Greetings!Well, we didn’t get to do our annual Thanksgiving Dinner but we did get to gather with one another in three services to worship and receive from God’s Word. So, we have much to be thankful for in that case! We’re having to make a lot of adjustments along the way due to the restrictions and ups/downs of this period. You’ve adjusted beautifully as a testimony of your love for Christ and th...  Read More

Greetings!Thanksgiving is fast approaching! One of our favorite traditions at South Woods, the annual Thanksgiving Dinner, should be this Sunday night. But alas, alas, confounded COVID! We’re hampered from joining together for this annual feast. While we regret it, we’re also looking with longing to the time when we can break bread together in fellowship meals. We’re not sure when that will happen...  Read More

Greetings!It was so good to have everyone together on Sunday! The weather was perfect! The Lord kindly gave us a lovely day to join together under the tent to sing praises, pray, confess sins, confess together the Word, and to worship through the exposition of God’s Word. Thank you for gathering in this setting to worship. As we’ve mentioned numerous times (and we’ll do it still more), we think it...  Read More

Greetings!It was good to be back for this weekend’s services! I was so encouraged by the worship and the message on Pentecost and its ongoing impact in our lives. Thanks for praying for me as I preached the previous Sunday in Keller, TX. The Lord granted much liberty in opening the Word on assurance of salvation. I count on the prayers of this body, whether out preaching or doing mission work, or ...  Read More

Good afternoon,Here's my favorite wry comment on Sunday, from someone relatively new to South Woods: "They keep calling it Elder Burger; but I don't know why." Apparently, there's an elder named Jason; and he owns a deli.But, in another way, Sunday was also profoundly encouraging. Unfortunately, the 5% chance of precipitation turned into certainty overnight, surprising all of us when we awoke. But...  Read More

Greetings!Ah, the best laid plans of mice and men! Or so the saying goes. We had good plans to meet in one service last Sunday but, as you’re aware, the weather predictions changed this on Saturday so that we ended up with two services on Sunday. I can’t tell you how disappointing that is for the pastoral staff! We want to meet in one gathering as one body. But I also can’t tell you how thankful w...  Read More

Greetings!Sunday was a monumental day for us! We overwhelmingly approved the changes to the Church Manual recommended by the Elders and we approved together the Elders’ recommendation that we shift our “Senior Pastor” pastoral model to one of “Co-Pastors,” with Matt and myself serving in this capacity. I’m happy that the body spoke with clarity on both recommendations.I want to welcome Matt to the...  Read More

Greetings!I sure enjoyed the beautiful Lord’s Day with all of you under the tent! We were blessed with incredible weather and a gracious sense of the Lord meeting us in worship. Pastor Matt’s sermon from Acts 1:6–8 clearly and powerfully set forth the kingdom work given to the church by the power of the Spirit. If you missed last Sunday, be sure to check the message out here.Tomorrow night we’ll c...  Read More

Greetings!I missed not having everyone together this weekend as we did the last. But it was wonderful to have good participation in the three services this past weekend, as we got started in the expositional study of the book of Acts, what we’re calling, The Gospel of Acts: Christ’s Church Unleashed. We were able to dig deeply into the text and consider the way Luke established some priority truth...  Read More

Sunday was such a special day! We had the Lord’s Supper in our weekend services for the first time since February.  Read More

What a helpful and worshipful time we had on Sunday, as we sang, prayed, read, and listened to God’s Word together! Matt’s overview of Luke’s Gospel brought to my senses the amazing way that Gospel reveals Jesus Christ to us. We feasted on Jesus Christ as we listened, remembered, and worshiped. That message laid groundwork for our new expositional study through the Book of Acts, starting on September 20th.  Read More

What a fascinating time we’ve had throughout the summer in journeying through psalms of lament and hope!  Read More

Our final psalm in this series looks at Psalm 86. It’s somewhat different than most of the other laments we’ve considered in that it deals with what I’m calling, garden variety laments. There’s no national calamity at hand but the reality of what we face everyday. This psalm shows us how to navigate the inward and external struggles we face.  Read More

Psalm 80 had some wonderful pointers to our Lord Jesus in this national lament. We realized that its ultimate answers centered in the work of Christ.  Read More

Pastor Matt’s study in Psalm 77 this past weekend helped us focus on the necessity of remembering as a means of traversing the lament arch. We remember the Lord, His faithful ways, His works in past seasons, and cast ourselves upon Him as we do.  Read More

I'm looking forward to opening up Psalm 77 this coming Sunday. This is one of the less obscure Psalms of Lament. And I think it is taught with more regularity because of the clarity with which it speaks to both the human experience and the vivid ways it speaks of God's deliverance.  Read More

Psalm 60 takes on a corporate lament, making it particularly applicable to our present day dilemma. I hope that the reflections from this psalm will serve you and encourage you.  Read More

The passage we considered this past weekend, Psalm 38, staggered me as I meditated upon and studied it. This penitential lament hit right at the spot of our need in the battle with sin. I hope you found it helpful and something you can read or watch again to see the biblical pattern for walking through divine discipline.  Read More

Should you accept a call from a church you wouldn’t attend? That’s where discernment and humility, along with wise counsel and a willingness to follow Christ, will give you clarity.   Read More

Yes, pastors need pastoring by their fellow elders. We can certainly develop formal structures for doing so, such as accountability times, Bible studies, peer reviews, and so on, but I’m advocating for something more holistic—life on life in the crucible of ministry. Know each other well. Serve each other faithfully.  Read More

Neglecting to cultivate hope in a family with desperate need changed me—not immediately, but progressively. As difficult as it was, the Lord used that disappointing time to bring me face-to-face with my temporal existence.  Read More

An elder’s office does not put him above correction. Yet the congregation must show such respect to those appointed to lead, so that only with much humility, verification, and care will they reprove an elder. Members and elders will faithfully serve one another with this kind of accountability.  Read More

If there is no comfort in the gospel, there is no real comfort anywhere.  Read More

Don’t plant a church unless you take seriously the dangers that lurk.  Read More