The water has finally subsided from our building. Like Noah’s dove (Genesis 8:12), we now land and begin exploring the new chapter God’s writing for us. We exit this ark with some trepidation, to be sure. But we also step out with great confidence, knowing that God loves bringing a new creation up from the … More The Dove and the New Creation: Our Next Chapter at BridgePoint
“How can we pray for you?” This gracious question has echoed through our emails, texts, messages, and calls the past two weeks. With the Harvey sprint downshifting into the post-Harvey slog, here are some ways you might pray us forward in coming weeks and months. 1. Wisdom Like Solomon, we need wisdom. The task was heavy … More How to Pray for Us
BridgePoint Bible Church has been in transition for years now. Several associate pastors transitioned to other ministries. The senior pastor transitioned to an associate role. The women’s coordinator transitioned, the facilities director transitioned, and I transitioned from the professorate in Louisville to the pastorate here. “Transition” has been the buzzword around BridgePoint. And we were … More Ink from the Sky
I never imagined I’d be sloshing through two feet of brown floodwater in our church building two weeks after my installation service and three months after we moved to Houston. But there I was this past Friday, with my brother Mike, kayaking across the parking lot and gliding through the glass doors and then wading … More Singing in the Rain
The South Texas catastrophe stemming from Hurricane Harvey has just begun here in Houston. The clouds over our home parted this evening and the sun shone through for the first time in five days, but make no mistake: high floodwaters are still filling much of the city, pregnant creeks and rivers are still sending runoff … More Tuesday’s Reflections from Houston
(See ongoing updates at the end of the article.) I want to ask you to pray for our church and our immediate community in the Energy Corridor of west Houston. It’s 4 a.m. on Monday morning after a long day here in the city. Three hours ago, the Harris County Flood Control District and the Army … More Praying for BridgePoint
This is going to be an unedited, stream-of-consciousness post. As the nation knows, Hurricane Harvey made landfall along the Gulf Coast on Friday. Since then, rain has been falling constantly in the Houston area. The tropical storm has been hovering in-place over the region, picking up water from the Gulf and slinging it into the … More Help for Houston
I don’t plan to make Sunday morning statements about most noteworthy events that make national news. I hope my brothers and sisters at BridgePoint Bible Church can appreciate when I do decide to make these statements without expecting that every injustice that tops the headlines will receive a focused response in our Sunday gatherings. But … More My Sunday Morning Comments about Charlottesville
Long ago, at many times and in many ways, God spoke to our fathers by the prophets, but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son. — Hebrews 1:1-2 Holy Father, Your word is light — let it rise, let it shine, let it show. Your word is health — let … More A Preacher’s Prayer
This weekend, every major news network is covering the thousands of white supremacists who’ve descended on Charlottesville, Virginia. Their local micro-protest is the removal of Confederate statues and names from public parks and spaces. But their larger macro-protest is the increasing diversity of a nation they feel is squeezing out the white race, whom they deem … More Charlottesville, Racism, and the Church of Jesus Christ
How much does it hurt when someone slanders you? How long does it stay with you when someone shares negative things about you with others? How deep does it go when someone slices into your reputation with twisted words you know don’t represent the truth? Slander is serious business. It poisons hearts and fractures friendships. … More Five Slippery Steps toward Slander
On June 1, after a two-day caravan involving an Odyssey filled with kids trailing a U-Haul packed with stuff, our family awoke in the outskirts of west Houston and began the surprising new chapter God is authoring into our half-dozen lives. Now two months into our Texas adventure, I’m ready to start writing again, this … More Relaunching from Houston
Holy Father, You exist as one God in three persons. Yours is the perfect spirit of friendship. We rejoice to know you and be known by you. Draw your people together into this holy spirit of friendship so that we might fellowship face-to-face and shoulder-to-shoulder, feasting and working alike, in joyful bonds of covenant love. … More A Prayer for Friendship
It happened right after a Saturday night message at a church I was visiting. I had just finished my third message for a youth retreat when a 14-year-old I’ll call “Megan” found me at the back of the auditorium. She had heard me say the night before that I knew serious things were going on … More Drops of Grace: The Limits and Opportunities of Momentary Ministry
The Christian tradition has a complicated relationship with justice. In some situations, Christianized systems have been terribly unjust; in other situations, Christians have led the way toward justice. Sometimes Christians have denied that societal justice should be a concern of the faithful; at other times, Christians have decried any model of Christian theology that downplays … More Chains Shall He Break: The Jewish Messiah, the Christian Church, and the Hope of Justice
BridgePoint Bible Church Ray and Hollington Architects Fretz Construction Photo: John Lindy We are thrilled to announce that God has called me to serve as Lead Pastor at BridgePoint Bible Church in Houston, Texas. Cindi and I just returned from a 5-day candidating trip, and the church voted overwhelmingly to invite us to serve with … More Following the Cloud and Flame: A New Gundersen Journey
