Most every week when the staff meets, we read an article or excerpt from a book for us to ponder and discuss. Some are heavy, others not so much. Some focus directly on ministry, others on a variety of topics with us having to make our own connections. But there’s …

Clarence Jordan was a farmer. Clarence Jordan was a New Testament Greek scholar. Clarence Jordan was a Southern Baptist minister and social activist. Clearly, he was not your ordinary kind of farmer.

By Dr. Mike Graves, Scholar in Residence and Minister of Spiritual Formation If you look up the word communion in the dictionary, the first entry simply reads “sharing,” whereas other entries have the usual religious overtones. Turns out, sharing is precisely what the Greek word means as well, only with …

By Dr. Mike Graves, Scholar in Residence and Minister of Spiritual Formation It’s not uncommon in her sermons to hear Carla reference a book she’s been reading or a podcast she’s listened to recently, maybe an episode of “The Moth.” It only recently occurred to me that not only are …

Dr. Mike Graves, Scholar in Residence If you’re sick and tired of hearing about our recent trip to Israel, my apologies. Ask anyone who went (and who is now over the jet lag and weather-related rerouting) and they will tell you what an amazing adventure it was. Walking in the …

By Dr. Mike Graves When I was only part-time at Country Club Christian Church, and still serving part-time on the faculty at Saint Paul School of Theology, I actually had three offices, including the one at home. That meant I had three sets of bookshelves for all those volumes. When …

Dr. Mike Graves, Scholar in Residence and Minister of Spiritual Formation Among the church staff, there is something of a standing joke. When it’s your turn to write a piece like this one for the newsletter, if you don’t have it in by Tuesday noon when we meet, the draft …

Rev. Mike Graves, Scholar in Residence and Minister of Spiritual Formation When I was in seminary, there were days I knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that what was being presented was a piece of trivia that would never come in handy, not in my daily life as a …

Dr. Mike Graves, Scholar in Residence and Minister of Spiritual Formation Occasionally, someone will ask me how long it takes me to prepare a sermon. My standard answer nowadays is 61 years. Sermons come from a life of learning and living. But of course, what they’re asking is how many …

In the movie, Cool Hand Luke, there is a classic scene culminating with Paul Newman’s timeless line, “What we’ve got here is failure to communicate.” Pardon the grammar, and never mind the context; but I think the same could be said about our church’s annual Community Camp. (Shortly after coming …

Down through the centuries, biblical scholars have learned a lot of interesting tidbits about eating in the first century Mediterranean world. They know, for instance, how diners reclined at their meals on a couch called triclinium, how they had bread before dinner and wine during dinner of course, but one ceremonial cup of wine afterwards