The Simpleton Blog

When I was in seminary I had the unique opportunity to travel to Israel. It was a great trip, and one of the highlights of the trip was that we got to stop by the Dead Sea. Now, if you’re not familiar - the Dead Sea is very famous because the water is insanely salty. The salinity level is something like 35%, compared to the ocean - which is like 4% or something like that. Now the salty water has two big effects - first.) it kills everything. Hardly any life can survive in the

Pastor’s Bookshelf - Welcome to my bookshelf! Each month I will discuss a recent book that I’ve finished. This month I’d like to talk about Last Branch Standing By Sarah Isgur Now I'll admit that this recommendation is a bit revealing of my inner nerd - but it's a great read. Sarah Isgur is the host of my favorite podcast "Advisory Opinions" (co-hosted by David French) where they break down Supreme Court cases and arguments twice a week. This is her first book, and it beca

Good morning church, it is so good to be with you all. My name is JJ and I’m the lead pastor over at Center Church. We are your closest sister church in the Zero Collective. As I’m sure you guys are starting to get familiar - Zero Collective is a network of churches sold out on the mission of making sure zero lives are unchanged by Jesus, and for a long time there have been four sister churches. Frontline is the biggest sister - over on plainfield, then Story with Pastor Kyle

Today I want to start by telling you the story of Wangari Maathai. Wangari is from Kenya, and she might be one of the most impressive people I’ve read about in a long time. She was a very influential and important person in Kenya back in the 70’s and 80’s. She had a big pile of degrees from all sorts of international schools - Nairobi, Germany, she got her PhD in 1971. Later she ended up getting elected to Kenya’s National Assembly, was the leader of the National Council of