Rob Lewis shares the rest of the story…read to the end! Stepping into God’s Story The Bible is the story of Jesus, God become man, by which the catastrophe and mortifying shame of the human condition becomes the means by which we become living human beings – the glory of God. “Liberty is the chief […]
Stepping Into the Story
Rob Lewis writes about entering into the life of a church visitor. Post 1 of 2 Chris first came to our church on a Sunday in mid-November last year, and stood quietly and obtrusively just inside our front door. Our narthex is a small space, an intersection between two flights of stairs where two or […]
Soldier, Gangster, Pastor
In this post Roy Stiff tells the story of Slava, former soldier and gangster who now serves God in Moldova Slava usually starts his testimony from right before the fall of the Soviet Union. Slava was in the Soviet military, and in his words, a “believer”, not in Jesus, but in communism. He was sent […]
Roy Stiff Reweds in Gdansk
“When I die, you will need a new wife.” This was one of Gosia Stiff’s parting instructions to her husband Roy shortly before she died in January, 2018. Gosia’s funeral was held at All Souls, which she and Roy made their church home in 2012. Their focus always was on the goodness of God’s grace, […]
Yes, Souls, There Is a Santa Claus
Is the jolly man in the red suit with a long white beard real? Did he first appear in Coca-Cola ads? At department stores? Illustrating the poem, T’was the Night Before Christmas? And more importantly, how does he relate to Souls on Mission? And what do we teach our children about him? The true […]
Good Coffee
The coffee we drink at All Souls helps people reclaim their lives. One of my favorite tasks at All Souls is brewing coffee early Sunday mornings. I do this along with a dedicated team who spend at least two hours every Sunday making sure our Catechesis Hour is well caffeinated. Our coffee draws us in […]
Following the Call to Kenya
Rob Lewis tells us why he’s going to Kinyago Dandora Schools in Kenya. “I am not eager to go to Kenya, but I will out of a sense of duty.” This is what I recently told Ginger Palm, president, CEO of the Kenya Children’s Fund and spiritual mother of the Kinyago-Dandora Schools in Nairobi, Kenya. […]
Zao Youth Summer Mission Trip 2019
Returning to a familiar location for a mission trip brings some real perks. This was our third year serving in the Edgewater neighborhood, so there were a number of well worn paths. Most of our students had been on at least one of the two previous trips, so they knew about the building we were […]
What’s the Mission?
Jennifer writes that her trip to Lebanon with Exodus was not a one-and-done excursion. How do we continue the mission? Every not-for-profit organization has a mission statement. For that matter, most for-profit corporations have mission statements as well. Maybe it’s to make the best hamburger the world has known. Maybe the mission is to create […]
The Undoing of Babel
Jennifer ponders Pentecost and the power of language. Language When our children were little and misbehaved, we didn’t talk about punishment. Instead, we talked about consequences. We wanted our children to understand that their choices were theirs: every moment is a fork in the road; they could make good choices, or they could make poor […]