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CREATIVE FELLOWSHIP

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  I used to tell my kid’s a dad joke. “What is fellowship?” Answer: Two guys in the same boat. There will be lots of guys in the same fellowship this weekend as the Minnesota Baptist Association holds their annual Men’s Meeting in Pine Island. Pastor Tim Graham is once again hosting this special event and is preparing to grill sirloin steaks and smoke beef briskets. The food will, as always, be delicious. Spiritual fellowship will come from presentations by Jason Ormiston and Steve Brower on the theme of “Intentional Relationships.” If you have never heard Jason or Steve before, you are in for a treat. Tim has also planned some breakout sessions on Ice Fishing, Freeze Drying Foods and Snacks, and New Deer Hunting Laws for 2026. The Bible Story Family will have a display table with an unbeatable sale on good books you need to read, so be sure to stop by and say hi. “Get in the boat.” Don’t miss this exciting time of creative fellowship for men today and tomorrow at Corners...
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CREATIVE GOVERNMENT CONTACTS

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  How great would it be to actually talk with those who are involved in our governance? Well, in Minnesota you can do that. Rory Martin is the director of the Church Ambassador Network. During every legislative session he coordinates visits between pastors and legislators. During the last session 93 different pastors made 119 pastoral visits to the Capitol. “We expand our ministry to the Capitol to folks regardless of their political party affiliation or voting record,” write Rory. “We are aiming to help our government see the church as a primary resource to meet needs in our communities. We believe the church a state can work in tandem to affect real change throughout our state.” Church Ambassador Network is non-partisan. It seeks to meet needs in Minnesota without government money. But as government helps identify those needs, the church can step in to meet such needs effectively. In that way the ministry goes far beyond mere chaplaincy. To contact Church Ambassador Netwo...
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CREATIVE SENIORS

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  4200 years of accumulated wisdom in one room. That is what happens every Wednesday morning as the Golden Agers meet at Fourth Baptist Church. The church has sponsored this gathering of senior saints for many years. Carmen and I began working with them at the beginning of September. The Golden Agers sing hymns, share stories, and play games just like a group of youngsters. After all, we are still young at heart. We take day trips. We hear from missionaries and historians and musicians and travelers. And we pray. Just this week as Missionary Roberto Coelho was speaking to the Golden Agers he began his remarks by saying, “I love this group. Because they pray.” That has been true for years. This is a group of prayer warriors who uphold the work of God’s servants near and far. Carmen and I greatly appreciate the opportunity Fourth Baptist Church has given us to work with this ministry. Their heart for God is truly amazing. And those 4200 years of accumulated wisdom? Well, that i...
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CREATIVE ARCHITECTURE

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  Some of the most beautiful buildings in all the world are found in Europe. Travelers marvel at the construction and decorations of years gone by. Those who live among the beauty sometimes lose the awe of what they experience daily. Anna Morrell has been such a traveler in Spain for the past three months. Having earned a degree in architecture from Bob Jones University she was very aware of the beauty around her. But she was not just there to study architecture. Anna served with a missionary couple, the Seth Grotze family. The creativity aspect came from a combination of artistic and natural curiosity. Anna went to a coffee shop to draw the buildings around her. In America most of us do not think of stopping to look at what someone is drawing, but in Spain this is apparently not uncommon. So people engaged with Anna in the coffee shop and she in turn told them why she was in Spain and encouraged them to consider their relationship with Christ. Anna found opportunities to ser...
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CREATIVE JOY AMID SORROW

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  9/11. We lived in eastern Pennsylvania 24 years ago and witnessed first-hand the sight of abandoned cars in parking lots left by people who had ridden the bus to work in New York City that day and never returned for their vehicles. We grieved as a nation over the attack on the Towers and mourned with those who lost loved ones in that tragic terrorist attack. My wife, Carmen, was not in Pennsylvania that day. She watched the news in a hospital room in Minneapolis where our daughter-in-law Dorinda was preparing for the birth of our third granddaughter. The doctors and nurses were somewhat distracted, but Lanie Jo Allen arrived later that day in good health. We remember 9/11 each year with sorrow, but also with joy. Lanie continues to be a source of blessing to our entire family. Isn’t that often our experience in life? Sorrow is mixed with joy. The pathway is not always smooth. We live in the midst of evil because of the sinful choices of fallen men. At the same time we learn...
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Man's Greatest Need?

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  Jesus, the Divine Son of God, possessed all the attributes of the Godhead, including omniscience. He had complete knowledge of all things, past, present, and future. That means that when He was alive on earth He could have written a physics textbook. He could have invented the printing press and the internet. He could have given His generation the automobile and the jet airplane. He could have given the world Sputnik, and Tesla and AI. Civilization could have advanced by 2000 years. Why didn’t He do that? Isn’t man’s greatest need the technology that makes it possible for us to enjoy our standard of living and comfortable lifestyles? Judging from how the average person spends money, that would seem to be the case. We cannot live without cell phones, fast food, and dependable transportation.   Instead, Christ met man’s greatest need. He shared with mankind the message of salvation, because that is more important than any other invention or information ever known. At eve...
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CREATIVE FELLOWSHIP

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  Every summer our church enjoys a series of messages from our Pastor, Dr. Matt Morrell, followed by midweek Home Bible Fellowships. This year the theme of the preaching series was “The Promises of God.” Carmen and I enjoyed the fellowship of a group of eighteen friends from church who came together to discuss the previous Sunday’s message. Some were people we had known for years. Others were new to us, but only for the first week. We shared personal testimonies of how we came to know the Lord. We talked about sanctification and all that God has promised to do in us because of our new life in Christ. We discussed the promise of His coming and His promise to be faithful. We talked about pain and suffering, rejoicing in God’s promise to sustain us through every path of life. Then we prayed. We prayed for our church, for one another, for spiritual insight, for physical needs, and for wisdom. We prayed for our world, and our state, and our neighbors. As we talked, and read scri...
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