Bret Hammond

Some churches have a long-held tradition of placing salt on the tongues of newly baptized believers and giving them a lit candle to remind them they are "the salt of the earth and the light of the wor...

21 Aug 202226min

One of my first roles in the church was as a shepherd. I don't mean that in a pastoral sense, but rather in a Christmas pageant sense. In Junior High, for our church's live nativity, I was one of the ...

14 Aug 202224min

The most frequently used designation for Christians in the Bible is the word "Brother." It appears over 250 times in the book of Acts and the Epistles. So while you and I call ourselves Christians and...

7 Aug 202225min

Dad said I was named for one of his favorite westerns. Mom said she picked my name because it worked well with my brother's. I like dad's story better, but whether the name had meaning or they just li...

31 Jul 202223min

The anniversary came and went with barely a notice last week. This past Friday marked eleven years since the fire that destroyed our old building. I looked through the pictures and thought about how f...

24 Jul 202224min

Nothing was ever quite good enough for the old man. So he often “improved” items by adding a few new parts. There was the wire running from the TV across the living room, and dangling a speaker next t...

17 Jul 202225min

Robin Hood was my favorite. As a kid, it was just bows and arrows, good guys and bad guys; I didn't understand the setting or conflict that gave birth to the story. Good King Richard is off fighting, ...

26 Jun 202228min

Life for the fatherless was difficult in the ancient world. Children were often left with no recourse but to beg, and it could be far worse for widows. Again and again, in the Bible, we read commands ...

19 Jun 202227min