http://www.kentwoodcommunitychurch.com/pastorphilPastor Phil Updatesen-us What?s the ROI for church giving?   What kind of question is that some might ask?  ROI ? Return on Investment?  This is church, we can?t gauge results like a business might.  Others might say, finally, I?ll get a look at...http://www.kentwoodcommunitychurch.com/default.aspx?p=83955&beid=139461Thu, 02 Jan 2014 12:00:00 Zhttp://www.kentwoodcommunitychurch.com/default.aspx?p=83955&beid=139461 There is a man, small in stature, living in an area of little influence and arguable no platform in which to share his insights and leadership.  But yet, Bishop Hannington?s influence is felt around the world in a ?larger than life? way. ...http://www.kentwoodcommunitychurch.com/default.aspx?p=83955&beid=137974Mon, 21 Oct 2013 11:00:00 Zhttp://www.kentwoodcommunitychurch.com/default.aspx?p=83955&beid=137974 I read an interesting blog this past week about whether Hell was an issue in Abraham?s day, when he was called by God to start the tribe that would eventually become the Christian church.       Hell is a topic everyone knows...http://www.kentwoodcommunitychurch.com/default.aspx?p=83955&beid=136013Wed, 21 Aug 2013 11:00:00 Zhttp://www.kentwoodcommunitychurch.com/default.aspx?p=83955&beid=136013 So many have asked, ?What is the story behind the African refugees that come to Grand Rapids and many times frequent KCC??  Take time to watch this short video about Nickson and Claudine.  Powerful and moving stories of loss and despair...http://www.kentwoodcommunitychurch.com/default.aspx?p=83955&beid=135600Mon, 29 Jul 2013 11:00:00 Zhttp://www.kentwoodcommunitychurch.com/default.aspx?p=83955&beid=135600Emma is a young adult serving at KCC and dedicated to missions and the vulnerable.  Read what she expresses below and if you want to read her full blog, go to http://emmalinesunshine.wordpress.com/2013/07/09/reflection-week-one/   ...http://www.kentwoodcommunitychurch.com/default.aspx?p=83955&beid=135447Mon, 22 Jul 2013 11:00:00 Zhttp://www.kentwoodcommunitychurch.com/default.aspx?p=83955&beid=135447 Richard Stearns of World Vision wrote the very powerful book ?Hole in the Gospel? a few years ago.  He has a new book out.  It?s called ?Unfinished.?   One of our KCCers ? Jim Blum read and reviewed this book for me.  He...http://www.kentwoodcommunitychurch.com/default.aspx?p=83955&beid=135137Tue, 02 Jul 2013 11:00:00 Zhttp://www.kentwoodcommunitychurch.com/default.aspx?p=83955&beid=135137 Kwasiya buti Mweenzuma (Good Afternoon Friends)!   Two Months in Jembo ? Crazy, time has flown by!! Shareen and I have settled down and adjusted into something of a schedule. Up at 5:30 a.m., school devotions at 7:30 a.m., teach two to...http://www.kentwoodcommunitychurch.com/default.aspx?p=83955&beid=135011Wed, 26 Jun 2013 11:00:00 Zhttp://www.kentwoodcommunitychurch.com/default.aspx?p=83955&beid=135011 Sometimes I just stare.  I?m working through a decision or trying to get this old brain to refocus on what?s at hand when it happens ? I just start staring?..at things in my office.   Sometimes I land on an artifact from a country I?ve...http://www.kentwoodcommunitychurch.com/default.aspx?p=83955&beid=134857Mon, 17 Jun 2013 11:00:00 Zhttp://www.kentwoodcommunitychurch.com/default.aspx?p=83955&beid=134857 I?m a late adopter concerning anything technological.  So although I bought an iPod several years ago ? I just discovered the ?random play/shuffle? feature!   This feature randomly picks song after song from my hundreds that are...http://www.kentwoodcommunitychurch.com/default.aspx?p=83955&beid=133602Mon, 15 Apr 2013 11:00:00 Zhttp://www.kentwoodcommunitychurch.com/default.aspx?p=83955&beid=133602 For many children, the story of Noah?s Ark in the Old Testament is a favorite.  For some reason, it never was one of mine.  