The Simpleton Blog

Click here for the Word Doc.. Click here for the PDF.. Constructive Criticism – 05.29.2022 [Proverbs 3] One of the all time greats in baseball was Babe Ruth. His bat had the power of a cannon, and his record of 714 home runs remained unbroken until Hank Aaron came along. The Babe was the idol of sports fans. But in time age took its toll and his popularity began to wane. Eventually the Yankees traded him to the Braves, and in one of his last games in Cincinnati, Babe Ruth beg

Click here for the Word Doc.. Click here for the PDF.. The Two Ladies – 05.22.2022 [Proverbs 2] Once upon a time an angel appeared at a faculty meeting and tells the dean of the university that in return for all his unselfish and exemplary behavior, the Lord will reward him with his choice of infinite wealth, infinite wisdom OR infinite beauty. Pick whatever you want, and God will grant that wish. Without even hesitating, the dean selects infinite wisdom. “Done” says the ange

Click here to download the Word Doc.. Click here to download the PDF.. Bricks Without Straw – 05.15.2022 [Exodus 5] Forgive me if I’ve told this story before, but it makes a lot of sense. There once was a pastor named Dr. Howard, who was at a church in Australia years and years ago. And one day he preached very strongly on the subject of sin. How toxic it is for your life, and how you need to work to get rid of sin. And after the service, one of the church officers came to co

Click here for the Word doc.. Click here for the PDF.. Moses Heads Back – 05.08.2022 [Exodus 4] Our God is a holy God. He is all powerful and all knowing. This book, that we call the bible, helps us to understand him – enables us to know Him better, and in so doing helps us to love him. But WOW there is some weird stuff in this book! As you may have noticed during the reading of our scripture – we have some strange and mostly unknown ground to cover today. You thought you kne

[Author’s note: this article is about the specific denominational troubles inside the UMC – which is a fairly niche topic. I realize it may not be interesting to all] “Touching the third rail” is an old expression I’ve used all my life – but I was talking to some folks recently and they had no idea what I meant by that. So I did some research, and apparently back in the early 1900’s when they first invented the electric train, there were two normal tracks that the wheels of t

Pastor’s Bookshelf - Welcome to my bookshelf! Each month I will discuss a recent book that I’ve finished. *disclaimer; I don’t always have time to sit and read physical books, but I do quite a bit of my reading through audiobooks these days.* This month I’d like to talk about King’s Cross By Tim Keller *this book has also been published under an alternate title: “Jesus the King: Understanding the Life and Death of the Son of God.”* Tim Keller is one my absolute favorite au

Newsletter – May, 2022 Greetings from the desk of the Pastor! Coming off of the wonderful celebrations of Easter Sunday and all the festivities surrounding the holiday season – it has been a joy to see the sun show it’s face a little more boldly. The month of May is always so full of joy and fun activities, as school winds down and the kids start getting itchy for those summer months. And wow, our church is no exception! Before I jump in to outlining all the wond

Updates From Upstairs This is a new section of our newsletter, where I (Pastor JJ) will try to keep you informed on some of the denominational kerfuffles going on at the district and global levels. These are very important conversations, but do not necessarily affect the day-to-day work of church life. As many of you know there is an upcoming split in the United Methodist Denomination as the Global Methodist Church will be launching on May 1st. Once the Global Methodist Churc