Glen West is an amazing, exhilarating, creative experience. Monday afternoon I returned home after spending several days as a participant in its fiction workshop under the instruction of Larry Woiwode. Remember how I recently reflected on the Place of Place? That post quoted from Woiwode and concluded: Wouldn’t you love to learn more about place … Continue reading Post-Glen West
“Facing the Fearsome” by Rev. Stephen Donovan
Rather than writing my own meditation today, I'm posting a link to a sermon on Psalm 46 preached by Rev. Stephen Donovan at Escondido United Reformed Church in Escondido, CA. He preached "Facing the Fearsome" on the last evening of 2012, when many people felt anxious about the coming year. Rev. Donovan's message is available at … Continue reading “Facing the Fearsome” by Rev. Stephen Donovan
Messiah’s ordains church planter for Jersey City
Ten years ago, Sam Perez was searching for something more evangelical than his Pentecostal tradition. Passing through broadly evangelical and then Reformed Baptist churches, he found his ecclesiastical home at Messiah’s Reformed Fellowship in New York City. “Listening to Christian radio everyday, I came across a gruffy, deep, booming voice that was preaching in a … Continue reading Messiah’s ordains church planter for Jersey City
Bittersweet beginning in Boise
When Classis Pacific Northwest of the URCNA met on April 16, 2013, it salvaged a difficult situation by concurring that a church plant in Boise, ID, was the best solution. As reported earlier in Christian Renewal, the October 2012 meeting of Classis had encouraged Cloverdale URC in Boise, ID, and its pastor, Rev. Jonathan Van … Continue reading Bittersweet beginning in Boise
“Welcome to the Wedding” by Jeremy Veldman
In lieu of writing my own meditation on Psalm 45 today, I'm posting a link to a sermon on the psalm, preached by Rev. Jeremy Veldman in 2004. Rev. Veldman now pastors Covenant United Reformed Church in Kalamazoo, Michigan, but at the time he preached this sermon he was serving an internship at Covenant URC in Kansas … Continue reading “Welcome to the Wedding” by Jeremy Veldman
The place of place
On this Fiction Friday, I'm thinking about the place of place. In 1956 Eudora Welty wrote a well-known essay, "Place in Fiction," that appears on pages 116-133 in the collection of her essays and reviews published as The Eye of the Story (Vintage International, 1990). The same essay is found on pages 249-264 of Critical Approaches to Fiction (McGraw-Hill, … Continue reading The place of place
Hope for survivors and churches
The Hope of Survivors, a ministry of compassion that provides support, hope and encouragement to victims of pastoral sexual abuse, offered a balanced and biblical presentation in the Joan Kuyper Farver Auditorium in Pella, IA, on April 22, 2013. About 40 people from the community and about that same number from Covenant Reformed Church attended … Continue reading Hope for survivors and churches
Medicine Hat preaching station closes
After a six-month trial period, the consistory of Trinity Reformed Church (URCNA) in Lethbridge, AB, has decided to discontinue its preaching station effort in Medicine Hat. The work began in September of 2012, primarily out of consideration for four families from the Medicine Hat area, who regularly drove two hours to worship in Lethbridge. It … Continue reading Medicine Hat preaching station closes
“When God Hides His Face” by Rev. Paul Ipema
Rather than writing a meditation today on Psalm 44, I'm sharing a sermon on the psalm by Rev. Paul Ipema of Community United Reformed Church in Schererville, IN. He preached this sermon at the evening worship service on February 6 of 2011. It can be accessed on the Sermon Audio website. In this message, Rev. Ipema speaks … Continue reading “When God Hides His Face” by Rev. Paul Ipema
One-year internship in Pella for Ecuadorian seminarian
While one-year internships are common in the OPC and one-year vicariates are standard practice in the RCNZ, such arrangements are rare in the URCNA. But Covenant Reformed Church (URCNA) in Pella, IA, is planning a one-year internship with Pablo Landázuri. Pablo, who is from Quito, Ecuador, anticipates graduating from Mid-America Reformed Seminary on May 16 … Continue reading One-year internship in Pella for Ecuadorian seminarian
Glenda Faye Mathes 