In this morning’s men’s bible study, we discussed one of the stories we read for today’s bible reading plan: the story of blind Bartimaeus.It’s one of my favorite stories in Mark for two reasons.First, when I was interviewing for to be the pastor here at Central, I was asked to lead a bible study – and this is the story I chose to do. As I was reflecting on the story in preparation of that bible study, the ideas and message

A blog by Next Generation Pastor, Rebecca DeLucia Life has a way of throwing storms at us; some we can see and others we carry quietly inside. In Mark chapters 4 and 5, we encounter two powerful stories back-to-back that show us something essential about Jesus: He has unmatched authority over both external chaos and internal captivity. In Mark 4:35-41 Jesus and His disciples are crossing the Sea of Galilee when a violent storm erupts. Waves crash over the boat. Water fills it.

In both the women’s and men’s bible studies this week, we hit on the topic of gifts. By gifts, I don’t mean gifts we give people for Christmas, or birthday gifts, or anything like that: I mean the gifts (abilities) that God has given us for…well…what for? The ‘gifts’ that God has given us: what are they for? In the men’s bible study, we’re (slowly!) studying our way through First Corinthians, which has extensive discussion on gifts. Before I answer the main

As many of you know, last week, our middle son Eli had surgery to correct something that was wrong with his eyes. Everything went well, and he’s doing great, recovering quickly, and his vision is getting better day by day. I wanted to pause and, on behalf of myself, Amanda, and Eli (and Jonah and Zeke – who just had shoulder surgery too!), thank you for your love and care throughout his recovery (as well as Zeke’s!). Your prayers, offers

I live right around the corner from La Rosa’s Pastry Shop – and it’s impossible to ignore. Now, I’m not much of a pastry or fancy dessert guy. But it’s impossible to ignore - not because I see it every day, and not because I shop there, and not because I crave pastry regularly.  It’s impossible to ignore because of the aroma that it pumps into the air. It smells, in a word, delicious.  I’d say every other day, I’ll walk out of

In today’s Bible Reading plan we opened to Philippians 2, a chapter that challenges us to model Christ-like love and humility in our daily lives; our actions, attitudes, and activities “for it is God who works in you to will and to act according to his good purpose.” (Phil. 2:13)  Imagine if we truly lived out of this belief, holding in our hearts and echoing out into the world through our actions the belief that God is at work in us according to his good

On Sunday, we really got into our new series called “Jesus Is”, examining how the Gospel writers (Mark, in this case) want us to understand who Jesus is (hence the title!): as Messiah/Christ – and God in person - he is our King and Lord. I mentioned how the quote that Mark utilizes to point this out from Isaiah is in fact from Malachi, Exodus, and Isaiah…not just from Isaiah.  So I wanted to say something more about that.  Is Mark wrong here, or what?Kind of, but not

I’ve been thinking a lot about bible study: how we do it as a church right now, how we should do it as a church, how to lead it, and so on. I’ve been thinking about how, too often, people don’t think they can ‘do’ or ‘lead’ a bible study because they haven’t been to seminary, don’t read commentaries, or don’t have material planned. I’ve been thinking about what a shame that is, and how much I’d love to see more people

Yesterday, in our 2025 bible reading plan, we read one of my favorite stories in Mark 2.  It’s the story of the paralyzed man – or rather – of the 4 friends of the paralyzed man. They want to bring him to Jesus because they believe that Jesus can heal him. The problem was that when they get to the house that Jesus was teaching in, it’s packed, and so they can’t get in. There was a significant obstacle in their bringing him