I was always uneasy about all of the people who died ? yet I knew we should be happy because God saved Noah and his...http://www.kentwoodcommunitychurch.com/default.aspx?p=83955&beid=133174Thu, 21 Mar 2013 11:00:00 Zhttp://www.kentwoodcommunitychurch.com/default.aspx?p=83955&beid=133174 KCCer Emma Bykerk takes us on a 9 minute video journey of a ?day in the life of a Zilpa child.? See where they live, study, how they eat and what it is like to grow up in a small village in India. KCC supports the ministry in Zilpa through its...http://www.kentwoodcommunitychurch.com/default.aspx?p=83955&beid=131498Thu, 14 Mar 2013 11:00:00 Zhttp://www.kentwoodcommunitychurch.com/default.aspx?p=83955&beid=131498 I had just received a text from Libere saying he wasn't going to arrive in Brussels as planned.   I had left the US, flying through Chicago?s O?Hare airport on my way to Burundi.  Libere, a partner in the African project we were to...http://www.kentwoodcommunitychurch.com/default.aspx?p=83955&beid=130518Tue, 26 Feb 2013 12:00:00 Zhttp://www.kentwoodcommunitychurch.com/default.aspx?p=83955&beid=130518 KCC Social Media from Kentwood Community Church on Vimeo . http://www.kentwoodcommunitychurch.com/default.aspx?p=83955&beid=129992Wed, 20 Feb 2013 12:00:00 Zhttp://www.kentwoodcommunitychurch.com/default.aspx?p=83955&beid=129992 As I was flying south from Michigan, an article in the flight magazine caught my eye - "Icy Hot."  I saw pictures of ice blocks and sculptures and thought of the ice festival in our city where artisans carve masterpieces out of frozen...http://www.kentwoodcommunitychurch.com/default.aspx?p=83955&beid=128684Mon, 11 Feb 2013 12:00:00 Zhttp://www.kentwoodcommunitychurch.com/default.aspx?p=83955&beid=128684 KCC Missions Trips from Kentwood Community Church on Vimeo . http://www.kentwoodcommunitychurch.com/default.aspx?p=83955&beid=128596Tue, 05 Feb 2013 12:00:00 Zhttp://www.kentwoodcommunitychurch.com/default.aspx?p=83955&beid=128596 The second day into the conference was when one of the participants uttered this statement ? ?It?s cool to be Muslim.?  Mike and I had been in Kyrgyzstan for a few days leading a leadership conference for a group of about 30 pastors and...http://www.kentwoodcommunitychurch.com/default.aspx?p=83955&beid=128234Tue, 15 Jan 2013 12:00:00 Zhttp://www.kentwoodcommunitychurch.com/default.aspx?p=83955&beid=128234 Remember Christmas Cards?  The ones that weren't sent electronically?   I loved Christmas Cards growing up!  My father was a pastor of a church of a few hundred people.  That meant individual Christmas Cards......to each...http://www.kentwoodcommunitychurch.com/default.aspx?p=83955&beid=127675Wed, 19 Dec 2012 12:00:00 Zhttp://www.kentwoodcommunitychurch.com/default.aspx?p=83955&beid=127675 I'm standing in a wet tunnel, 60 feet underground; water is dripping on my head.   Dodging the low hanging beams, I come to the end of the passageway.  This is where the tunnel was collapsed by the South Koreans after discovering this...http://www.kentwoodcommunitychurch.com/default.aspx?p=83955&beid=127346Tue, 11 Dec 2012 12:00:00 Zhttp://www.kentwoodcommunitychurch.com/default.aspx?p=83955&beid=127346 Guest blog from Kevin, a relief worker after Super Storm Sandy - Phil   Thursday was by far the most emotionally challenging day for me and I know some of the others as well. This was an absolute war zone. ARMY and National Guard trucks,...http://www.kentwoodcommunitychurch.com/default.aspx?p=83955&beid=127043Mon, 26 Nov 2012 12:00:00 Zhttp://www.kentwoodcommunitychurch.com/default.aspx?p=83955&beid=127043The flight attendant had that tired smile on her face - the one that is forced after eight hours on a packed airplane.  