Author Archives: Barry Peterson

The Features of a Faithful Church

As promised, although a day late, I wanted to share the notes from my sermon on “The Features of a Faithful Church,” which I preached on Sunday morning, January 8th, 2012.  (you can listen to the sermon online by clicking here)  The sermon was based on the passage from Ephesians 4:11-16, which gives plenty of instruction [...]

2012 Missions Conference: “Be Light”

It’s almost time for our annual Missions Conference and, as always, the Lord has brought a terrific team of missionaries together to speak about their experiences and to challenge us to become more missions minded.  The Mission Conference will take place during the week of March 11 through 18, 2012, featuring missionaries on Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, [...]

Coming Soon: Faithful Church Notes

Over the last four Sunday mornings I preached a message series on various aspects of the Faithful Church.  It’s really quite unusual for me to take a detour from my normal course of preaching through a particular book, such as I have been doing from the book of Joshua.  But with the onset of a brand new year, I [...]

What is Postmodernism?

Postmodernism is a word that’s been getting a lot of attention lately.  The word is being used in theological and sociological circles as a label to describe our current culture.  But perhaps it refers better to a certain subset of our culture, the younger generation that thinks and acts differently than the rest of us.  So, [...]

Happy 50th Anniversary, Dad & Mom

On August 26, 1961, in a little church in Genoa City, Wisconsin, a young man and a young woman made a covenant before God, their families, and their friends to become husband and wife.  They pledged their vows to one another and united themselves under the Lordship of Christ for their marriage, home, and family.  [...]

Missionary Moment: Jim Elliot

Jim Elliot – Missionary to the Waodani Indians of Ecuador (1927-1956) To the casual observer at the midpoint of the twentieth century, Jim Elliot might have seemed like an ordinary, bright, clean-cut, all-American boy.  He had good looks, knew how to work hard, got good grades…and could easily have achieved “the American dream” of a successful [...]

Is the Church “Divided”?

I was recently informed about a brand new documentary film that just been released called “Divided.” (www.dividedthemovie.com)  The movie is produced by a young man who investigates some hard questions about the practice of segregated church ministries and the impact they’ve had, especially on the youth.  He himself was on a quest to discover a better and more Biblical [...]

Five Trends for American Churches

There’s an interesting article about current and upcoming trends for the church in the Summer, 2011 issue of Facts and Trends, the periodical from LifeWay Christian Resources.  The article has credibility because it is written by Thom S. Rainer, LifeWay’s President and CEO and author of Breakout Churches and co-author of Simple Church.  Rainer has made a [...]

Family Workshop (Begins July 19)

Several people have been asking me about what our church is going to do for Vacation Bible School this summer.  Well, instead of doing a traditional VBS, we’re hosting what we’re calling “Family Workshop” with practical teaching to benefit all of us.  The idea was borne out of a desire to expand our limited focus to include whole [...]

Lord, I believe; help my unbelief!

I’ve always been intrigued by these words from the father of a boy with an unclean spirit in Mark 9.  The disciples of Jesus had already tried to cast out the unclean spirit but were unable to.  So now he encounters Jesus and asks Him to help “if (He) can do anything.”  Now this request [...]