The last two weeks have been busy here at Beacon. We were overrun by almost 500 kids from our church and community as we ran our annual Day Camp. We were blessed to share the gospel with all those kids, many of whom have no regular connection with a church family. As we have wrapped up Day Camp and the decorations have come down and life is returning to normal, I’ve been thinking about the lessons...  Read More

It is so wonderful to see all the moving parts of our Day Camp ministry! It truly is a great picture of an army of volunteers working together to serve our community and model the love of Christ!With any big endeavor like this, it is not without its problems. We run into parents' complaints, schedule snafus, issues with oppressive heat, one of our elders scaring the children with his voice, kid dr...  Read More

Summer 2023 is in full swing! Our family has been in summer mode for several weeks (our kids get out of school earlier than most). For most families though, summer just began. Summer is my favorite season by a long shot. But summer has presented some new challenges as our kids have grown and entered school. How do you keep twin 7-year-old boys busy all day without school?! We’re still figuring tha...  Read More

If you’re older, like me, you might remember singing the doxology in church. We would sing it after the offering was taken, and the ushers were carrying the offering plates to the front of the sanctuary. We were reminding ourselves that every offering, every gift, is a gift from God! It was sort of a weekly reminder in song of the goodness of God, and the faithfulness of his people.The other day I...  Read More

     A few weeks ago, I was saddened to hear that a major pastoral influence in my life, Tim Keller, had passed away from Pancreatic Cancer. Keller was a retired pastor who had lived out most of his ministry at Redeemer Presbyterian, a church in the heart of Manhattan, sharing the Gospel with young college students, artists, and businesspeople in the city.    Of course, there is little reason to b...  Read More

“The only way you can fail at the task of family discipleship is by not doing anything.” - Dr. Dan Burrell, John Rawlings School of Divinity, Liberty UniversityThose were Dr. B’s departing words as we wrapped up our class focusing on family discipleship. While we may be able to take some issue with his statement, Dr. B was on target. As parents, our call is to be the primary disciple-makers in our...  Read More