The Brussels Airliner was almost to Burundi and the last drinks were being served before landing. "I'll take a Coke,...http://www.kentwoodcommunitychurch.com/default.aspx?p=83955&beid=126418Mon, 05 Nov 2012 12:00:00 Zhttp://www.kentwoodcommunitychurch.com/default.aspx?p=83955&beid=126418KCC Missions supports a girl?s dorm in Cambodia.  This enables poor young women from the country, who can?t afford a university education because of the expensive costs of housing, the opportunity to study.  Many whom are Buddhist learn of...http://www.kentwoodcommunitychurch.com/default.aspx?p=83955&beid=126195Mon, 29 Oct 2012 11:00:00 Zhttp://www.kentwoodcommunitychurch.com/default.aspx?p=83955&beid=126195 If you travel, you know what I?m talking about!   I can be pretty certain that whenever I spend the night in a hotel, anywhere in the world, I know that the one English language station on the television will be the British Broadcasting...http://www.kentwoodcommunitychurch.com/default.aspx?p=83955&beid=124197Wed, 17 Oct 2012 11:00:00 Zhttp://www.kentwoodcommunitychurch.com/default.aspx?p=83955&beid=124197 I recently heard a joke that resonated with me.   ?What do you call someone who speaks 3 languages? ? Trilingual? ?What do you call someone who speaks 2 languages? ? Bilingual? ?What do you call someone who speaks 1 language? -...http://www.kentwoodcommunitychurch.com/default.aspx?p=83955&beid=123942Wed, 10 Oct 2012 11:00:00 Zhttp://www.kentwoodcommunitychurch.com/default.aspx?p=83955&beid=123942 Guest blog from my friend Richard It was a dreary South Carolina day in the fall of 2001.  I had just left my New Testament Theology course.  In class that day our professor was trying to land the concept of the incarnation. ...http://www.kentwoodcommunitychurch.com/default.aspx?p=83955&beid=123828Fri, 05 Oct 2012 11:00:00 Zhttp://www.kentwoodcommunitychurch.com/default.aspx?p=83955&beid=123828 Posted by Jason Clark Yesterday I stood in the Yanghwajin Foreign Missionary Cemetery ( ??? ), and on reading one epitaph found my breath taken away, tears stinging my eyes. ?If I had a thousand lives to...http://www.kentwoodcommunitychurch.com/default.aspx?p=83955&beid=123294Thu, 06 Sep 2012 12:00:00 Zhttp://www.kentwoodcommunitychurch.com/default.aspx?p=83955&beid=123294 I'm at a se minary leadership conference in Seoul, Korea - surrounded by the most eclectic and diverse group of Jesus followers probably gathered in one small room.  All are recognized leaders.   The makeup of this group...http://www.kentwoodcommunitychurch.com/default.aspx?p=83955&beid=122981Mon, 27 Aug 2012 12:00:00 Zhttp://www.kentwoodcommunitychurch.com/default.aspx?p=83955&beid=122981 When Steve Jobs, co-founder of Apple, was 13 when he saw the July, 1968, Life Magazine which published a shocking cover with a pair of starving children in Biafra.  Jobs took it to Sunday School and confronted the church?s pastor, asking a...http://www.kentwoodcommunitychurch.com/default.aspx?p=83955&beid=121207Tue, 31 Jul 2012 12:00:00 Zhttp://www.kentwoodcommunitychurch.com/default.aspx?p=83955&beid=121207 I was in a group of people praying together last week.  They prayed for sunny skies and no rain because of a week-long children?s event being held at their church.    Earlier that same morning, listening to a Christian...http://www.kentwoodcommunitychurch.com/default.aspx?p=83955&beid=120943Mon, 16 Jul 2012 12:00:00 Zhttp://www.kentwoodcommunitychurch.com/default.aspx?p=83955&beid=120943 "He's got to be 14-feet long," cried the golfer who had been in front of us!  I was golfing with my brother-in-law near Auburn, Alabama.  The course was beautiful with lakes and marshes ? and alligators!   I had seen alligators on...http://www.kentwoodcommunitychurch.com/default.aspx?p=83955&beid=120695Tue, 10 Jul 2012 12:00:00 Zhttp://www.kentwoodcommunitychurch.com/default.aspx?p=83955&beid=120695 I love the smell of coffee, but just can?t stomach the taste.  