Pastor Seabaugh's Blog

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

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

Life Together

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These Wednesdays in Lent have been enlightening as we explored our “Life Together” from Dietrich Bonhoeffer’s book of the same name. We’ve taken a hard, honest look at postmodernism and seen how our world has become more relativistic, individualistic and willing to hold multiple views that would otherwise seem contradictory. Our life together as Christians … Read more

On Being Your Pastor – A Thank You

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God’s blessing… It is truly an immense honor to be the Pastor of Bethel Lutheran Church. The spirit of mission and outreach here is nothing short of inspiring. Your willingness to embrace an initiative like GodSpeak and hang with it through Leviticus and Numbers shows a maturity and dedication that is commendable. The sense of … Read more

Haiti – Why?

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As I write this letter, the last few people are being pulled alive from the piles of stacked concrete on the island nation of Haiti. By the time you read this letter, relief efforts to assist millions of displaced people will be reaching the point of exhaustion. Why? It is the perennial question when a … Read more

Christmas Becoming Christmas

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Christmas Beginnings “It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas, everywhere you go…” When does Christmas become Christmas for you? Does it begin after Halloween? Does it begin after Thanksgiving? Does Christmas arrive with the first Santa in the shopping mall or the first ring of the Salvation Army kettle ringers? Does it begin with … Read more