News & Updates

Sherry and I are navigating our last daughter through marriage (May 16th!!). We are working on getting Michael launched and into college by fall. And so far… so good. There seems to be payoff after years of parenting and hard work. By the grace of God and marrying a smokin’ hot incredible wife – our kids love and serve Jesus, seem to function well in the big world, have honed skills, make the right decisions, work hard, and love well.…

Gospel Works There was a good conversation with some staff yesterday concerning the upcoming day to remember and celebrate the excellent work of Martin Luther King, Jr. There was a conclusion that King desired his message of reconciliation to be contextualized into our everyday lives. MLK didn’t want everyone to become pastors and necessary front men to engage the good fight. King desired peaceful reconciliation efforts to be waged within the daily logistics of how we all live. There are…

Remarking with Christmas wide-eyes, one little Great Britain boy knew all about the three Wise Men. “They brought some gold stuff… but Legos would have been better!” It’s not just the little kids who have missed some things in the Christmas story. For example, and just to blow the cover of every nativity scene you’ll see, we don’t know if there were three Wise Men. Whaaaaat? We believe that because there were three gifts mentioned in scripture. The Magi saw…

Christmas is about lights, angels, glory, giving, warmth, and good news. Of course. Our celebrations and music and gift-giving and eating seem exactly right for our festive, month-long celebration of the birth of Jesus. But Christmas is also about smelly shepherds who were uninvited to any church service or life event. For the most part, first-century shepherds slept outside. They were ostracized outside of community circles. The shepherds outside of Bethlehem raised perfect sheep for spotless sacrifices in Jerusalem. The…

The smells are starting to waft throughout the house. Seasoned stuffing is baking. Turkeys are being basted and fried. Bread is rising. I saw some cranberry sauce being mixed with walnuts, and it’s all beginning to fill the senses with anticipation. In fact, I’m getting hungry just writing this. There are family members slowly making their way to southern Indiana, where our holiday of gratitude will culminate in an incredible feast. Nobody will need to exert any energy to motivate…

Much of this week has been spent with a good portion of our Cumberland’s staff in Dallas, Texas. We attended the 2019 Mosaix Multiethnic Church Conference.  THANK YOU FOR ALLOWING US THIS INCREDIBLE OPPORTUNITY. What a privilege to gather with other churches who represent 20% of evangelical churches that God has graced with diversity. The gathering look liked heaven on earth as we took our fill from speakers like Albert Tate, Bryan Lorrits, Ed Stetzer, Mark Deymaz, and Dr. John…

Deciding to sell and move is one massive adventure. Moving in is quite another. The day of moving in is exciting. The kids pick their rooms. The furniture placement is decided. The hope of a future packed with memories is waiting to be lived out. And then there are the boxes. There’s the unpacking. More boxes. Dings in the wall from bringing the piano through the front door. More boxes. Finding something previously packed becomes God’s grand way to build…

It’s never good when someone tells you, “Hey… you look a little tired.” Perhaps you should call the doc when several people start telling you that.  Last Sunday, as we were meeting at Smyrna First Baptist, several people asked, “How ya doin’ with all the change?” “You dealing with the chaos, OK?” One or two of those comments, and you can brush things aside. With several of those kinds of remarks, you gotta check your face! I did. I wasn’t…