LeAnn likes coffee, as do most adults.  So I made a decision.   I decided I was going to force myself to like coffee in the year 2012.     This...http://www.kentwoodcommunitychurch.com/default.aspx?p=83955&beid=120284Tue, 26 Jun 2012 12:00:00 Zhttp://www.kentwoodcommunitychurch.com/default.aspx?p=83955&beid=120284 In front of me were piles of some sort of insects ? three piles on tables out in the sun and heat. Flies were swarming around the piles and a vendor was asking if I wanted to buy some. I finally realized that they were grasshoppers ? piles of...http://www.kentwoodcommunitychurch.com/default.aspx?p=83955&beid=120119Tue, 19 Jun 2012 13:00:00 Zhttp://www.kentwoodcommunitychurch.com/default.aspx?p=83955&beid=120119 I don?t always drink pop (or soda, or Coke for you in the South).  I understand that it?s not that healthy but because I enjoy it so much I can?t quite give it up.  So ?every other? day, I?ll grab my favorite drink.  Many times I go...http://www.kentwoodcommunitychurch.com/default.aspx?p=83955&beid=119882Mon, 11 Jun 2012 12:00:00 Zhttp://www.kentwoodcommunitychurch.com/default.aspx?p=83955&beid=119882 I was preparing for a trip to Portland, Oregon when LeAnn, my wife, was on the phone to a relative. She mentioned my trip during the conversation and heard an interesting reply, ?Be careful, you know, they all go around naked in Portland!? LeAnn...http://www.kentwoodcommunitychurch.com/default.aspx?p=83955&beid=119725Mon, 04 Jun 2012 13:23:00 Zhttp://www.kentwoodcommunitychurch.com/default.aspx?p=83955&beid=119725 Four of us enjoy nine holes of golf on Saturday mornings ? early!  We usually try and tee off by 7:00 a.m. In that way, we have a great time and still have most of the day for family and other activities.   I like these guys.  We...http://www.kentwoodcommunitychurch.com/default.aspx?p=83955&beid=119256Mon, 21 May 2012 13:00:00 Zhttp://www.kentwoodcommunitychurch.com/default.aspx?p=83955&beid=119256 It?s great to hear a success story, isn?t it?   LeAnn and I heard one just a few nights ago ? but it also caused us to reexamine what we sometimes take for granted.  Sometimes peoples? stories help us see our surroundings with a...http://www.kentwoodcommunitychurch.com/default.aspx?p=83955&beid=118809Fri, 04 May 2012 18:00:00 Zhttp://www.kentwoodcommunitychurch.com/default.aspx?p=83955&beid=118809 I'm an English-speaking, suburb-living, middle-class white guy from Byron Center who enjoys golf.When the invitation to teach at John Maxwell's EQUIP conference in Fortaleza, Brazil came, rivers of excitement were soon flooded with a torrent of...http://www.kentwoodcommunitychurch.com/default.aspx?p=83955&beid=118362Fri, 20 Apr 2012 18:00:00 Zhttp://www.kentwoodcommunitychurch.com/default.aspx?p=83955&beid=118362 I used to be a ?judger.?  I was good, in a bad way.I used to judge people all the time.   I used to judge people all the time. I looked down on those that drank, or went to ?R? rated movies. I doubted people?s faith...http://www.kentwoodcommunitychurch.com/default.aspx?p=83955&beid=118211Tue, 10 Apr 2012 16:00:00 Zhttp://www.kentwoodcommunitychurch.com/default.aspx?p=83955&beid=118211 We want to be relevant, but holy.  We want to be in the world, but not of the world.  It?s a great tension, but the reality is sometimes tough.  What do you think about this article from Tony Campolo.   I found a church in...http://www.kentwoodcommunitychurch.com/default.aspx?p=83955&beid=117989Fri, 23 Mar 2012 13:00:00 Zhttp://www.kentwoodcommunitychurch.com/default.aspx?p=83955&beid=117989 I just recently returned from my first overseas mission trip to Thailand. I went with Women At Risk (WAR)Int?l., a local organization that provides circles of protection around threatened. A majority of WAR?s time is spent fighting the issue of...http://www.kentwoodcommunitychurch.com/default.aspx?p=83955&beid=117670Mon, 19 Mar 2012 13:00:00 Zhttp://www.kentwoodcommunitychurch.com/default.aspx?p=83955&beid=117670 ?These are days when joy bubbles over!?  