It was only two weeks ago that we began Lent with the reminder – “Remember you are dust and to dust you shall return.”It was one week ago that Jesus received my brother Jay to his presence as Jay’s mortal body died – “Remember you are dust, and to dust you shall return.”Yesterday, we closed the church building to all activities and joined county and state officials in strongly urging anyone with s...  Read More

By Stacy KutzYouth and Young Adult Minister For many years my son Joshua swam on a club swim team. His best event was the 100 yard (or meter) backstroke. This was a sprint. He would jump in the water, hands on the starting block, mentally preparing for the race ahead. When the starting gun went off, he poured every ounce of energy into racing the four laps ahead of him, and within seconds, the rac...  Read More

Being the church doesn’t happen exclusively at church. To facilitate connection and communication within our church family, West Side will roll out an innovative ministry tool in January of 2020. Realm is an online tool that we will launch in the new year to help the church connect with you, allow you to see what is happening in the church body, and broaden your contact within West Side’s faith co...  Read More

I wonder how many people were in your family gathering for Thanksgiving this year? Ours had 18 – which is on the small side for my family growing up! My definition of a ‘family sized community’ can stretch all the way up to 30 people and I’m still feeling very much at home, known and loved. Others in my current family grew up with much smaller family gatherings – closer to 5 or 6. A group of more ...  Read More

By Stacy KutzYouth and Young Adult Minister“He defends the cause of the fatherless and the widow, and loves the foreigner… giving them food and clothing.” -Deuteronomy 10:18If you ask any youth-age student what their favorite thing is about youth group and what they wish their youth group could do more often, I guarantee you that 99% of the time they will say lock-ins. Lock-ins! As an adult, the l...  Read More

I wonder if you saw an article in the Atlantic from this past July with the provocative headline: “The Future of the City is Childless.” Author Dereck Thompson cites both census data and anecdotal evidence to demonstrate that, while cities are economically booming, they are trading away their children in the process:   Read More

I wonder what you are up to on Wednesday evenings this September?Before we talk about Wednesdays, though, let me start with a heartfelt, “Thank You” for the gift of time away for rest and study this summer. In preparing sermon studies for the year ahead I spent time learning from pastors both here in the US and abroad who have shepherded their congregations into seasons of evangelistic growth – es...  Read More