First Mennonite Church of Morton

What is the condition of the human heart, apart from a relationship with God?  Your answer to this question profoundly affects the way you view the world, yourself and the Bible. 

The prophet Jeremiah describes it as “deceitful and desperately wicked” ( Jeremiah 17:9 ).  Jesus reaffirms this perspective in Mark 7:20-23...

This fall marks the five year anniversary of joining the ministries of First Mennonite Church as your Lead Pastor.  Over the past years, I have grown to deeply love you all and consider it an honor to call FMC our church home.  Over the past few weeks, I have also been overwhelmed by the baked goods, meals, gifts and notes of...

Over the past two weeks, conversations regarding Dr. Ford’s testimony and allegations against Judge Kavanaugh seem to be everywhere.  After listening and processing these confirmation hearings, one of the only things that I know for certain is that if this debate were to be tried in a court of law, I would not want to be a juror...

My wife and I enjoyed the sitting in the back row of the Sanctuary a few days ago to watch “I Can Only Imagine” with a few others from FMC.  We had never sat in the back row before!  Neither had we seen this wonderful movie.  One of my favorite moments was when Arthur, the father, started to talk with his son about the...

Last week, our oldest son and I journeyed down into Southern Illinois to camp and hike in the Shawnee National Forest.  The lush forests, sandstone cliffs, and abundant riverbeds provide a terrific setting for memorable adventures and terrain navigation.  But phone reception is scarce in this area, so forget about GPS or assistance...

A few weeks ago, the FMC musicians met for their monthly worship practice.  Before diving into the music, they read through an article on congregational singing written by Mark Dever and Matt Merker found at www.9.marks.org journal church-singing . 

The article emphasized how scarce ‘corporate singing’ has become within the...

A few weeks ago, a friend from my grade school years contacted me out of the blue via Facebook.  We had lost contact with one another during high school.  After he got married, he literally moved to the other side of the world - Australia.  The two hours that I spent with Tyler over coffee flew by as we did our best to recap the...

Shaped By a Story

There was a popular show on TV a couple of years ago.  I completely missed seeing any of the episodes. Today, with the technology of cable companies, it is possible to watch old shows that might have been missed.  It’s been interesting to watch from the beginning this series I had never watched.  Rarely...

A few weeks ago, I met a disciple-making friend for lunch and we imagined what it would have been like for Joseph, son of Jacob, after he had been betrayed by his brothers, falsely accused and imprisoned in Egypt.  If you have been reading along with the FMC Daily Scripture Reading Guide, then you will have just completed the book of...