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Set the Stage

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Maybe this happens to you too. You’re going merrily along your way, enjoying the autumn leaves and the cooler weather and WHAM! It’s Christmas time! Christmas decorations on the streets, Christmas music in the stores (secular, of course), Christmas obligations fill our calendars, Christmas gifts to buy for everyone, and enough Christmas busyness to send … Read more

Thank God!

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Do we? The development of every language has certain phrases which gradually drift from the original intended meaning of the phrase. For example, many of the phrases for saying, “goodbye” all have slightly different meanings. “So long!” “Farewell” “See ‘ya later!” “Bye!” Interestingly enough, I don’t think we really think of the nuances of each … Read more

Perspective

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Tree Bark “He can’t see the forest for the trees.” It’s a phrase that indicates that someone’s spending all their attention on the things around them and can’t see what’s happening in the big picture. Once in a while it’s important for us all to step back from looking for Emerald Ash Borer holes in … Read more

Perseverance

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Perseverance is a value that is highly prized in Scripture. Even though the going gets tough or painful or redundant, we go on. Every once in a while it’s good for us to encourage each other to persevere. So, in the spirit of GodSpeak, I thought we’d listen to what God has to say about … Read more

Debt Free

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Isn’t it Over? Perhaps you are thinking what I’m thinking these days. Haven’t we recovered from this recession yet? Certainly we could have figured out a way to come out from under this economic weight! Someone lighten the load! Unfortunately the load isn’t lightening all that quickly. Many of us are struggling with employment, putting … Read more

Living the Mission

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Church, Neighborhood and World
One of the things I love about our mission statement is that we specifically state where we intend to make disciples. It’s modeled after Acts 1:8 where Jesus tells his disciples “you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.” (Jerusalem = Church, Judea = Neighborhood, Samaria = World) Making disciples in the church is a challenge, but we have the benefit of already having disciples who are making disciples right here. Making disciples in the world is a challenge, but we have the benefit of missionaries like the Millers in Thailand who we can support with prayers and offerings. Making disciples in our neighborhood is a challenge that I think we struggle with the most. How do we reach out to our neighborhood to make disciples?

Integral, Valued and Transformational
I believe it has to be our mission to be an integral, valued, transformational member of our immediate community.

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Who are You Discipling?

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Discipleship When I arrived at Bethel Lutheran Church nearly five years ago, I saw a number of things that needed to be worked on, revised or tweaked. Our mission statement wasn’t one of them. “The mission of Bethel Lutheran Church is to make disciples for Jesus Christ in our church, neighborhood and world.” What a … Read more

Welcome to Bethel Lutheran Church!

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We live in a culture of intense longing.  We look to fill our yearnings with all sorts of things that will never really satisfy.  Find satisfaction in something bigger than yourself.  Find satisfaction in God’s Word.   Find satisfaction in faith… in Jesus.  Find a satisfied community of believers right here.

GodSpeak vs. Spring

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The Title Match I can feel it coming… the great showdown between our effort to read the Bible together in two years and the lure of warmth in Minnesota. It’s GodSpeak vs. Spring. I can hear the announcer in the center of the ring now. “In one corner we have the reigning champion, emerging from … Read more