The public does not often get to hear the stories of men and women serving as ministers, exemplars of the Christian faith, who make their communities better.

I am not talking about spotless saints, but humble leaders faithfully living out their calling to serve their communities with God’s help.

Like most other US cities, York has complex challenges. Fixing York will require more than just talk. Another branding campaign will not solve the crisis. Public statements, banners, and flowery flourishes on our websites will not affect the kind of change we need.

Each of us needs schools to teach, hospitals to heal, police to protect and serve, government to order civic life, and places of worship to lift our hearts to a higher purpose.

A 2001 Gallup survey reported that 25% of Democrats and 23% of Republicans believed that crime had gone up in their neighborhood over the last year. 20 years later, in 2022, those numbers have shot up to 42% of Democrats and 73% of Republicans reporting they are more fearful of crime.

State budget negotiations are full of false dichotomies. We are forced to choose loyalties between public, charter, or private schools. But is that really our only choice? While policymakers debate whether to spend more or less on education, perhaps we might ask, “How can we spend differently?”

One thing we learn from the farmer is that today’s fruit tells us about yesterday’s seed. What kind of seed have we been sowing in the fields called family and community?

Easter Sunday is still the ultimate reset for the followers of Jesus. Just as the Church was awakened to a bright new reality 2,000 years ago, so too, the modern Church needs to embrace again the life-giving power of the resurrection of Jesus.

There are six ways the Church can hit reset on Easter Sunday and chart a new trajectory for generations to come. This Easter in the year 2023, the Church should affirm the following pledges:

Jesus voiced His trust on Good Friday that God would not abandon Him to the grave. He had no other option when He was at the end of His rope than to trust God. Even for Jesus, God was silent on Saturday.

Sometimes God is silent on Saturday. We might even have to endure Saturday seasons.

Holy Saturday is never the final word. During these dark times, you have to remember that God has not abandoned you. He is at work in your life for your good.

On your most painful days, remember Holy Saturday. It is not God’s final word for your life.

Sunday is on the way.

2022 is going out with a bang in the Anderson household, or rather, with a thud and a crack! My sweet, 16-year-old daughter, Amelia, took a hard spill at the rollerskating rink that fractured her left wrist.

I had intended on writing a reflection piece about 2022. I never realized that a 10-hour stint in the ER would provide inspiration.

“Help me understand” is the kind of slow, gentle, loving language that has the power to take your relationships from where they are today to something far more rewarding and fulfilling tomorrow.

We are Safer Together. A sermon from Romans 12:9-16 about the strategy we employ to build a safer, more loving community.

Could it be that both Republicans and Democrats finally agree that a child’s ZIP code, ethnicity, or class should not determine whether they have access to a high-quality education?

From the People You Should Know podcast: If we are honest, getting to know complete strangers can be scary. In our debut episode, we had the honor of talking with the CEO of Logos Academy and Logos Works, Aaron Anderson. He talks about networking in this episode and how if he could give people one thing it would be the ability to network and get to know people.

Go ahead and cancel me for maintaining these friendships with my neighbors. These are people God has called me to love without exceptions or excuses.

Sorry. I'm not canceling my neighbor.

Most of us feel embarrassed or ashamed of being lonely because it feels like personal inadequacy or deficiency. What if there is a darkness behind what drives us to loneliness?

As a parent of six children though, I am moderately annoyed by the suggestion that parents should just butt out when it comes to their kid’s education.

While parents may not control what is taught in school, they at least deserve to have clarity about a school’s goals, beliefs, and methods.

Violent crime is up by 5.6% overall but homicides are up by over 22% according to my simple calculation.

I have proposed recently that the American public is becoming unhinged in ways I have not witnessed before.

The world as we have known it for the last 18 months has been a challenge in which to find a rhythm. Our old ways of doing things have been flipped upside down.

Work, school, and church life were moved to different rhythms.

America’s culture wars are intensifying in the nation’s classrooms and board meetings. How long can this public institution withstand the tug-of-war between ideologically opposed groups?

When I give thanks to God for giving Gail to me as a wife, there are massive implications. God’s providence is like a perfectly played orchestra, a masterpiece flawlessly executed by expert hands.

I am no mathematician, but the statistical probability of bringing two humans together is mind-boggling.