Today, I’m an avid coffee drinker. But as a kid, I hated it because I had heard it stunted your growth. With a mom and dad both under 5’6”, I wasn’t about to hurt my chances! I drank my first cup at 44 years old, when I battled Hepatitis C and had to endure a difficult 12-month interferon treatment. My wife...
We always re-think our choices on the other side of consequences; it’s just human nature. Maybe we lose our temper with our spouse, and then, when we’re cold on the couch that night, we regret our decision. Maybe we’re required to take a risk in order to see our dreams come to pass, but instead we let fear paralyze us and...
Get the Recipe Right by Jim Graff Growing up, I had a huge extended family. My mom and dad had eight siblings each, which meant a lot of cousins for me! Every year, from Christmas Eve to New Years’ Day, we would visit every single house. That meant that you could gain 25 lbs. over the holidays if you wanted! One year, one...
How to Get Your Prayers Answered by Pastor Jim Graff I’ve been a pastor for 30+ years, so over time, I have heard quite a few definitions of prayer. Out of all of them, there are two that have really hit home with me. The first one comes from a Bible dictionary that I like. It says that prayer is man’s utter...
Preparing Your Church for Immeasurable Impact by Pastor Jim Graff One aspect I love about the ministry is how impossible it is to calculate our eternal worth. In Luke chapter 6, Jesus talks about our call to give to others and describes our return as being good measure and running over. None of us will ever know fully what our efforts have...
Authentic Praise Honors God and Builds Churches Too! by Pastor Jim Graff As a young pastor in training, I heard my father-in-law, the late John Osteen tell an interesting story. He described a worship service that one of the church businessmen brought his attorney friend to. The businessman was concerned that the worship might be a little too exuberant for this dignified attorney. ...
Making Disciples Pastor Jim Graff Have you noticed how eager people are to reach new places of success in their lives? Most of us are constantly and carefully planning the next step vital to our desired destination. I clearly remember one morning when my son confidently explained to me that he was ready to take the training wheels off his bike. He was...
Contagious Churches by Pastor Jim Graff Are you praying for insight about how your church can impact the unchurched? I remember thinking – “If our church ever becomes popular among the unchurched, we’ll sure be able to do lots of good. After all, there are lots of people needing redemption in our community.” Think about this, do you remember who led you to...
We the “Little” People … in America’s Smaller Communities by Pastor Jim Graff One of the expressions we say from time to time, is “little things really do make a big difference”. However, I have noticed that most of the time I hear that phrase, people are reacting as if they hope it is true. We want to convince people that it is...
A Call to Compassion … Watch it connect you with your community by Pastor Jim Graff A destitute woman. A sick and desperate mother. A prodigal son; these were the kind of people Jesus exercised continual compassion toward. After demonstrating his great compassion in every synagogue and village of Israel, Jesus did something else. He made it clear that he was calling...