July 1, 2026 Each morning, I start my day with reading. First comes scripture, along with prayer, followed by books that are helpful for life and ministry. The last few days, I’ve been reading Leadership and the Sin of Empathy. Most would be surprised to hear the words “empathy” and “sin” placed together in this …
Author Archives: Ken Cluck
May 2026 Pastor’s Newsletter
As I often say, “Words matter, and so do the definitions.” Just because we both speak English does not mean we use every English word the same way. Examples are plenty when we look at the differences between British and American English, but there are many much closer to home. For example, when I say …
Thinking before you Share
With current events, I find myself drawn to re-read Bonhoeffer’s Theory of Stupidity. I see a lot of stupidity on both sides of the political aisle, and I also see that it is infecting the church. We, who should be seekers of truth, are too easily drawn into sides and decide to allow the mob …
To Resolve or Not to Resolve
January 2, 2026 Greetings, New Year’s is an interesting time. Commonly, people reevaluate their lives and settle on changes to make. These are personal promises and declarations which we call resolutions. These are often something like, “In the New Year, I resolve to…” Usually, these take two forms: positive and negative. Positive resolutions are …
Questions Should Be Welcomed
Recently, Kirk Cameron released a podcast episode in which he discussed some questions about Hell with his son. He is wrestling, in his studies, with the traditional view known as eternal conscious torment and another view known as conditional immortality (also known as annihilationism). Before going into some points, let me explain these two: Eternal …
No such thing as a pocket Jesus
In Exodus 20, God was with Israel. The people gathered at the foot of Mt. Sinai. The Lord appeared to them in a thick cloud with lightning, thunder, and fire. He spoke with Moses in their hearing. This frightened the people so bad they told Moses, “You speak to us, and we will listen; but …
Schadenfreude no more
In English, when we need a new word, we may coin something new or borrow from another language. For example, we borrowed “cookie” from Dutch. If you hate math, you can thank Arabic for the word “algebra.” In German, the tendency is to take a descriptive phrase and make it into a single word. We …
Crossing the Context Bridge
There is an old saying, “A text without context is a pretext.” R. Scott Clark, writing in an article for Heideblog, says, “One way to be sure to handle the text of Scripture well and accurately is to place it in its original context. Failure to read Scripture against its original background will have unhappy …
Interpreting Graciously
This morning, I read an interesting post from a friend about Nehemiah and the rebuilding of Jerusalem’s wall. However, what was most interesting was that after posting the initial message, he felt compelled to add a disclaimer stating that it was not about immigration or any current news topic. He was meditating on a biblical …
Teach the Little Ones
Lately, I have been asked about certain things happening in our country. I decided to address these here. First, Louisiana has mandated displaying the Ten Commandments in all publicly funded classrooms. Second, Oklahoma’s State Superintendent mandated that all schools incorporate the Bible into classroom lessons and that any teacher refusing to follow the mandate would …