Church on The Rock Homer

I've been painting for several years now, and I like to think I'm aware enough of the dangers in the workspace. And yet, despite being aware of the dangers around me, I am THE GUY who inevitably hurts myself on something I shouldn't have. Something I've warned everyone else about a handful of times. Something where honestly, I could have done differently to ensure my safety. There&...

My first year of college was a wild ride. Move-in day was interesting, deciding on what belongings to bring, setting a bed that wasn’t mine, meeting my roommate, and then meeting the guys on my hall. It was an excitingly odd experience. During orientation, the administration says to all the freshmen, “Look to your left and look to your right, one of you will not graduate college.” Fast forward a c...

I recently posed this question to several members of our staff, “When did you first imagine your life to be what it is today?” The answer that made me chuckle was, “Yesterday!” Maybe you feel the same, many unexpected twists and turns along the way. But either way, here you are. And what bends my mind is to think back on the thousands of details that conspired perfectly to lead me to what is my li...

“Hello darkness my old friend I’ve come to talk with you again”. How many of you remember "The Sounds of Silence” by Simon and Garfunkel? We are showing our age on this one! Art Garfunkel (yes, that’s his real name) said, “the song is fundamentally about the inability to communicate and, consequently, the inability to genuinely love one another.” Joseph experienced his own “Sounds of Silence”...

Have you ever run into a kid who needed some sense knocked into them? I’ll never forget the first time I realized that my child’s hubris was out of control. It's that moment when your infantile child looks at you and what you’re doing and tells you that they know how to do it better. That statement was so utterly preposterous that words could not be formed in my mouth. I looked at my child, smiled...

In this message, we are going to jump into a three weeks series covering the life of one my favorite Biblical characters. We get to meet him as a teenager and my hope is that his story will encourage and inspire those who are in their teens and early twenties. But maybe not in the way you would expect... Our main character is Joseph, and he was definitely going to do great things. Right after some...

A couple of weeks ago, I was in the midst of our morning routine. Wake up, get dressed, breakfast, load up, choose the morning mix for our drive to school. Most of the time it’s kids' music on the way to school. After drop off, Dad does some reminiscing. I love going down the rabbit hole and finding old tunes and enjoying them again. Remember the classics Matchbox 20, Oasis, Weezer, Garth Brooks,...

This Sunday's teaching will focus on the life of Esau and the sobering reality of what happens when we allow our appetites to take the place of God. Esau’s story is more than a historical account; it’s a mirror. It reveals how easily we can trade what is eternal for what satisfies us in the moment. I’ll be exploring the concept of “irreversible moments”, those decisions that seem small in the...

Have you ever witnessed the chaotic messy urgency of performance artists? These artists create on canvas but do so in front of an audience in very dramatic and hurried fashion. Maybe you have seen the same kind, but there is a version of this performance where the artist flips the canvas upside down at the last moment revealing a portrait that up until the final moment appeared to be nothing but s...

A few weeks ago as we were planning this series and the Easter services, the graphic for this series was unleashed in a weekly meeting. Some of our team were filled with excitement and others with anxiety. As you look at the images your mind starts to wander and if you’re like me, you think about how a certain person can’t be a christian. Didn’t so and so say something about… Didn’t that person co...

I find it curious to observe what seems to be an increasing public confidence of professing Christians in the celebrity/media/political worlds. In the last few years it has become more acceptable, even commendable, to own your faith convictions in public spaces. Along with this I have observed a related trend. Notable public personas aggressively feud with other famous figures online, while both p...

F.O.M.O. is an acronym for Fear of Missing Out. We experience F.O.M.O. when there is a constant anxiety that there might be something better we are not currently experiencing. It is anxiety about the future, anticipating a better event, a better car, a better relationship… There is another side to F.O.M.O., the Fear of Missed Opportunity. This is the realization that a moment is gone and can never...

I have an assignment for you to complete before diving into this message. Grab your Bible and find Luke chapter 19. The story known as Christ’s Triumphal Entry begins in verse 29. Take a minute and read that story to refresh your perspective. I have been reflecting on this story for a few weeks now after reading it again. Something caught me by surprise that I had not caught before, something weig...

