Hello again friends, We’re just a few days away from the start of our 2024 Valley Church Global Outreach Conference. This is a highlight of the year for many of us to celebrate all God is doing around the world and to be challenged to the task remaining. This year we have so many of…
Dear Family, Webster defines apocalypse as a sudden violent event that brings about great loss or destruction. There are people today who fear that the next global pandemic could be an apocalypse of biblical proportions. Today as I was working out at 24 Hour Fitness, I looked up on the monitor and saw the devastation…
Howard Robard Hughes Jr. was best known during his lifetime as one of the richest and most influential people in the world. He was an American aerospace engineer, business magnate, film producer, investor, philanthropist and pilot. But at the end of his life Hughes turned into a recluse, sitting alone in a private theater watching…
Hey Family, I heartily recommend a children’s book if you need a gift for a little person in your life. Here’s one of my favorites, Don’t Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus by Mo Willems. It’s about a Pigeon whose passion is to operate a large motor vehicle. The story gets going when the Bus…
The parable of the Good Samaritan in Luke 10:30-37 is very familiar to Christians and non-Christians alike. For most people this is a story about being kind to people around you or being a nice person. Even among secular people, someone who does good to strangers is called a “Good Samaritan”. In California “The Good…
Dear Family, Do you remember bedtime stories from your childhood? I would have to go back to the “dark ages” to recall those that my parents, grandparents, and my two older sisters read or told to me. I am quite sure that you remember stories better than a sermon on a particular passage. That is…
Have you ever had an “epiphany?” The dictionary defines “epiphany” as “a manifestation of a divine or supernatural being.” I think if you did, it would make a profound impact on you! The Biblical accounts paint a picture of people overwhelmed by the beauty, power, radiance, and glory of God. (I know a couple of…
Think of how confused John was. He’s baptizing people in the Jordan river and who should walk up to GET baptized but Jesus! John has already identified Jesus as “the lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world.” (John 1:29) and he knows that he’s not even “worthy to carry his sandals”…
In 2002 we taught our kids how to ride bikes. Many experiences happen all at the same time when you have four kids less than two years apart. Someone at Valley Church had given us a couple of kids-sized bikes their children had outgrown, and somewhere I picked up enough parts and pieces to cobble…
Dear Friends, What did you sign up for when you entered the Christian race! But I am getting ahead of myself because I should have asked you how you qualified to get in this marathon race in the first place. Could it be that your qualification was not based on your own merits, but rather…