Thoughts from Pastor Don Filcek.
I was raised by wolves. Just kidding. But I was not raised in a context anchored to any tradition. My spiritual formation took place in a non-denominational Bible church. I was raised by a single mom who remarried after my dad died. Even after my mother remarried, I had little to no stability in my…
So, this month contains two commemorative dates that cause me to have more introspection than normal. April 1, 2005 – I became a Pastor April 19, 2009 – We held our first service as ReCAST Church (in a basement, in a home on the north side of Mattawan). That means ReCAST will be 16 years…
My wife and I made it quite a while without a large animal pet. There were Amelia and Zaccheaus, the zebra finches we had early in our marriage. We had a brief foray into hamsters when our kids were young. We had a freshwater aquarium for a few years. But Linda and I both shared…
I sit here and write this blog in between conversations. So far this morning I have had three conversations with people who attend ReCAST church. (After I wrote the previous sentence I had a great conversation with a young couple who just came through to grab a coffee and stopped to chat). I am…
I have recently been made aware of a particular woman with a large following who has made a list of unapproved theologians and pastors and authors. Of course, she is the common thread. Her list includes Daily Grace Co. Her list includes John Piper. Her list includes Tim Keller. Her list includes the Bible Project.…
I often tell people in my role as a pastor that we need to keep reading the Bible in order to keep exercising our faith. I think many of us have a tendency to think of faith as a static thing. Either I have it, or I don’t. But faith, as evidence of things not…
While I was rereading ‘The Pastor’ by Eugene Peterson last week, I was struck again by the nature of my full time role as a pastor. I have a strange job. I am employed in the service of a people in order to shine as a consistent spotlight on the invisible God. He is there.…
Several years ago, I was more in touch with contemporary culture. I would blog nearly every week on Thursdays and I used my blog as an opportunity to exegete our culture, much like I use my sermons on Sunday to exegete a passage of the Bible. But something shifted, and I am not sure if…