I’ve been thinking more about what I spoke about on Sunday (ie, the first of the four soils from the parable of the sower). I introduced the idea that the main reason the soil of our hearts becomes hardened is because we stop listening to God, and instead, listen to others’ voices. That’s Satan’s strategy for ruining our lives and unfortunately, it’s very effective – and it always has been. We see it working as far back as the Garden

Imagine, for a moment, that you were retiring from a career, or moving out of a town, or leaving a church community, or even just moving on to a new phase of life. If you could write a farewell address, what would it say? What would you want to say about your time there, that you’re now leaving behind? What impact would you be leaving behind in your wake?  Or, what would your legacy be? In the men’s bible study this morning,

Yesterday, the women’s bible study got (re)started for the new year. It was great to be back with some of the women from Central, praying and studying Scripture together. If you’re a woman and are free from 10:30-12:00 on Tuesday mornings, we’d love to have you!  This week, we picked up where we had left off before the summer in the Gospel of Mark, chapter 14 (I promise we’ll finish Mark eventually!). One of my favorite stories is in that chapter:

September is here, football starts (tomorrow!), it still feels like summer, and…school is starting up! If you have kids in school, if you’re a teacher, or if you remember having kids in school, it’s always a busy time of year. There’s a lot of energy, anticipation, anxiety, tears, and everything in-between.  So as we did last year, let’s start off this year right…with prayer.   Jesus said that we should concern ourselves with these “little ones” (Mark 9:36-37, 42) – so as

This is a tough one to write: summer is almost over (and yes, I know we have local summer still!). But seriously, before we get into it, I invite you to pray for the folks in Florida who are enduring another damaging hurricane – especially those people who are most vulnerable, unable to help themselves, sick, elderly, and so on.  Now the the Psummer of Psalms is over, I want to take a moment simply to reflect a bit on the

We're excited to be growing our Sunday morning staff! Currently, we are looking for a nursery attendant who can care for our littlest ones, as well as teach small lessons. Please check out the full role description here. If you, or someone you know is interested, contact our Next Generation Pastor, Rebecca DeLucia. VIEW THE ROLE DESCRIPTION

Throughout the summer, I’ve been reading the Psalms as part of my yearly bible reading plan. So throughout these Central Thoughts emails this summer, I’ve done a sort of Psummer Psalm Pslam – looking at a different Psalm each week. And today is the last day of the Psalms!  It’s kind of sad, as I’ve enjoyed reading and reflecting on them!  Yesterday’s Psalms were some of my favorites – especially 146 and 147. Do yourself a favor and take some time to read them today.

Hello Central Baptist Church, I hope this post finds you well. I have something exciting to share that isn’t exactly new – but that we just have not yet ‘formally’ announced: Rebecca DeLucia has joined our staff as our new Next Generation Pastor. She was officially voted into this role at the Quarterly Business Meeting on July 23, and she began in this new role on August 1. Please join me in extending to her a heartfelt and joyful welcome!  I have worked

Today, I opened up my bible app to my daily readings, and the first verse of today’s Psalm just jumped off the page at me: Unless the Lord builds the house,    those who build it labor in vain.                     Psalm 127:1a The Psalm writer speaks of building a house. Unless it’s God who is doing the real building, our ‘building’ will just be labor in vain. Labor that is real, labor that is hard, labor that is,

Good morning from warm, sunny (and humid) Florida!I hope you’re well today. We’ve enjoyed our vacation very much so far, and it’s been good to spend time with my dad and my mom (who you’ve been praying for as she goes through cancer treatments…she thanks you!). As I opened my bible app to read today’s readings, it opened to Psalm 107  – another one of my favorites. It pictures people of the world who are in all various kinds of troubles, and when