kingdoms. Like everything in Bible interpretation, the identities of the kingdoms is debated. … Continue reading In the Jaws of the Beast
Discovering the “Victory Hymns”
Last Sunday I visited a congregation in the southern portion of our region to preach and spend time getting to know the church a bit better. Attendance to the service that morning was very small: basically the pastor and his grown children and three other parishioners. I brought along my guitar and had prepared a … Continue reading Discovering the “Victory Hymns”