Dear Grace Church Family, I am writing this week’s reflection in the lobby at Moffitt Cancer Center.  A year and a half ago, I received CAR-T treatment for a battle I was in against Lymphoma.  The news I received this morning was that I remain cancer free, and my immune system has responded to immune therapy I was receiving.  As a cancer…

Dear Grace Church Family, What a wonderful week this has been.  You will hear more details from our lay leader, but our “Sing a new Song,” dream session with the Leadership team was four hours of dreaming, visioning, and planning for the future of this beautiful community.  I was grateful to hear stories of all the ways God has been at work…

Dear Grace Church Family, As I write this, I am in Washington DC for an intensive week of study for my Doctor of Ministry work.  Originally, I was scheduled to stay in a retreat center that sits on the property of the National Cathedral, the Virginia Mae Center.  It is a place of hospitality for preachers and is nothing short of a…

Dear Grace Church Family, This Sunday is the third Sunday in Advent.  It is known as Gaudette Sunday.  The word Gaudette means, “rejoice!”  On this third Sunday, we will light the pink candle for joy.  It is fitting that our Cantata is this Sunday as well.  It is going to be a Sunday not to miss.  I have had the privilege of…

Dear Grace Church Family, Though the season of Advent is the season of waiting, the concept should not be foreign to us.  There is something we are all waiting for in life.  Maybe you have been waiting for a new job, maybe you are waiting to pay off some debt that has been piling up, maybe you are waiting to feel less…

Dear Grace Church Family, Happy Thanksgiving to all of you!  May your time with friends and family be richly blessed.  I have my aunt from Richmond, Virginia visiting.  You might have heard me tell a story or two about her.  When I was a child, she would bring me to church with her.  I would sit in the pews and wait for her to…

Dear Grace Church Family, Life is full of unpredictable moments.   Part of living is dealing with the ebbs and flows of circumstances.  As many of you know, I was scheduled to get my port removed a couple of weeks ago.  It should have been a quick procedure.  I was to get the port removed, spend the night in Tampa, and head back to Merritt…

Dear Grace United Methodist Church Family, Pastor Beth and I had the wonderful gift of gathering with other clergy in our District this past week!  It was a good opportunity for me to meet colleagues in this area and our DS, Sharon Austin, organized a wonderful training for us on Church Vitality.  We worshipped together, learned together, and dreamed together!  One of the…

Dear Grace Church Family, By the time you receive this communication, my hope is we will all have weathered the storm coming our way as I write this.  There are things I know even before the storm reaches land.  I know we are going to be called to be the church now more than ever before.  There are things I am not…

Dear Grace Church Family, This Sunday is Laity Sunday.  It is a very special day in the life of the church.  It is the day we honor the role of laity within the life of the Church.  I have been so impressed with the number of “high capacity” leaders at Grace UMC.  A high-capacity leader is one that takes on an area…