Jeremy R. Geerdes Posts

Saul had been rejected as king not once, but twice, for jumping the gun and taking shortcuts when it came to God’s will. For Samuel, this represented a grave failure. Saul had been God’s anointed. What would Samuel, Israel, and God do now? 1 Samuel 16 marks the beginning of the transition of power from […]

Application Notes Application Sometimes, I feel a bit intimidated by some people. You know the type. They wake up to a standing ovation. And when they go to bed, the whole world seems to wait for them with bated breath to rise again. Because when they’re awake, they’re always working on something profound. In fact, […]

Application Notes Application Change is never easy for anyone. Despite its inevitability, we are almost always loathe to give up the comfort – or at least the familiarity – of what we have for something new and/or unknown. Over the last two millenia, the church has been compelled to change in a number of ways […]

So this morning was one of those bittersweet days for me as a pastor. In general, things went pretty well. Attendance was remarkably good, and it was great to have a handful of familiar guests, including Nicole’s parents. Pastor Sharon’s message from Luke 8 about how Jesus would take away our shame was excellent. And […]

Application Notes Application The situation was grave. Stephen, a lowly waiter in the church, was standing before a restless crowd of religious/political officials. The charges had been made: Stephen was a proponent of destroying the temple; revolutionizing the Jewish religion; and perhaps most gravely, promoting Jesus. And now, the entire assembly was focused intently on […]

Google Spotlight is an interesting thing. In the last several weeks since its launch, I have found myself increasingly scrolling past the normal news headlines from around the world which populate Google News to this strange new section at the very bottom of the page which purports to focus on the last great stronghold for […]

Between last night and this morning, I read an excerpt from a new book by Max Blumenthal entitled Republican Gommorrah: Inside the Movement That Shattered the Party (http://www.thenation.com/doc/20090921/blumenthal/2). While the overall book apparently covers the supposed hijacking of the Republican party by the hypocritical religious right, a term which seems to leave a bad taste […]

First off, my apologies for being late this week. After the service, we entertained the Wiest family for lunch, and then time got away from me. Before I knew it, it was time for small group! That said, I thought yesterday went very well. The new projector was a welcome improvement, and the flexibility that […]

So, a couple weeks back, I mentioned this crazy idea that I’ve had to put together a conference (or at least a bunch of resources) for churches averaging less than 100 in average attendance. The idea flowed from my own frustration with a severe lack of resources geared toward so-called small churches even though some […]

Application Notes Application Being the pastor of a small church can be a challenge sometimes. Often, we are compelled to be a “jack of all trades,” even though we regularly feel like a “master of none.” Fortunately, in our church, we have a large number of people who are willing to step up and help […]