I love that description - When joy bubbles over!  This phrase is in an article I?m reading, describing the Carnival Celebration that takes place in Trinidad and Tobago each year.   ...http://www.kentwoodcommunitychurch.com/default.aspx?p=83955&beid=117444Wed, 07 Mar 2012 22:00:00 Zhttp://www.kentwoodcommunitychurch.com/default.aspx?p=83955&beid=117444     It was the year 1992 and we were living in Brazil.  I was scouring every store I could find in the city of Sao Paulo for a CD copy of The Bodyguard soundtrack.  I was a huge Whitney Houston fan and I knew the CD had...http://www.kentwoodcommunitychurch.com/default.aspx?p=83955&beid=117257Tue, 28 Feb 2012 14:00:00 Zhttp://www.kentwoodcommunitychurch.com/default.aspx?p=83955&beid=117257 Don?t you just love underdog stories ? stories where our hero is given a second chance and he or she succeeds and everyone cheers?  Remember the movie, The Blind Side!   America and the world have seen this story play out these...http://www.kentwoodcommunitychurch.com/default.aspx?p=83955&beid=117134Fri, 17 Feb 2012 00:00:00 Zhttp://www.kentwoodcommunitychurch.com/default.aspx?p=83955&beid=117134   After all of the 3:16 hype surrounding Tim Tebow, an annual poll asked U.S. adults who are the celebrities with whom they would want to share a fence. Tebow edged out everyone, with 11% of all those polled choosing him as the best...http://www.kentwoodcommunitychurch.com/default.aspx?p=83955&beid=116902Fri, 03 Feb 2012 04:00:00 Zhttp://www.kentwoodcommunitychurch.com/default.aspx?p=83955&beid=116902 Messiness!   No, I?m not speaking about the condition of the above stores or the quality of the work-out machines at my local gym.  I?m talking about involvement in our community - this new and changing, sometimes messy,...http://www.kentwoodcommunitychurch.com/default.aspx?p=83955&beid=116516Wed, 11 Jan 2012 14:00:00 Zhttp://www.kentwoodcommunitychurch.com/default.aspx?p=83955&beid=116516 Politics is in the air and so is religion.  Evangelical Republican Rick Perry said that God told him to run for president.  According to evangelical Congresswoman Michelle Bachman, she too had a calling from God to run for president. ...http://www.kentwoodcommunitychurch.com/default.aspx?p=83955&beid=116248Wed, 28 Dec 2011 18:00:00 Zhttp://www.kentwoodcommunitychurch.com/default.aspx?p=83955&beid=116248 The power of an American passport!  When traveling worldwide it evokes admiration and jealousy in those that carry other passports.  In essence, the power of America travels with you when you have that little blue book.  Because of...http://www.kentwoodcommunitychurch.com/default.aspx?p=83955&beid=115787Fri, 02 Dec 2011 18:00:00 Zhttp://www.kentwoodcommunitychurch.com/default.aspx?p=83955&beid=115787 Michael committed suicide.  He was only 24 years old.  I hardly knew him but the impact still shakes me weeks after his death.   Hardships and hurts are nothing new for me.  I have been involved in ministry most of...http://www.kentwoodcommunitychurch.com/default.aspx?p=83955&beid=115662Fri, 18 Nov 2011 17:05:00 Zhttp://www.kentwoodcommunitychurch.com/default.aspx?p=83955&beid=115662 It seems that more often than I would like, I find myself at about 30,000 feet, looking out the window of a jet airliner, contemplating life.  Well, if the truth be known, I am usually watching the latest movie on the airplane media system...http://www.kentwoodcommunitychurch.com/default.aspx?p=83955&beid=115458Thu, 03 Nov 2011 13:00:00 Zhttp://www.kentwoodcommunitychurch.com/default.aspx?p=83955&beid=115458