I recently sat with a heartbroken family who tragically lost their husband/father to suicide. It came out of the blue – no hints, no warnings, no signs whatsoever. I was there because I lived through the same thing years ago with my own mother. The only difference was, we knew she was sick and had done everything in our power to help. This family didn’t have that chance. There is comfort, I believe, in talking to others who have been through similar tragedies in their own life. We don’t suffer alone. We......

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I want to continue to encourage all of you to remain engaged in the life of the church during this time. We are working very hard to carry on the mission and ministries at Woodmont during this pandemic. Lots of exciting things are happening. We are thinking outside the box. Before Covid-19 started, secularization was well underway in America. For years, church attendance has been declining, especially outside of the Bible belt. Younger generations do not seem to be as interested in organized religion as their parents and grandparents. Statistics show that......

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I invite you to join us Wednesday nights for our Racial Reconciliation conversations.  Here is the Zoom link: https://zoom.us/j/96103564378. This series is being sponsored by Woodmont’s Task Force for Racial Reconciliation as an educational opportunity. We hope these conversations will be meaningful and beneficial. The invite is open to friends and neighbors as well. Anne Marie Farmer (our Connections Director) and I are proposing a new small group concept for this fall called “5 at 5.” We are encouraging Woodmont members to gather on porches and patios outside in small groups of......

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This Sunday, August 23rd, is Homecoming Sunday. Obviously things look different this year because of the ongoing pandemic. We will not be packed into the building, pancakes will not be served, and the Kids Commons will not be overflowing with children running around. But I want to challenge everybody to reengage and recommit as summer winds down.  We are now offering three weekly services on Sundays: Online available at 7 am, Drive in at 9 am, and a new socially distant sanctuary service at 10:30 a.m. (RSVP on website). Also, a new monthly worship service geared......

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Life is still very different in so many ways. The virus has not gone away. Many kids are not back in school and are doing distance learning. It has taken its toll on marriages, families, mental health, and businesses. Recently, Arthur Brooks wrote an article in The Atlantic where he distinguishes between happiness and success and warns about what psychologists refer to as life’s “hedonic treadmill,” where satisfaction is never attained as human beings constantly race towards the next goal. Brooks says, “American culture valorizes overwork, which makes it easy to slip......

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When the Covid pandemic started back in the spring, everybody assumed it would be an inconvenience for a few months and then things would return to normal in the summer. This has proven to not be the case. Life is still very different and we are all having to adapt. Back in April, Rev. Cameron Trimble who is the CEO of a church movement called “Convergence” wrote an interesting article predicting how Covid-19 would change church life. Many of these predictions have proven to be true. They include: 1) Doing church online......

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I’m about to turn forty. For some that seems old. For others that’s still very young. The truth is not a single one of us knows how long we will get to live on this earth. We don’t know when we reach our midway point. I lost a close friend in December to colon cancer in her early forties, three kids, a great husband, and successful career. I have another dear friend diagnosed with a brain tumor this week. Life is fragile, unpredictable, and doesn’t seem fair. We must live every day......

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