Posts under ‘Stories’

In my last post, I shared about how I’ve struggled to boldly speak truth to others because I fear messing it up, even if my intentions are good. This blog post is going to deal with how we can respond to difficult responses to our truth-telling when we acted in ignorance or foolishness, even if [...]

Hey friends. You may have noticed I haven’t blogged for about two weeks now. It’s not because I don’t like you. It’s because I was busy in the lab, hashing out the ultimate plot to propose marriage to the woman of my dreams. And, as you likely inferred from the title of the post, it [...]

Here’s part 2 in the Southside baptism series. Knowing Nathan and spending some time as his small group leader has been a privilege. The magnitude of God’s work in his life just in the last year is truly astounding. Fun fact: the shower Nathan mentions in this story just so happens to be the exact [...]

The following is the first installment of the three-part Southside baptism series. Baptizing Elam Lantz this past Sunday was an absolute joy. Elam is one of my best friends in the whole world, and by the grace of God, I’ve been able to play a part in his amazing story. Enjoy his re-telling of it:
When I came [...]

My original vision for ThisIsChurch.net was that its entries would always record or point ahead to captivating scenes of God’s Bride in all her beauty as I see her on campus at the University of Michigan. Since I’ve been away from my local ministry for some time (raising financial support), it’s been hard to paint those pictures for you [...]

When I get back to campus, I’ll be leading a house church community known as the Southside New Life Team. Last night, Hannah (a sophomore in our community…and yes, I got permission to use her name) sent out an impromptu e-mail to our family/team sharing some of her feelings regarding what she’s found at New Life (and specifically [...]

If you didn’t already know, I was raised in a gay household. The uniqueness of my childhood and adolescence has done much to shape me in ways positive and negative, realized and soon-to-be-realized. God has undeniably done remarkable and supernatural things in my life and story, and now I hope that he will work evermore through my story. [...]

This post would probably be more aptly titled “Why we ought to talk to atheists according to methods prescribed in Part 1“.  But I I like parallel structure, so it’s part 2. Take this one with a grain of salt because it has considerably less biblical support than part 1 and leans heavily upon my own experience and [...]

The other day, my friend Kyle and I were walking around at the Ann Arbor Art Fair when we were approached by a self-identified traveling monk named Mukunda. I assume he was Hindu because he handed Kyle and me two copies of the Bhagavad Gita and told us he was on a mission to spread the message of [...]

A lot of students in our church struggle with sexual addiction. As I’ve come to learn more about the dynamics of a sexual addiction, I’ve become increasingly convinced that grace (undeserved favor resulting in a total release from guilt), rather than a white-knuckle effort to alter behavior, is the only solution (see Colossians 2:20-23). Experts on the subject [...]