Ken Pierpont's Blog, page 84
March 25, 2017
Is Your Heart A Treasure of Good Things? (Video)
Last fall Lois and I did a couples retreat. We opened our hearts and shared 20 treasures from our hearts. (I spoke for both of us–that is the way Lois prefers it in public). This is one of the things I will be doing when we have opportunity to visits churches–sharing the treasures of my heart.
Thin Places (Red Jeep Journal)
[The Red Jeep Journals are stories from the places where God takes me to preach and witness and tell and sing and encourage and nudge everyone I meet one step closer to Christ.]
Recently we stayed in a Bed and Breakfast in a small midwestern village. Sun’s up. It’s Morning. I’m at one end of the breakfast table. Two ladies are at the other end. We are sipping coffee and orange juice. Lois is skipping the breakfast for the same reason I am there—there are strangers in the room.
The ladies are managing a charity that involves an historic estate. I ask them to describe it. In the description they both agree there is something very special about the estate. People love to visit there during times of national or personal turmoil.
“It’s a peaceful place. It’s as if it is haunted by good angels,” they say.
For a while they go on and describe some of the experiences they have had and some of the people attached to the place, including the eccentric woman who lived there all her life. She left the estate to the foundation with an endowment to maintain it.
I ask if they have heard of “thin places.”
“They say there are places on earth where the distance between heaven and earth, the spiritual and the material, are thin,” I explain.
They nod in agreement.
“This would be a thin place,” they agree.
This launched a lively exchange. They eagerly ask questions and tell stories. I answer the questions and tell a few stories of my own.
A fruit dish is served. We pour more coffee.
I tell them that I am a Christian writer and speaker and I explain to them how to understand the spirit-world according to the Bible. They listen, cups mid-air. Time moves quickly in the lively exchange about ultimate and eternal things.
Suddenly they realize what time it is. They are going to be late for their symposium.
“O, we’ve got to go. It was so good to meet you, so interesting to talk,” they say.
After a satisfying give-and-take they ask for my business card. I give them my name.
“Google it. I’m all over the ‘net. I’ve written over a thousand pieces that are archived on my site. You can read the stories, watch the videos, and listen to the podcasts.”
That is what it looks like. My travels took me to a small mid-western town where two ladies, who were fascinated by spiritual things, now have a little clearer understanding of the world according to the truth of God.
When I returned to the room Lois was ready. We checked out and found a little bakery downtown where we could enjoy some coffee and fresh-baked pastries and Lois could enjoy her breakfast from a bit more comfortable social distance.
But for a while the place was thin. We live Coram Deo—In the presence of God. All places are thin. We just aren’t always aware of it. In lively conversation with strangers over breakfast we can sometimes thin the distance between heaven and earth.
Ken Pierpont
Granville Cottage
Riverview, Michigan
March 25, 2017
Thin Places (Red Jeep Journals)
[The Red Jeep Journals are stories from the places where God takes me to preach and witness and tell and sing and encourage and nudge everyone I meet one step closer to Christ.]
Recently we stayed in a Bed and Breakfast in a small midwestern village. Sun’s up. It’s Morning. I’m at one end of the breakfast table. Two ladies are at the other end. We are sipping coffee and orange juice. Lois is skipping the breakfast for the same reason I am there—there are strangers in the room.
The ladies are managing a charity that involves an historic estate. I ask them to describe it. In the description they both agree there is something very special about the estate. People love to visit there during times of national or personal turmoil.
“It’s a peaceful place. It’s as if it is haunted by good angels,” they say.
For a while they go on and describe some of the experiences they have had and some of the people attached to the place, including the eccentric woman who lived there all her life. She left the estate to the foundation with an endowment to maintain it.
I ask if they have heard of “thin places.”
“They say there are places on earth where the distance between heaven and earth, the spiritual and the material, are thin,” I explain.
They nod in agreement.
“This would be a thin place,” they agree.
This launched a lively exchange. They eagerly ask questions and tell stories. I answer the questions and tell a few stories of my own.
A fruit dish is served. We pour more coffee.
I tell them that I am a Christian writer and speaker and I explain to them how to understand the spirit-world according to the Bible. They listen, cups mid-air. Time moves quickly in the lively exchange about ultimate and eternal things.
Suddenly they realize what time it is. They are going to be late for their symposium.
“O, we’ve got to go. It was so good to meet you, so interesting to talk,” they say.
After a satisfying give-and-take they ask for my business card. I give them my name.
