By Pastor Kevin Barnhart Spring Grove Evangelical Free Has one minute ever felt like an eternity to you?  The feeling of every single foot fall on that last minute or mile of your marathon, the last minute of your workday, the last push before the baby is born.   Or perhaps you like I have felt the weighty measure of minutes while sitting vigil next to a loved one taking … [Read more...]

By Pastor Stuart Weist First Baptist Church of Preston The Christmas season is upon us, and we know what that means.  It’s that time of year to purchase gifts for family and friends, attend holiday concerts, put up lights, and hang ornaments on the tree.  Hopefully all these holiday activities fill your home and heart with joy.  Hopefully the lights remind you as a believer … [Read more...]

By Rev. Debra Jene Collum Chatfield United Methodist You know how sometimes familiar Bible stories take on new meaning? That just happened to me with the story of the feeding of the 5,000-plus. A quick re-telling from John chapter 6. Jesus has gathered a crowd of people around him. They follow him wherever he goes, apparently. One day Jesus notices that the crowd is “hungry.” … [Read more...]

By Pastor Jeff Jacobs Unity Lutheran Parish - St. Paul, Saetersdal and St. Matthew’s, Granger This week we recall again the story of the Mayflower Pilgrims’ coming to a new land.  And a primary reason they came was religious freedom.  They’d rejected the “trappings” of the Church of England and sought to live and worship in a simpler, “purer” faith. Many early settlers … [Read more...]

By Pastor Paul Hauschild Chatfield and Root Prairie Lutheran Churches The 1964 Philadelphia Phillies will always be known as the team that suffered one of the greatest collapses in sports history.  They let a huge division lead slip away by losing 10 games in a row at the end of the season. Despite the collapse, the Phillies’ season had its share of memorable moments, … [Read more...]

By Pastor Mark Woodward Maple Leaf Parish Churches: Spring Valley: Faith, Cherry Grove, Fountain, Preston (and Lenora) One evening toward the end of the day, I saw a glorious sight as the final rays of sunlight were shining across the valley and giving radiant beams of light to bright red and orange trees in the distance. The blue sky, dark pines and glowing  colors of red … [Read more...]

By Pastor Mark Woodward Maple Leaf Parish Churches: Spring Valley: Faith, Cherry Grove, Fountain, Preston (and Lenora) One of my hobbies involves history.  In this article, I’d like to lift up an inspiring Methodist Circuit Rider by the name of John Lewis Dyer.  Rev. Dyer was affectionately called Father Dyer by those who knew him.  He was a determined evangelist, deeply … [Read more...]

By Pastor Nissa Peterson Chatfield and Root Prairie Lutheran Churches This past summer I traveled to the Holy Land and got to see the holy sites of Israel and Palestine. It was a trip of a lifetime, especially as a pastor. I got to see in person many of the holy places where Jesus walked! I remembered my baptism in the Jordan River. I rode in a boat on the Sea of Galilee. I … [Read more...]

By Pastor Pam Seebach Harmony, Mabel, and Newburg United Methodist Churches We had dry bones, didn’t we?  For weeks on end, we saw no rain, felt no moisture, dragged about in the heat.  Hope fizzled for a good crop.  Our very bones were dried up and lifeless.  God knows what this lack of hope does to us.  God spoke through the prophet Ezekiel to give many messages to the … [Read more...]

By Pastor Kevin Barnhart Spring Grove Evangelical Free Have you noticed higher prices these days? Of course you have.  This has been such a strange season and what things cost is hard to keep up with.  It could be the price of eggs going up and then down.  There are so many things we might pay attention to, some watch the price of gas like a hawk, while others bring their … [Read more...]