In July of 2012 I was speaking at a 5th - 6th grade summer camp. The first night I asked all the kids to write down a question for God and to hand it in. One girl, Kristina Rae Barrett wrote, “Dear God, Why did you give me cancer?” I knew Kristina’s dad since he …
Author: Daniel Cooley
Wrong Worship
What is wrong with this chart? Last week Ryan Prieb, our Youth Guru drew this illustration for me. We go to a football game, a play, a concert, and there is a director, the participants playing on the field or on stage, and us in the stands. So, we go to worship, and we feel …
Dangerous Calling: The Good, The Bad, and the Ugly
Only love for Christ can defend our hearts against all other loves that can kidnap our hearts. Only worship of Christ, where He is the audience, can protect us from worship of ourselves. Only the glory of Christ can guard against self-glory. Only Christ can turn us arrogant long-time churchgoers into patient, humble givers of …
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Kids Devotion Idea
I recently received this email from someone and thought it could be helpful. Hello, I thought I would tell you that we got Bizarre Bible Stories, and I started doing our family devotions with it yesterday morning. The first story was about Balaam and the donkey, and after we read the devotion the kids asked …
Never Use an Ax Unless You Are Relaxed
That great advice comes from Bruce Kugler, Ph.D. Clinical Psychology, The Wright Institute. Confession of an idiot pastor #135: I should have listened to his advice before speaking last Sunday. So, last week I’m telling l the church we will be going to two services on October 7. Churches max out at about 70% of …
My Two Favorite, Opposite, Short Stories
Two stories. One by my mother (on the right at college in the picture). The other by my son. Both well-written, with absolutely nothing else in common – except that they are both great fun to read. I hope you love them too. They would have made one creative writing team. By Mom, Dorothy Cooley …
Playing Pastor: Canada vs the USA
Culture Matters. I grew up and went to college in the Southwest USA, got married in Dallas, and later moved to Winnipeg Canada with four kids and stayed for seven winters. Things were different there. Winnipeg is a tad cooler than Tucson. Actually, Tucson may have hellish heat, but January in Winnipeg makes a Tucson …
Christian Bourbon?
This week I got a 100-word email after my sermon that had an 8-word line in it I’d like to memorize. Our sermon topic was Awkward Church, which got this individual thinking. I hope you like his email as much as I did. When I was about 11, we stayed with my grandparents for about …
Awkward Church
What is your dream church? What kind of music, kids program, messages do you most like? If we found our dream church, would it be good for us--or would it limit us? I know what my dad would have liked. His dream would have been the Blackwood Brothers leading hymns, George Beverly Shea singing the …
3 Things That Only Happen in Haiti
Thanks to so many who supported our trip to Haiti this year. I went early with a few, and here are 3 things that pretty much could only happen there... 1: Up to my armpits. We had a couple of toilets we couldn’t get to flush correctly. One was the toilet the 96 too-young-to-aim …
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