Richard Wood

Richard Wood is a native of Wilkesboro, North Carolina and currently serves as an associate pastor in Sanford, North Carolina. He has served congregations in the areas of education, youth ministry, children’s ministry and interim pastor over the last 15 years, and has led conferences on youth ministry, youth Sunday School and technology in ministry all across North Carolina.He is responsible for the technology needs of the partnership along with assisting churches with their technology needs

Energy and the Spiritual Ecosystem

I’m thinking this week about the issue of energy in a spiritual ecosystem.  Every ecosystem is dependent on energy. In nature the ultimate source is the Sun. That energy is converted by plants into food which some animals consume directly and others consume by consuming plant-eating plant animals. Animals die and decay; energy returns to

Energy and the Spiritual Ecosystem Read More »

Teens Want Their Faith to Matter

Teens want their faith to matter. So it’s very important to create opportunities for them to serve, both inside and outside the church. It seems that we’re always impressed on Youth Sunday when they lead the worship service for a day. Some churches even have a “Youth Week” where teens take on different roles of

Teens Want Their Faith to Matter Read More »

It takes a community…

It really does take a community of faith to raise a child in the faith. Teenagers should have at least four to five adults in their life who they could go tell them the worst possible thing and not feel condemned. Some youth feel that adults are against them already, so it’s important to show

It takes a community… Read More »

Insiders or Outsiders

In my recent article for The E-ncourager, I wrote about the messages we communicate in our bulletins, newsletters, websites, etc.  One of the points I stressed in helping get our message across better is to keep the guest in mind. Recently, I attended a Baptist Men’s Day worship service.  The service was led by laity

Insiders or Outsiders Read More »

Patient Lemons

You may have heard the old saying, “When life gives you lemons, make lemonade.” Today back in 1974 God took it to another extreme and caused something good in nature out of something bad. A landslide in a province of Peru came crashing down on homes, farms, businesses and whole villages. By the end of

Patient Lemons Read More »

Batter Up! But Who?

As some of you know by now, I am an old fashioned baseball fan. When I have a chance to attend a local minor league game or go down to Atlanta to see the team, my family knows that I pay attention to the game. The kiddy rides, the antics down on the field between

Batter Up! But Who? Read More »