Duke Student Refuses to Read Graphic Memoir by LGBTQ Author
Freshman year can be awkward enough, but Brian Grasso wasn't afraid of awkward. The summer reading list came out for Duke students months ago. It was an optional reading list designed to create a common experience between the over 1,750 incoming freshmen. "Fun Home" was on the list. Amazon explains this book as a "groundbreaking, bestselling graphic memoir." The author tells...
The Secret to Knowing Who You Are
We live in a day-and-age where making our personal identity known is of great importance to us. Consider social media; we post all sorts of things as if it validates our mere existence, but all the while we struggle in the quietness of our hearts to identify who we are. At some point, all of us ask the age-old question,...
The One Thing You May be Missing In Your Mornings
How you start off your day determines how it will end. If you don't believe me, just stop and think about it for a minute. How did your day start yesterday? Was there a connection with how you felt it ended? Let's say you were rushed to get out the door. You slammed down a granola bar and can't really...
My Farmer’s Footprints
A commercial was playing on the radio as I turned the corner into my office parking lot. I was rather tuned out until the voice in the 30-second spot said, "There is nothing better to have on these fields than the farmer's footprint." The commercial was about organic vegetables, tenderly cared for and grown to supply our local Safeway supermarket....
Enjoy Life.
"Dad, are you singing in the shower?" As I heard the little voice on the other side of the curtain, I stopped my mumbling solo with a smile, "Yes, Chandler, I am singing in the shower." "Oh, I thought so" he confidently replied. My three-year-old son has a way of pointing out the obvious - but often missed - parts of life....
Tips and Templates for Performing a Wedding
One of the joys in my pastoral ministry has been to prepare people for marriage and then stand at the end of the isle with them as they make their vow for a life of love. Weddings are special. Each one is full of life-long memorable moments. Every wedding I have done has been as unique as the couple that...
Seek What First?
I’ve been fighting a fever and headaches on and off for the last two weeks. With over 100 hours of laying flat on my back, I’ve had a lot of time to think. By having my health taken from me, and forced down time, I started to evaluate some fundamentals in my life. The core of all my thoughts...
A Great First Step to Sharing your Faith is to Shut Up
The command for us to share our faith literally in black and white in the Bible. But I gotta tell you, just getting a conversation started with someone about Christ gives me Godzilla-sized butterflies in my stomach. I get so nervous (and I'm a pastor). I have come to realize something – one of the greatest things that we can...
Starving for Righteousness
A guest post from my dad, Jim Weidmann: Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, For they shall be filled. Matthew 5:6 Hunger and thirst are the body's way of telling us that we are "empty." Our natural response to hunger and thirst is to seek food and water to satisfy our need. Each Christian has an inner longing that...
True Disciples Appreciate Depth
Most preachers knows that on any given days the pews are full of babies up to grandparents of the faith, and everything in between. Preaching to a crowd that varies in spiritual maturity can be very hard. However, we must never be too quick to dumb down our message to appease the spiritually A.D.D. When I preach, I strive to...
A Christian’s Life is To Know Him and Make Him Known
The stars were shining bright as I looked to the sky tonight. I could not help but be mesmerized by the glow that shined through the little pinholes in the darkness. The child within me could only wonder what was on the other side shining through. My mind races and my soul became fascinated by the mystery of God....
The Tragedy of Focusing on Peace More Than Christ
“Imagine there’s no heaven…it’s easy if you try. No hell below us, above us only sky. Imagine all the people living for today.” Perhaps the words I just read sound familiar to you. They were the opening lyric to one of the most influential songs in pop history. The young people of the 1960’s & 70’s embraced John Lennon’s song...
