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Twenty-two years ago, this June, I sat in Athens Square Park in Astoria, staring at the traffic on 30th Avenue. I had just signed a lease on an apartment a few blocks away to which my family would soon move from North Jersey. I had been offered a job as pastor, but there was no congregation for me to serve. The plan was to plant a new church. I sat on a step in the park, ...

In the traditional church calendar, this is the week when Christians remember the ascension of Christ to the right hand of the Father. Accounts of Christ's ascension are found in Mark 16:19, Luke 24:50-53, and in Acts 1:6-11. Other passages that touch on the ascension are Acts 7:55-56; Ephesians 1:19-23, 4:8; Colossians 3:1; Hebrews 4:14, 9:24; 1 Peter 3:22; and Revelation...

In Ephesians 3:14-19, the Apostle Paul explained to his readers what he was praying for God to do in their lives. Essentially, he was praying that the Holy Spirit would work within them so that they would continually grow in their knowledge of Christ's love. At the end of verse 17, he described two essential ways they needed to know the love of Christ. They needed to be "...

As you probably know, I recently announced my decision to transition out of my role as pastor of Astoria Community Church and accept a position as Assistant Pastor at another church. You can read about that decision here. A question some of you are asking is, "How do we find a new pastor for our church?" In our denominational tradition, an important principle is that loc...

Back in my day the band Petra was blaring from most Christian teenagers' headphones or boom boxes as they were called back then. Christian rock bands were controversial at the time so of course, I had every album and t-shirt Petra came out with. Yeah, did you catch that? I said album. There were so many great songs that Petra put out but one of their songs "Hollow Eyes" ha...

Dear friends and members of ACC. I am writing to inform you of a personal decision I have reached that will have an impact on our church. A couple of years ago, I began to pray about how and when I should transition out of my role as pastor of ACC and pass the baton to a younger leader. As I approach the age of retirement, the eventual need to take this step is inevitabl...

The greatest news the world has heard is that the tomb where Christ lay is empty. Christ has risen from the dead! But what does the empty tomb mean for us? Below are four implications of Christ's resurrection as explained by Scripture. 1) The empty tomb means that Jesus truly is the Messiah. When Jesus cleared the merchandizers out of the temple in John 2, he was exerti...

During each week of Lent this year, we will post an excerpt from a classic writing on Christian spirituality, followed by some questions for personal reflection. This week's post is a letter written by John Newton to a fellow pastor, Rev. Thomas Jones, on January 7, 1767. Newton was an Anglican minister in the 18th century, whose story of conversion from slave trader to a...

During each week of Lent this year, we will post an excerpt from a classic writing on Christian spirituality, followed by some questions for personal reflection. The reading this week is taken from Words of Counsel to the Newly Converted, a book by Rev. George Everard (1828-1901) an evangelical minister in the Church of England. Everard noticed the effect that the thought...

During each week of Lent this year, we will post an excerpt from a classic writing on Christian spirituality, followed by some questions for personal reflection. This week's selection comes from the writings of Jeanne Guyon (1648-1717). Born in Montargis, France, Guyon was given in marriage to a 38-year-old invalid when she was only 15 years old. Feeling dissatisfied with...