Start With Prayer

October 21, 2026

Leadership Notes

     Because of Fall Vacation schedules {Office Manager one week, Pastor the next}, it’s been three weeks since the last Leadership Notes. But fear not…we are back with a vengeance. There’s a lot going on in my backlog of stuff to share. A whole stack of stuff.

     Let’s start out with a prayer. This is a good way to start your day:

“God, because You love me, I want to love others well. If I’m

honest, there are times that this can be hard. Help me to see the

people around me like You see them. Help me to love the people around me like You love them. In Jesus’ name. Amen.”

     I recently read a variation on an old farcical saying, “If you were on fire, and I had water, I’d drink it.” Brutal, right? That’s not the way we are called to be. As Paul says in Romans 12:18, “If possible, so far as it depends on you, live peaceably with all.” That’s a good attitude to begin the day with.

     Financial strategist and political commentator Steve Cortes recently observed:

“Mass Muslim migration will destroy Western Civilization. Islam is

incompatible with our way of life.”

     A little strong, but it serves as a warning against empathy suicide. Somehow, Paul’s caution that it might not always be possible to live peaceably with others fits here.

     A lovely Christian woman, Theresa Arueyin, recently observed:

“A job, a roof over my head, a warm home, running water, and

food in the fridge. Sometimes, we need to pause and appreciate

the blessings we can easily take for granted. I’m grateful…thank

you, Jesus.”

To which we can all say, “Amen.” All we want to do is worship God, love Jesus, love each other, and love the community in which we live. It’s the simple things, right? We simply want to make our little corner of God’s world a better place. That pretty much sums up who we are as a church.

     Pastor and author A.W. Tozer once gave some good advice, by way of a warning:

“In order for these false prophets to keep the people following

them, they must feed them with spiritually toxic food. This toxic

food is a little bit of psychology, a little bit of inspiration, a dash of

theology, a touch of Bible and a whole lot of personality.”

Affirming as I do that the more things change, the more they stay the same, I figure things were neither better nor worse 80-100 years ago, when Tozer was in his prime. There’s plenty of fakes, phonies, charlatans, and false teachers around today. I thank God every day that He gives us the steady, solid influence of His unchanging Word to guide and inform us. Warm-hearted Reformed theology keeps us centered in the Truth. Amen?

     Finally, centered as we are in Biblical Truth, nothing hits as solidly as this gem from John MacArthur:

“I don’t think anything shows more clearly the moral collapse of a

society than the mass murder of little ones in the womb of

mothers. It’s so horrific, it’s hard to even comprehend.”

God bless our partnership with Care Pregnancy Center of Lenawee County. As a right-to-life church in a right-to-life denomination, we are doing our part to make our little corner of God’s world a more life-affirming, life-giving place. That’s how we live as foreigners in a strange land.

     Finally, a re-quotable insight:

THE UNIVERSE ISN’T SPINNING AROUND YOU. IT EXISTS FOR

THE GLORY OF GOD. SO RELAX.

     And now, your Moment of Spurgeon:

“We must never cease to pray for our children until they cease to

breathe. No case is hopeless while Jesus lives.”

With Much Love and Affection,

             Richard