“Google it. I’m all over the ‘net. I’ve written over a thousand pieces that are archived on my site. You can read the stories, watch the videos, and listen to the podcasts.”
That is what it looks like. My travels took me to a small mid-western town where two ladies, who were fascinated by spiritual things, now have a little clearer understanding of the world according to the truth of God.
When I returned to the room Lois was ready. We checked out and found a little bakery downtown where we could enjoy some coffee and fresh-baked pastries and Lois could enjoy her breakfast from a bit more comfortable social distance.
But for a while the place was thin. We live Coram Deo—In the presence of God. All places are thin. We just aren’t always aware of it. In lively conversation with strangers over breakfast we can sometimes thin the distance between heaven and earth.
Ken Pierpont
Granville Cottage
Riverview, Michigan
March 25, 2017
Thin Places; Podcast #64
http://kenpierpont.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/2017-03-25-Thin-Places-Podcast-64.mp3
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March 24, 2017
Lessons From the Porch (Free e-book)
Here is a free e-book of special interest to those of you who are involved in ministry:
Download: Lessons From the Porch
Humility or Shame? (Video)
It is important to know the difference between shame and humility. Shame can be turned to humility and humility is something God blesses.
March 23, 2017
Family Relationships (Sermon Video)
Series: Ephesians 2017
Title: Family Relationships
Text: Ephesians 6:1-4
March 20, 2017
Family Relationships (Sermon Audio)
Series: Ephesians 2017
Sermon: Family Relationships-Follow the Directions
Text: Ephesians 6:1-4
Speaker: Ken Pierpont
March 18, 2017
What’s Next for the Pierponts
On Palm Sunday we will complete our service at Evangel. We served here from 2007 to 2017 accomplished much and made some wonderful life-long friends. Now it is time for a new chapter in our lives. We will be prayerfully seeking our next place of ministry.
It’s an exciting adventure. In the mean time, beginning at about 12:15 Sunday morning April 9th (Hazard’s 8th birthday) I will be in full-time itinerant preaching, storytelling, evangelism and writing while seeking another flock to shepherd. (I think Lois has a few projects for me, too).
The Red Jeep Journals
Here is the good news for you… I will be creating travel-journals and you will be able to read them right here on kenpierpont.com
After I finish preaching Palm Sunday, I will immediately leave for the mountains of eastern Kentucky where I have been asked to conduct spiritual enrichment meetings in a boarding school. It will be springtime in the mountains. (My Kentucky girl may travel with me on this one).
George (my red jeep—ask me to tell you the story) and I will travel to youth camps, family camps, retreats, churches, schools, colleges, banquets, couples events, men’s events, etc.
This week Hope and I labored hard to box up my entire library–thousands of books–and I will be working from my Jeep and from my cozy study at home. Looks like my trips will take me from Northern Michigan, to the Upper Peninsula, to the mountains of Kentucky—even to Canada. Of course I plan to travel to Oregon and Texas to visit family and I will be open to ministry opportunity around there. We will gratefully go through the doors God opens for us.
My New Book—and an Offer
I’m crafting another collection of stories. This will be a book of over 60 remarkable stories of God’s providence in our lives. I have noticed, in reading Christian biography, the beautiful way that God guides and protects and comforts and warns his children using the the Word and speaking in the voice of the Spirit to the hearts of his children. My next book will be filled with examples of this.
I would like to give you a copy of one of my books. Here is the deal: Tell others about our new itinerant preaching, story-telling, evangelism, writing ministry. When they book me to speak I will send you a copy of one of my books. Deal? My phone number is on the “Meet Ken” page of kenpierpont.com.
Gospel Conversations and Evangelism
As I travel to speak and between assignments I will be encouraging and counseling believers along the way and doing what I can to make Christ known to everyone I meet. I am planning to use the Three-Circle Method to have gospel conversation and I will be sharing those stories in the Red Jeep Journal.
I’m planning to write my own gospel leaflet to take with me and share wherever I go—especially with those who are unlikely to visit the kenpierpont.com web site.
In my next entry I will tell the story of a wonderful conversation I had recently with a couple ladies I met at a Bed and Breakfast…
Sign Up for the e-mails
There is a big red box on the site where you can sign up to receive an e-mail whenever I create a post for the site. Be sure you do that and we can stay in touch. If you want to share in the ministry let me know and we will soon be set up for that.
Ken Pierpont
Granville Cottage
Riverview, Michigan
March 18, 2017
