As the final days of summer drag along, the Creator reaches for a palette of brown, tan, and burnt yellow. The handful of humans who inhabit this season gaze upon brittle stems and dropping leaves and wonder aloud whether any life could possibly be left.But God smiles.Looking kindly upon both plants and people, He says:“Don’t rush me. I’m not finished yet.”—Pastor Pete“This is what the Sovereign L...  Read More

As an Iowa native, I have a love-hate relationship with cornfields.Perhaps you share my love for these fields and the fruit that flows from them. It would be a pity if you had never savored the buttery juice of summer sweet corn dribbling down over your chin, arms and elbows. And if you’ve driven the length of the “flyover states,” you’ve certainly come to appreciate the hypnotic monotony of green...  Read More

Hey friends, Pastor Pete here. And yes, this is really me writing, as it is every week.But I have to admit that this week’s photo isn’t entirely real. My friend Jason used Artificial Intelligence to place my image in front of several racks of servers his company uses to power AI.And although I don't always love AI, I admit that an AI revolution is upon us.Today I returned a call from my doctor’s o...  Read More

Last weekend I sat with our ACTS family and squirmed under a sermon called, “When Busyness Gets the Best of Us.” The speaker (who definitely won’t be invited back) wondered aloud whether our nonstop flurry of human activity might actually be a poorly disguised attempt to assert control over the world.Don’t you hate it when God’s Word hits its intended target?In Luke 10, Jesus is invited into the h...  Read More

For those who don't know me, I am Jeff Schneider. My lovely wife Mara and I are parents to Ian and Erik who were on stage recently — along with Grace, Quinten, and Pastor Pete — witnessing their Belize mission trip experience. You saw (and perhaps felt yourself) emotions on stage; those were real, I felt them. Mara and I were lucky enough to meet up with the entire mission group, some 35 strong, a...  Read More

"The long weekend."For pastors, those words are often code for a multi-day marathon of sermon preparation, ministry events, Bible studies, worship services, and appointments. Rarely do they describe slipping away for a few days of renewal and rest.But recently, some dear friends from Minnesota extended a Christ-like invitation to "come away" with them "to a quiet place and get some rest" (Mark 6:3...  Read More