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Last week, as I was studying for Sunday’s sermon, I stumbled upon something interesting. I learned that our English words jealous and zealous come from the same Greek word. If you think about it, there is a very fine line between the two concepts. When someone is zealous, they are passionate in the pursuit of a cause or objective. When someone is jealous, that passion is replaced with envy over...

There are large stained glass windows at both ends of the sanctuary at First Baptist Church of Seymour. This isn’t at all unusual. Stained glass was and remains a common feature of many church buildings. What is uncommon, however, is the images contained within those windows. Often, stained glass windows depict major biblical stories or symbols. Common symbols include crosses, stars, roses of...

You may ask yourself, what exactly does a pastor do on an extended break from serving at his or her local church? I’m not sure what other pastors do, but this pastor went to church, or rather churches. It would be difficult to estimate exactly how many churches we visited during our travels. In Rome and the cities we visited across Greece, there seemed to be churches on every corner and more than...

From 2008-2011, Capri Sun ran an ad campaign called, “Respect the Pouch.” The commercials were actually quite entertaining. One commercial featured two boys outside enjoying some Capri Sun. Upon finishing his drink, one of the lads blows air into his pouch, inflating it like a balloon. He glances mischievously over at his friend as he places the inflated pouch on the ground, then begins pumping...

Taylor Swift recently finished her Eras Tour. The tour featured performances of songs from each of the ten studio albums she’s released over the course of her 16+ year music career. I wouldn’t call myself a “swiftie,” the moniker given to Ms. Swift’s most passionate and loyal fans, but I must confess that I do enjoy some of her music. In particular, I loved her self-titled debut album, Taylor...

Atop the shelves surrounding my office are numerous 8×10 pictures. There is a picture of my family from a wedding when our children were little. There is a picture of my daughter dancing to a song I had composed and performed along with her at her dance recital. There is a picture of my son rocking out on a drum set before he could even form a full sentence. There are three pictures of...

One of my favorite outreaches we do every year at First Baptist Church is our partnership with Anchor House, Healthy Jackson County, and numerous area churches, schools, and businesses to provide over 200 food baskets for families at Thanksgiving. Over the course of several weeks, food is collected at various locations across Jackson County. All of the items are eventually transported to First...

The holidays are upon us. The fourth Thursday of November serves as the starting point for seasonal celebrations galore here in the US. For the last few weeks, Christmas trees, and Christmas décor of all kinds, have begun to appear in houses across our communities. A few eager beavers have gotten a very early jump on external illumination as well. All of this is much to the consternation and...

American filmmaker Woody Allen is credited with the saying, “80% of success in life is just showing up.” We can haggle over percentages, but the point he is making rings true. The starting point for success in anything in life is being present when and where the job is being done. You can’t win a race if you don’t lace up your shoes and step out on the course. You can’t make the grade if you...