News & Updates

My two high school kids play in a top-notch orchestra called The Hillgrove Mastery Orchestra. They’re really good. The pieces they play are quite complicated and engaging. What a bunch of high schoolers can do is nothing short of amazing. At concerts, I like what their orchestra teacher, Mr. Doke, does before most songs. He explains what you’re about to hear. Some, perhaps, would complain about the need to explain a song before it’s played. If it needs some ‘esplainin’……

Jesus loves me, this I know. But this knowledge is mind blowing, isn’t it?  Jesus love ME!  He came down for me?  Jesus is personable and calls me by name.  He created me and chooses me and adopts me.  This is far too lofty for me to fathom. This I know. Does this blow me away or is the love of Jesus mere background music? Chick-Fil-A has background music.  Have you ever listened to it?  It’s just supposed to serenade…

Nobody loves warm and fuzzy more than my wife, Sherry.  She has a high standard of soft.  Blankets and towels must be luxuriously fluffy, sheets must have high thread counts, and socks and sweaters must be silky smooth to meet her standards for tactile delight. She associates Christmas  with those warm and fuzzy sensations she loves.  Sipping hot cocoa indoors while watching snow falling outside is nirvana for Sherry.  A Christmas tree lovingly decorated with sentimental ornaments gives her a…

“We need to talk.”  Those can be ominous words, can’t they?  When a boss, a spouse, a fiancé, a teacher, a lawyer, or a pastor says, “We need to talk,” you’d rather go for a pumpkin spice latte instead. On Sunday, we’re back in our “God in the Shadows” series.  We’re making our way through the incredible book of Romans.  I have been excited to teach the particular passage slated for Sunday.  Romans 8 is a classic.  Some think the…

“Go big or go home” is fun to say but maybe a bit frustrating to live.  Scotty McCreery wrote a book with the same title.  The subtitle reads: “The journey towards the dream.”  GBOGH initially pumps me up but is a hard motivation to sustain. A mere 6% of high school seniors (1 in 16) will play football in college. Only 1.7% of senior football players in college (1 in 50) will get drafted by a National Football League team.  This…

God’s Will Is this God’s will?  I’m sure you’ve either asked or thought this universal question. I wonder if our daughter, Morgan, asked this when we said her Saturday night curfew was 10:00 p.m.  What if Morgan rebelled and cried, “How could a ten o’clock curfew be the will of God?  Show me where a ten o’clock curfew is in the Bible!”    What would you say as a parent? I would say, “Yep, this is the will of God.  By…

 ONE SUNDAY My office phone beeped from our front receptionist. “Alan, there’s a Mr. Derkens on the line. He says he’s speaking Sunday?” “Hmmm…” I thought to myself. “Derkens? I don’t know any Derkens. And besides, Dr. Perkins is speaking this Sunday. Waaaaiiiit! It’s Dr. Perkins!” We had put our very special guest speaker on hold for far too long. “Dr. Perkins!” I gushed. “It’s really good to talk with you…” An hour later I was more excited about ONE…

 Game Changer With so much politics and political drama going on, did anyone even notice the Cubs are in the National League Championship Series?  Whaaaaaaa?  That’s right, the Cubs–the Billy-goat-cursed Cubs.  The Cubs play the Dodgers starting tomorrow and are four games away from the 2016 World Series.  I would bet my fifth-born child that Chicago churches will be filled this weekend with Cubs fanatics doing everything possible to bring a World Series title back to Chi-Town.  They’ve waited patiently…