Pastor Tommy

Coming out: June 6 to July 25

Coming out: June 6 to July 25

The Center for Disease Control issued new guidelines for wearing face masks on May 13 that offer great hope for more of us coming out into the open. After a year and a couple of months of isolation from seeing smiles and frowns, many of us are excited to rejoin the...

Faith, fear, and neighboring: Whosoever local food1

Faith, fear, and neighboring: Whosoever local food1

Family farms make up almost 90% of the total farms in the U.S. The average small family farm is just over 200 acres. This is quite a difference from Waggoner Ranch, located in Texas, estimated to be well over 500 Thousand acres. This ranch was acquired by the niece of...

Nurture and nature: The contradictory role of mothers1

Nurture and nature: The contradictory role of mothers1

Cyndi and I watched an episode of the dramatic series, The Good Doctor, which featured two mothers finding love for their sons to be a stronger bond than their differences. Their lives intersected at a demonstration - on different sides of an argument. The writers...

Collateral damage: Taking care of genes1

Collateral damage: Taking care of genes1

I understand that there are still people in the world that question whether COVID-19 is real. I don't have the energy to keep up with the latest bizarre conspiracy theories that support ignoring reality. But stories about some individuals still in denial as this...

Sunbeams: Life is a symphony1

Sunbeams: Life is a symphony1

Sunbeams are amazing. For some reason, I can remember countless times, from my early childhood, noticing sunbeams seeming to dance in the air as they reflected off particles in the air. But have you ever tried to catch a sunbeam? Cats can tell you that sunbeams are...

Next steps: Heaven on earth1

Next steps: Heaven on earth1

It was 2006. Summer was underway with longer days and temperatures. A typical summer — except that this summer would be different. A few months earlier, I signed up to be an adult volunteer to help our youth ministry leaders with a trip to West Virginia. That morning...

Crossing Bridges: From doubt to reconciliation1

Crossing Bridges: From doubt to reconciliation1

My memories of crossing the White River on the Oil Trough Ferry are a mixed bag of nightmares and excitement. During my early childhood, my family lived in Memphis. And we frequently traveled to visit my grandparents. This meant first crossing over the Mississippi...

Pastor’s Book Club News: The Marvelous Pigness of Pigs

Pastor’s Book Club News: The Marvelous Pigness of Pigs

We finished our study of Be the Bridge by Latasha Morrison and completed our worship series, Bridges. Racial reconciliation is a work in progress that comes with a great sense of urgency for Asbury. Our community superpower is diversity. But equity takes intentional...

Living water: April 25 to May 30

Living water: April 25 to May 30

Joel Saladin, in his book, The Marvelous Pigness of Pigs, compares eggs from Polyface Farm with a typical egg purchased at the local supermarket and coming from a factory farm. The most notable difference was the measure of folate present in the comparison....

Redemption: God thinks you’re worth it1

Redemption: God thinks you’re worth it1

Easter is both wonderful and a bit strange as holidays go. Easter celebrations vary between families, cultures, and religious sects, from bunny rabbits hiding eggs to ham for dinner. And not everyone views Easter in the same way. Admittedly, I base my understanding...

A Community in Love with God, Each Other, and our Neighbors.