Stories & Sermons

Faithful Obscurity “Why do we thank Christians for practicing their Christianity?”, an aggravated seminary professor asked. The gold medallion certificates presented to the teenagers after completing their first mission trip; the fellowship hall naming ceremony for the lay leader who mowed the parsonage grass; the standing ovation in worship for the decades-long Sunday school teacher...

Timothy Wright was born January 16, 1965. We call him Cherokee because his grandma called him Cherokee because his daddy was full-blood and his mama was Cherokee-Scottish. I sat down with him on September 9, 2021 because we didn’t think he had much more than a week to live and he wanted his story to...

“The Illegitimate Jesus” – Sermon By Rev. Brian Combs, 12/22/21 The first Christmas Eve was not a silent night, nor calm and bright.  Loaded camels snorted and saddled donkeys brayed as they passed the haggard couple already a week into the 80-mile walk from Nazareth to Bethlehem.  Joseph kept checking his empty wallet, anxious about paying the...

Eric can’t really not draw a crowd. I’ve taken a seat by him on the blacktop and, subsequently, two teenagers and their parents have as well. He’s showing us how Johnny Cash made that chuka-chuka percussion sound by strumming with a piece of folded-up loose-leaf paper. He’s spilling all the trade secrets before we’ve even exchanged a...