Happy Wednesday!  Wednesday is the day that I write these Central thoughts, and it’s also the day that I lead the men’s bible study in the morning. And to say the least, the last few Wednesdays have not gone as planned. First, Jonah was sick and I stayed home to take care of him. Then Eli was sick and I had to stay home with him. Then I was sick and had to stay home myself. Then, of course, my sister died

Hello Central family and friends. I hope you’re doing well in Wednesday morning. As you’ve probably heard, my older sister Rayna unexpectedly passed away last Friday from a cardiac arrest. For our family and her family (husband Keith and 8 children), we are still coming out of shock as the reality of our loss is sinking in.We wanted to sincerely thank you for all of your prayers, your support, and your care throughout this hard time. It has meant a

If you’ve been outside – or even just looked outside today – you know: today is a weird day.  The smoke from the Canadian wildfires has flooded our air and everything looks different. It looks like we’re living in a vintage photo or something…it’s so odd! It caused me to reflect a bit on our vision. Our ability to see is such a delicate thing, but also so crucial for our lives. I wear contact lenses every day, and it’s amazing

I hope you’re able to enjoy this beautiful week. Get outside, go for a walk, sit in the sun! We started our week off here at Central with our yearly participation in the Atlantic Highlands Memorial Day Parade. It was a great time. It was so encouraging to see all of us in our blue shirts, putting a visible and public face to our church. We had a chance to meet and engage with more people from town, give out candy,

They asked each other, “Were not our hearts burning within us while he talked with us on the road and opened the Scriptures to us?” Luke 24:32On Sunday, we kicked off our new “Voice of Hope” series – which concludes our ‘trilogy’ of series based on our identity statement (Jesus is central, so we aim to live by faith in him, be known by love like him, and be a voice of hope in the world).  If ‘live by faith’ points to ‘what’

 I hope you’re enjoying this beautiful day. Try to get outside and enjoy this fantastic day. May is a busy month for us at Central – and I couldn’t be more thrilled.Last Saturday was the Town Wide Yard Sale – and it was such a great day. The headline is that, thanks to your generosity and serving, we raised a bit over $350 for the AACC Food Pantry! Awesome. But perhaps more important, we had a great day meeting some neighbors and making

Next Wednesday May 17 at 7PM, we will host our first “Equip” seminar. This inaugural seminar will focus on mental health, equipping us to better love our neighbors who struggle with their own mental health issues – so that we can be a voice of hope in our community. It will educate, destigmatize, and open up this important conversation for us. So many people struggle with such issues, and for too long a time, the church was guilty of sweeping

In case you missed it, last Sunday, Amanda and I got baptized at Central! It was an amazing morning.  We were so glad to be surrounded by so many friends, both new and old – and so many people who have influenced our faith. It was a blessing, for us, and we hope it was for you too. It was great to be able to share our testimonies with you (if you missed them, watch them both!).  As Jared talked about on Sunday, our testimonies (i.e., our

On Sunday, I made a promise that I simply did not keep! Towards the beginning of Sunday’s message, I said that, at the end of the message, I’d tell you what “to fulfill all righteousness” meant… and I totally forgot. So now I have a chance to tell you.  Bear with me… “Righteousness” is a big word in the New Testament, especially in Paul’s writings. It can get hotly contested exactly what Paul means by it at certain points, but at the core of what

This Sunday, we kicked off our new series on baptism – called “In With the New”.  As I said on Sunday, baptism is all about being “in Christ” – and as Paul tells us in 2 Corinthians 5, if anyone is in Christ, there is a new creation: everything old has passed away; look, everything has become new! So out with the old, and in with the new.  I spoke about baptism as being relational, rather than magical. It’s all about a relationship