Blog

True inspirational stories to warm your heart and kindle the spirit

Laugh More, Love More, Pray More
Pastor Tom Kraft Pastor Tom Kraft

Laugh More, Love More, Pray More

This summer I finally tackled a project at the cottage I have dreaded for twenty years… insulating the crawlspace so we could use the building in cold weather. Cleaning out the mess underneath, raking it, hauling in plywood and insulation, messing with Great Stuff, moving pipes, installing a vapor barrier, and making insulated cupboard doors.

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Let Your Light Shine
Pastor Tom Kraft Pastor Tom Kraft

Let Your Light Shine

It seems I always have a building that needs work. My cottage, my daughter’s house, the parsonage, the Pendleton Church, First Church… there is always something to fix.

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Do Not Be Anxious
Pastor Tom Kraft Pastor Tom Kraft

Do Not Be Anxious

Have you ever played the game Whack-a-Mole? It used to be in all the arcades. You would whack a mole with a club, and as soon as you knocked one down, another one would pop up.

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Pastor Tom Kraft Pastor Tom Kraft

Working As A Team

They were great men, but Paul says, they were only men. And the church was a lot more than any of them. It was a team of people all working to build a ministry for God, and a church that let God build through them.

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Pastor Jean Edmister Pastor Jean Edmister

A Message From Pastor Jean

As many of you know by now, I have received an appointment to a new church starting on July 1. This means I will no longer be one of your Pastors at Pendleton Center UMC. I have loved serving and doing ministry with you over the past 26 years. Our pastors are working diligently to figure out who will work with the ministries I currently lead. Please be patient and pray as they make these decisions.

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Pastor Tom Kraft Pastor Tom Kraft

Change...

Over our lives we face many changes. People retire or lose their jobs and feel dislocated. We move into a new home and feel disoriented. Someone we love, close to us, passes to glory and we feel an emptiness. Our child leaves for college or our parents for Florida and we feel loneliness. While change often leads to blessing, at first, we often feel apprehension and confusion.

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Pastor Tom Kraft Pastor Tom Kraft

Do We Just Make It Up As We Go Along?

A number of years ago a relative of mine was talking to me about what they believed. I said that what they believed wasn’t Christian. They said that was my opinion, you have your Christianity, I have mine. We live in a culture where people just make stuff up and call it truth. Part of our identity as Americans is that we allow people to believe and say anything they want. 

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