Urban Gathering Center

GIFTING THE CALLED My good friend, Rich Melheim, often says, “God gifts the called, rather than only calling the gifted.” In my brief time as a pastor, I have found this to be true. I have seen people, who may not be an obvious choice, find that in taking on a new challenge, rise to the occasion and become the right person for the job. A BIG MISTAKE I remember a youth named Kevin, who was a pretty fair student, but not the kid you would go out of your way to ask to read or

Who believes in us, TRUSTS US, and empowers us… GOD TRUSTS US??? We affirm in this creed that not only are we are to trust God, but that God trusts us. I can’t imagine what it would take for God to put the future of Christianity into the hands of the believers. Even more, there is plenty of evidence that we have let God down in being ambassadors to the world on God’s behalf. Jesus did promise us that the Spirit will guide us, inspire us and always be with us. Far too ofte

Who believes in us CREEDS It could be said that a creed is a statement of what we believe. In all the major creeds of the church we confess what we believe about God. In this creed, we also wanted to affirm that God believes in us. By affirming that God believes in us, we are in fact saying that God’s original plan or dream for the world is to work though people. It is not that we don’t believe that God works supernaturally apart from humans. I have seen this several tim

Who's Love is the Life Force of the Universe WHAT WE NEED I sometimes wish I had become a scientist. I have always been fascinated with the complexity of human biology, though I didn’t do well in my Biology 101 class at Carthage College. Probably because it was an Eight O'clock class in my freshman year. I read the other day that our bodies have around 37.2 trillion cells. I think that must be an estimate because I am not sure anyone could count them all before some new

We believe in God, the Creator, Whose LOVE is the life-force of the Universe THE BLUEPRINT To quote Phyllis Diller, “If you are what you eat…I am going to eat a thin person.” In John’s Gospel, Jesus says, “God is Love.” It is not just what God does but who God is. I believe that God’s love is the very essence not just of God but of life. If God is the architect and builder, the blue print is Love. WHAT IS LOVE I am quite sure that anything I say about love will be only s

We believe in God, the Creator TWO CREATION STORIES In the book of Genesis, there are two main creation stories in the first two chapters. The first one begins with, “In the beginning, God created the Heavens and the Earth.” The second creation story begins with almost the same line but switches the words heaven and earth in the order they come. “In the day that the Lord God created the Earth and the Heavens…” You will probably not like this if you are one who only reads

We Believe in God the Creator SUPERMAN GOD When I was four or five, I took the annual “Justification” trip with my family to the Twin Cities of Minneapolis and St. Paul. What you ask, is a “Justification” trip? It is what every pastor needs after Christmas or Easter…Just-a-vacation. Growing up on the Iron Range of Minnesota’s northland, that largest building we had was either the hospital or the airport. Both of these could probably fit into side by side into a high schoo

THE SPIRIT OF PEACE CREED We believe in God the creator Who’s love is the life force of of the universe, Who believes in us, trusts us an empowers us, Who lives in us and through us and fills us with wonder. We believe in Jesus, God’s own son; Who shows through his life, the heart and character of God, Who lived to raise up the lowly and to bring peace to all people, Who loved those unloved, fed those who hungered, healed those with sickness, Who taught adults and laughed wit

We Believe... ALL OVER THE MAP I had a few reservations about writing a creed. So often churches separate themselves by proclaiming what they believe. It is as if, what really matters, is getting the theology exactly right. Often the statements of what they believe are more about what they don’t believe than what they do. To me, It is far better as a church to be known for what you do, than for your ability to understand and agree on church doctrine. Just check out a few

THE CRISIS When I first started preaching at Spirit of Peace Lutheran Church in 2014, I realized that much of what I had learned about preaching, and much of my “go to” stuff was not going to work. As a former youth minister, I was given many opportunities to preach in the large, suburban, mostly middle class, mostly white, Lutheran churches that I served. Now, the people called me pastor of a small, urban, diverse, and struggling church. Adding to the complexity, the chur