Maranatha and I have driven the Alcan three times thus far. It is an incredibly beautiful drive and one of my wife’s favorite experiences. The most recent time we traveled to Montana and crossed the border leading to Banff, Alberta. This part of the road has multiple options to connect you to the Alcan in Dawson Creek. On long road drives like this, there can be an eerie feeling of having gone the...

If you have ever felt unseen, overlooked, or disregarded, this message is for you. Before we study together, take some time to read through Genesis 16 and 21. If I was Abraham and I was writing my autobiography, I probably would have opted to leave this section out. It's pretty rough. But buried there, amidst the rubble of bad decisions and abusive actions, is God, aware and present. And not o...

What do Melchizedek, Sodom and Gamora, Balaam and Balak, Phinehas, King Eglon, Ruth, King Rehoboam, King Nahash, Sanballat and Tobiah, ancient mythical gods Chemosh, Melchom, and Baal all have in common? One man named Lot. Lot, the nephew of Abraham, seems like a side character in the book of Genesis. His role, however, has great historical significance in the books of the bible. Though being invo...

There is a little story about me that I want to tell you now. It has taken me 20 years to work up the courage. Don’t judge me too harshly… Shortly after moving back to town in 2005, Jenny and I were reestablishing connections and friendships here in Homer, Alaska, the town of my birth and my heritage. We had just had our second child, I was in my first full-time ministry role, and life was good! I...

I don’t miss driving on highways until I pass Potters Marsh on the way to Anchorage. All of a sudden I’m reminiscing of long road trips with endless highways on the way to a prescribed vacation spot. On those trips I have found it useful to have a copilot to make sure we’re on the right course because without one it's easy to get way down the road and realize that we were supposed to take a le...

I have been thinking and praying about this message for quite some time. It is one of those teachings where I feel the weight early in preparation, as my heart wrestles with what it means for all of us. In this message, we will be in Genesis 5, 10, and 11:10 to 32. Even if you grew up hearing Bible stories and know many of the early Genesis accounts, these chapters may feel less familiar. They can...

In this message, we continue our Eden: Why Are We Here? series by exploring Genesis 9:8 to 17, the passage that introduces what Scripture calls the Noahic Covenant. Many of us know the flood narrative, but this text invites us to pause and consider what God was communicating after the flood and why the sign He chose still matters today. When God places His bow in the clouds, He is doing far more t...

One of the five love languages is giving and receiving gifts. After college, and earlier in my adult life, I considered myself a fantastic gift giver. I had money, time, and a sense that, well, I was killing it in most areas of life. Then I got married, had kids, and went into ministry, tightening my budget and forcing me to be more creative. The truth is, I wasn’t as good a gift giver as I though...

Caught red-handed has to be one of the worst feelings in the world. You did it, there’s no denying it, you’ve been caught. Some of my earliest childhood memories are of getting caught. There is such a clarity in that moment. Up until you’re caught, all of your self-deceptions make sense, at least to you. But when you’re caught, it all falls apart very quickly. The obvious badness of the bad thing...

Real friends tell you there’s stuff on your face or food in your teeth! At the moment it's embarrassing when someone comes up and says, “are you leaving that in your beard for later there big fella”, but no one really wants to walk around with shmutz on their face or spinach in their teeth. However for some of us it's challenging to be on the other side. You’ve been there, a friend walks u...

I am THRILLED to be launching into the book of Genesis again as we kick off a New Year! There are so many foundational truths regarding our purpose, our design, and all the other big WHY questions related to our existence. Take some time to read through the first chapter of Genesis. This is the question I want you to ponder on during this message: If you were in charge, how would you plan for us t...

I hope you enjoyed your Christmas gatherings! What a blessing it is to celebrate the birth of Jesus, His humble nature, the Father’s gift to us of His son, and the miraculous nature of Immanuel, God with us! This Sunday we explore the gift of Christ and what it means for us to become part of His family. Knowing and walking with the Lord as one of His children is the greatest gift you could receive...