News


16
Apr 2024
Authenticity in a Social Media World

Social Psychologist Jonathan Haidt has just published a fascinating new book titled The Anxious Generation. He has conducted extensive research on the correlation between our young people gaining access to smartphones and social media and the devastating effects it is having on their mental health. Depression, anxiety, exclusion, and suicidal ideations have all risen drastically in recent years. The data is clear. We are all aware of this, but we don’t seem to know what to do about it. It is also affecting adults. Social media has exacerbated envy, social comparison, and......

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11
Apr 2024
Living with Gratitude & Generosity

What an honor to celebrate the baptisms of our disciples class on Sunday! I am so thankful and happy for this special group of young people in our church. The month of April is a time for all of us to think about what it means to give back and make a difference. During our 2024 stewardship campaign “Loving God, Loving Nashville,” we are asking Woodmont families to make a commitment to support the church mission for another year (July 2024 through June 2025). We seem to live in a culture with......

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31
Mar 2024
Living in the Hope of Easter

One year ago, our community was devastated when the unthinkable happened on a normal Monday morning. The Covenant shooting rocked Nashville. Three innocent children went to school and didn’t return home to their families. Three respected educators also tragically lost their lives while doing what they loved. Our town was brought to its knees. Words felt inadequate. Yet we saw firsthand how the worst of humanity has a way of bringing out the best of humanity. Out of death comes resurrection even if the pain never goes away. Not all Christians live......

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20
Mar 2024
Changing Lives in Guatemala

I wrote this column from my bunk bed in San Lucas Toliman, Guatemala, where our church has been involved in significant mission and ministry for many years. We have been able to build 67 houses (6 more on the way) and sponsor over 400 children and seniors over the years. Being here is both inspiring and heartbreaking at the same time. Thirty-one of us made the trip last week. In a country that has immense third-world poverty and many basic challenges, certain questions always run through my mind when I am here.......

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05
Mar 2024
Our Search for Meaning

This weekend, I will be joining 30 other Woodmonters for a mission trip to Guatemala. This is the first family trip that we have ever offered to that country. Please keep our group in your prayers in the coming days. I am excited to show Megan and my kids what Woodmont has accomplished in that country. We have now funded and constructed 67 houses and we have sponsored around 375 children and seniors giving them a chance to go to school, get an education, and have some basic necessities for life. I......

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27
Feb 2024
Parenting, Screens, & Social Media

This Thursday night, February 29, at 7:00 p.m. at St. Paul Christian Academy, Woodmont is co-sponsoring a special event geared for parents called “Parenting in the Digital Age.” Jason and Lisa Frost, co-founders of Wired Human, will give a special presentation on this topic and that will be followed by a discussion panel that I will be participating in with my friend and St. Paul Head of School Will Norton. The digital age has brought a whole new set of challenges to those of us who are parents of children and youth. We all......

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20
Feb 2024
What is Faith?

What difference does having faith make in your life? Can you articulate or explain it? What does it mean to live in faith? Many do not know how to answer these questions. Profound misunderstandings exist in our culture regarding God and what it means to believe. At its very core, this question lies at the heart of all theology, a field that will never be exhausted or mastered. Having faith in God does not mean that everything in life will work out just the way we plan. It does not mean that......

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13
Feb 2024
The Lenten Journey

Tomorrow, we will enter the season of Lent which is the forty-day period leading up to Easter (not including Sundays). Easter comes early, on March 31 this year. Some of you are familiar with Lent, others of you may not be depending on the tradition from which you come, but Lent is a time of spiritual growth, a time of soul searching, a time of introspection – looking within our own hearts. Lent reminds us of the time that Jesus spent alone in the wilderness where he fasted and prayed for 40 days and overcame......

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