Aaron (Page 2)

This past week was hard by most any measure. For most in our church and in our community, there was a great deal of shock, sadness, and questions without answers. And then Sunday came…what a perfect time for our Summer Recap Sunday. If you were not able to attend church or watch online, let me encourage you to go back on our website or Facebook site and watch the service from Sunday. I needed to be in church on Sunday.…

In a conversation with friends this past weekend, I realized there are two types of people when they get home from a vacation: I’m not here to tell you one is right, and one is wrong. I think it boils down to the fact that we are all wired a little differently. This plays out in the simplest of tasks…like when we choose to unpack a suitcase. For some, a suitcase on the floor would be a nagging reminder that…

You’ve probably heard the phrase, “I just need some room to breathe.” The implication is that there is so much going on in life right now, I just need a little space. It’s the life equivalent of being at the dinner table and realizing you ate too much. You just need to loosen the belt and get a little more “room to breathe.” Having been at the beach with my family last week, vacation is always a great chance to…

Summer is the vacation season. Whether you prefer the beach or the mountains, Dollywood or Disney World, many in our church and most of our community will take time this summer to “vacate” their homes to enjoy a different scene. According to the US Travel Association, the travel industry supports 15 million jobs and accounts for an economic footprint of $2.8 trillion. I couldn’t count that high if I tried, and while I know not all travel is vacation related…I…

Happy Independence Day Poplar Springs! This Sunday, we talked about freedom. It will be a word that is repeated a lot this week as our country celebrates July 4th. “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.” – From the Preamble to the Declaration of Independence The Continental Congress adopted the Declaration of…

In the Gospels of Matthew, Mark, and Luke, there is an interesting story called “The Transfiguration.” Jesus takes Peter, James, and John to a high mountain to pray and be alone. Luke 9:29-30, says, “As he was praying, the appearance of his face changed, and his clothes became as bright as a flash of lightning. Two men, Moses and Elijah, appeared in glorious splendor, talking with Jesus.” In 1st century Judaism and in the New Testament, there was the belief…

As I write my article for this week, I am sitting at a place I know very well and love to visit. This is Caswell week for our youth group, and Nicole let me join in the experience. I’m here with our group of 47 youth and chaperones along with other churches from all over North Carolina. We have our large group worship sessions in Hatch Auditorium. Since the 1960s when it was constructed, Hatch has been a place of…

Mark 12:29-31 “The most important one,” answered Jesus, “is this: ‘Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’ The second is this: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no commandment greater than these.” This week is Camp HoriSon. There are 115 kids here for camp, and they are surrounded by a small…

My family moved to Lenoir, NC, when I was in the second grade. My dad was called to FBC Lenoir to be the minister of music and youth, and the church had something I had never seen in a church before…a balcony in the sanctuary. My friends and I would always sit on the front row in the bottom right corner of the balcony. The sun would come through the stained glass window and warm up the pew just right…

My former pastor, Dr. David Smith shared this story in a devotional in May 2022. It is a powerful story that needs to be retold so I wanted to share it with you all this week: Writing the Chaplain Corps History for the Army website, John Brinsfield tells the following story of “The Four Chaplains.” “It was Feb. 3, 1943, and the U.S. Army Transport Dorchester was one of three ships in a convoy, moving across the Atlantic from Newfoundland…