The past two Sundays, I had the opportunity to participate in worship online, from the comfort of our couch at home. First, with Church of the Resurrection, a large Methodist congregation in Kansas City, and then with Lutheran Church of Hope, a large church in Des Moines. My intent had been to worship in person … More Who is our Audience?
One of the books on my sabbatical reading list is “Not In It to Win it” by Andy Stanley. Stanley is the pastor of NorthPoint Church in Atlanta Georgia, a large mega-church with multiple campuses around the southeastern United States. Stanley is an author and hosts “The Andy Stanley Leadership Podcast.” I am planning on … More “Not In It To Win It”
Our home backs up to a wooded area. Every spring, I try to pay attention to the trees, plants and other growing things coming back to life. I go out and look at the buds on the trees. Because it seems like we go from bare branches to small, green leaves overnight. And I want to “notice” when the … More Watching for New
Hello friends, Beginning tomorrow, January 12, 2022, Trinity is instituting a mask mandate for people within our building. This mandate will last for two weeks. Unfortunately, we have all watched the number of COVID cases in our community spike in recent days. (Influenza cases are on the uptick as well.) We have all heard of friends … More 2 Week Mask Mandate at Trinity
Two summers ago, I took a trip into the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness with our youngest son, Sam. On our last day, we were paddling back to the outfitter’s when we took the portage from Alpine Lake into Seagull Lake. Seagull is what Boundary Waters veterans call “big water.” It’s a really big lake to paddle … More When God Whispers in Your Ear
In the spring of 2014, our family was living in Maple Grove, when I was in the call process to become the pastor here at Trinity. Shortly after the call process was complete, and we knew that our family was moving to Owatonna, Pastor Peter Strommen, who was the interim pastor here at the time, invited … More A Change in Perspective
Hello friends! This past weekend, we promised you that we would let you know as soon as possible how the new (and unexpected) COVID and mask guidelines would affect our life together as a congregation. Our leadership teams have met and formulated new plans for Trinity and a timeline moving forward. Of course, if we’ve … More Trinity’s Updated Mask and COVID Policies
Dear friends, I’m sure many of you were very excited to hear of the changes in guidelines from the CDC and Governor Waltz regarding the wearing of masks in public places. I too was very excited to read of these changes. It has been a long time coming! While they are welcome, the changes came … More Update on Masks in Worship
Hello friends! On Friday, Governor Tim Walz released new guidelines for businesses, organizations, events and faith communities. These guidelines give more options and opportunities for congregations to be together for worship and other events. We are excited that as the COVID numbers in the county have improved, more options are available to us again. Trinity’s … More What the Governor’s New Guidelines Mean for Worship
One day, this will all be over. The majority of people will have received the vaccine, and we will again be free to sit close to each other, to take our masks off, and to shelve the term “socially distance.” I’m not sure when yet, but it will happen. One day. One day, this will … More One Day…
Test Driving Theology 