Many of us have experienced that moment when someone calls our name three times before we finally hear them. Maybe you were absorbed in your phone, lost in thought about work, or—let’s be honest—pretending to be asleep while your spouse asked about taking out the trash. Think about those times in a crowded restaurant when […]
Next month, we’ll experience the annual ritual of “falling back.” Daylight Saving Time ends, and many of us will wake up feeling like we’ve been gifted an extra hour. Some of you may already be planning how to spend this bonus time—extra sleep, catching up on projects, maybe just enjoying a longer Sunday morning coffee. […]
Have you ever missed an important phone call because you didn’t recognize the number? You let it go to voicemail, only to discover later it was exactly the opportunity you’d been hoping for. We live surrounded by notifications, yet often miss the most important messages – especially when God is calling. Here’s what I’ve learned […]
Monday morning arrives with the familiar question: what will I preach next Sunday? For many pastors, sermon preparation consumes 10-20 hours weekly—time that could also serve pastoral care, administration, and family. AI doesn’t replace the spiritual work of sermon preparation, but it can streamline the mechanical aspects, freeing you for deeper engagement with Scripture and […]
Many of us have mastered the art of the uncomfortable church nap. You know the one – where you’re trying to stay respectfully upright while your eyelids wage war against consciousness. Maybe it happens during the pastoral prayer, or when someone is explaining a financial report. Your head starts that telltale bob, and you jerk […]
September in Kansas brings its annual comedy show—watching neighbors simultaneously run their air conditioners and heaters on the same day. Maybe you’ve overheard someone say, “I wore shorts this morning and needed a jacket by lunch!” This weather whiplash mirrors something deeper in our lives. We constantly adjust, trying to control our comfort and security. […]
Sermon – Short September always feels like January’s overachieving sibling, doesn’t it? New school supplies smell better than any candle, and we convince ourselves that color-coding our schedules will somehow create more hours in the day. Is that just me? Here in McPherson, as harvest season approaches and school activities ramp up, we pack our […]
Labor Day weekend—when half of McPherson still grills outside while the other half has already switched to soup season. Have you seen anyone put both a huge fan and a space heater in the garage “just in case.” We Kansans know how to prepare for anything, don’t we? We live ready for both scorching heat […]
Anyone else ever watch the “Public Right to Know” Facebook group? Someone posts about a pothole, a question about the city, or some other random thing and within hours it just might turn into a digital mob scene. One person makes a snarky comment, then another piles on, and suddenly everyone’s competing to be the […]
Last week at Walmart, I watched what looked like a grandmother navigate the back-to-school aisles with what I assumed were three grandchildren. Each child gravitated toward different supplies—one wanted sparkly notebooks, another chose plain black, the third picked folders covered in dinosaurs. She smiled and said, “You each know exactly what you need.” That simple […]
Anyone else already tired of back-to-school ads? It’s only early August, but every store has transformed into a shrine to three-ring binders and number two pencils. My favorite are the commercials showing perfectly organized children cheerfully packing their backpacks at dawn. Meanwhile, most of us remember or experience the reality—frantically searching for matching socks while […]
August in Kansas sometimes means we’re caught between seasons. Summer isn’t quite finished with us, but fall is already sending advance notices through school supply displays and fall sports practice schedules. Many of us are still watering gardens – some thriving despite the heat, others looking like they’ve had quite enough of this Kansas summer, […]
Rev. Andrew Conard 