When I was a kid growing up in church and attending Sunday school, I learned a lot of Old Testament stories and met some of my favorite heroes. I wanted to be like them.   I wanted to have integrity like Joseph. I wanted to be a leader like Moses. I wanted to be … [Read More…] February 19, 2023

  I have some encouraging news to share!   For the last two years, The Moody Church has participated in the Best Christian Workplaces Institute’s engagement survey, which helps Christian churches and non-profits understand their organization’s health and employee engagement in order to identify blind spots and build a flourishing workplace culture. Because we believe … [Read More…] February 12, 2023

  Winter can feel lifeless and stagnant. The trees are bare, the ground is frozen, and it seems like everything is locked in the cold teeth of death. Yet beneath the earth’s surface, life abounds. Rabbits are burrowing, worms are tunneling, and tree roots are plunging ever deeper. In fact, most of a tree’s root … [Read More…] February 5, 2023

  They say it takes a village to raise a child. Our family is living out that proverb this week. Krista and I are in the second year of our doctoral program at Wheaton College, and each semester we have a one-week intensive class in person. This is where the village comes in.   As … [Read More…] January 29, 2023

  Each year, two important days fall within a week of each other: Martin Luther King Jr. Day and Sanctity of Human Life Sunday. Both are important occasions for us to draw out the implications of the Gospel for the broken world in which we live. After all, a Christian understanding of racial justice and … [Read More…] January 22, 2023

  A friend and I decided to grab a couple days of skiing this week. As I write this morning, I’m looking out on a wooded meadow with tall evergreens bowed low by freshly fallen overnight snow. Everything is calm, brilliant, and untracked. It’s gloriously pristine.   I’m reminded of David’s prayer of confession in … [Read More…] January 15, 2023

  Each year I have such good intentions. My New Year’s resolutions seem reasonable and achievable. I make a chart and begin with vigor! But then reality sets in. My self-discipline isn’t what I thought. Bad habits are stubborn things. Everything goes back to normal. And it’s only the second week of January!   I’m … [Read More…] January 8, 2023

  Happy new year, everyone!   I can’t think of a better way to get 2023 off to a great start than to immerse ourselves in God’s Word and prayer. In many ways, these spiritual disciplines are like breathing. We breathe in God’s Word to us as we read the Scriptures, and we breathe out … [Read More…] January 1, 2023

  Merry Christmas!   Today we celebrate the moment when God broke into space and time in the sending of His beloved Son to live among us. The chasm that separated a holy God from a sinful humanity was crossed in the coming of the incarnate Christ, who has come to reconcile all things to … [Read More…] December 25, 2022

  Wow! What a wonderful Christmas Concert we had last week! Christ was honored, souls were stirred, and the good news was proclaimed in Chicago!   One of my neighbors who came for the first time sent this text to our neighborhood group: “Good evening, Pastor Philip, thank you for the early alert on the … [Read More…] December 18, 2022