Category: 2026 Blogs

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Back in the Day

He was seven, maybe eight and he was eagerly listening. Trying to understand a book my wife was reading to the class, he raised his hand and said “back in the day things were different.” Mary nearly lost it in laughter. Back in the day for him was preschool, kindergarten, or first grade, but in the moment, it was the best way he could articulate how much easier life was back in the day.

We all have back in the day syndrome. We romanticize the past, often forgetting the problems, difficulties and stress. Reflectively we reminisce on how good the past was. As a pastor I don’t how many times I had to deal with back in the day ideology. Back in the day we didn’t have loud music. Back in the day we did stand all the time. The back in the day list was longer than Mary’s to-do list for me. I hear it from my parents and even my kids who are in their late 20’s. To be honest, as hard as I try not to be one of “those people,” I catch myself talking about back in the day.

It’s human nature to look back, to reminisce and romanticize yesterday. There is a healing balm in the past. Pain, hurt, and disappointment often fade and we are left with a warm cup of how good things were. It’s really a false narrative, but often the past is salve to the soul.

Truthfully, few of us would trade the past for the present. Do we really want to go back to some of the trials we walked through? Do we really want to go back to a time when there was no air-conditioning? As much as we despise cells phones, internet and social media, are we ready to dispose it? GPS and cameras are everywhere, eliminating privacy, but I would gander to say very few would give up the convenience of hitting a few buttons and finding a Starbucks or Chick-fil-a. When is the last time you pulled out a paper map?

The back in the days is valuable though. Though the seven-year-old had gleaned a limited bank of experiences, he had experienced enough of life to appreciate the past. As we age, we experience more life and gain more wisdom. Sometimes it is a surprise two-by-four to the back of our head. We are surprised by a job firing, a friend’s betrayal, or a sudden medical report. Other times it’s good; a kind act, an unexpected promotion or miraculous moment.

I’ve learned we all have a back in the day love affair that shapes how we view life. What we experienced creates wisdom. It changes how we frame life, how we tell our story. It’s important to understand how someone’s experiences shape how they tell their story. Cancer shapes a story. Divorce shapes a story. Unexpected promotions and financial blessings shape a story. Having children shape our story. The lists of impacting shaping events are limitless.

Spiritual Application:

When we look at the Bible, especially the New Testament, it’s important to realize most of it was written reflectively. Authors told their story through the lens of past experiences, may I call it, “back in the day writing.” It’s critical that we read it that way. Unfortunately, many pastors and people read it as though it as a diary, a play by play as events happened. This model of reading and teaching skews everything.

While exact dates may be questionable, there is scholarly consensus that the earliest New Testament book, 1 Thessalonians, was written around 50 AD. The first gospel written, Mark, will be written some 15 to 20 years later, around 65 AD. This is critical. By the time Paul writes the first book of the New Testament, the events of Jesus’ life; His life, death, resurrection and ascension into heaven had aged by 20 years. By the time Mark is written the events of Jesus’ life are at least 35 years old. They were writing from a reflective and experiential view.

Going beyond Jesus’ life, Pentecost has happened and is continuing happen as Paul, in the middle of his second journey, writes 1 Thessalonians in 50AD. Writing to new churches, as he notes at the beginning of each letter, he’s writing to people who have and are experiencing Pentecost yet struggling to totally understand their new found experience. Paul writes each of his letters with the reflective experiences of his past, his Damacus Road conversion and many other overwhelming experiences.

When we read the Gospels it’s important that we view it through the back in the day lens. The authors have spent three years with Jesus, faced His death, burial and resurrection, and experienced the Spirit in the Upper Room. They’re writing their narratives, their books through the lens of experiencing and re-experiencing the infilling of the Spirit. They wrote while seeing people experience the Spirit for forty years. These men wrote their books between 65AD (Mark) and 90AD (John), making events they were reflecting on and writing about, some 35- 60 years old. They told their stories about Jesus through the lens of the experience of the Spirit. They wrote of miracles through the understanding of the Spirit. They told parables and stories with a Spirit filled bias.

Some say the Upper Room was a one-time back in the day experience. I would submit that all of Paul’s writings involved a back in the day perspective. He wrote through experiencing the Spirits infilling and having its power operate in him. Check out his question as he starts out on his third missionary journey, not first, in 54AD. He questions John’s disciples, (Acts 19;1-6) asking, have you received the Spirit since you believed? He laid hands on them and they began to speak in a language unknown. His back in the day experience was impacting people 25 years after he first experienced it.

How has life events skewed, impacted your perspective? If you’re over 60, how did the moon landing impact you? Over 40, how did 9/11 change your view on life? In your 20’s, what did COVID do to your life lens? We cannot help but be changed by back in the day events, they alter our life and how we translate it to others. If these events impact how we live and see life, how we tell our story, isn’t it important that we grasp how the disciples and Paul experiences impacted their stories?

My challenge. To pastors, ministers, to those who love the Bible, to those who want to grow and experience more of God and His Spirit. Turn off the religious heritage. Unplug from your denominational dogma. Go read the Bible with a back in the day view. Over the past four years I have. It has been life altering. You will see the writings through experiential and historical perspective. You will read the Bible knowing nearly every author experienced Pentecost, spoke in languages unknown and saw the power of God work mightily through their lives. You will get back in the day clarity.

Willing? It’s risky. It could be the catalyst that starts one of the greatest transformations of your faith and will start you on a life altering journey in your walk with Jesus.

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Different Logo. Same Hamburger

 

Growing up in Noblesville, a small town in central Indiana, was kind of like growing up in Mayberry, a fictional town on the Andy Griffin show. (Side Note: If you are under 40 you probably need to GPT Andy Griffin). Back in the day in Noblesville jaywalking was the major crime, we went to the town square to watch people, knew to come home when we were hungry, and visits to the park pool were a part of summers tradition.

Somewhere along the line Noblesville grew up. The town square gained law offices but lost its local stores that gave it charm. Crime is still low. We don’t have time to watch people, but a good thing that happened is the park pool got a major update.

While I miss a lot of the things about the days gone by, the upgrade to the park pool is a good thing. Gone is the single pool with a deep diving well with three varying heights of spring boards. Now there are several pools and a diving well. There is a splash pool for beginners, young kids and people who might want to soak. A lap pool for those who want to do some laps or just long for some fun in deeper water. There are still spring boards, but added are three varying flatforms for the serious divers. Regardless of your ability to swim, there is a place for you.

Over the past three years I’ve been privileged to watch my grandson three days a week. Part of that meant I got to get him in water. Of course he had splashed in the bathtub, but there is something exhilarating about being in water outside.

His first pool came when he was a little over a year old. A 24” X 24” pool that was about a foot deep. He spent that entire summer absolutely enamored by being in the pool. By the time he was two he had graduated to something a little larger, still basically a splash pool, but once again he loved every day that he got to spend in the pool. By year three I had bought him a three-foot round pool with a sprinkle ring and could be filled to about three feet. I was ready for another glorious summer.

Something changed though. One day our daughter took him to my parents’ house, there he was introduced to their in-ground pool. At Nonna’s pool there was an area for wading that was about four foot deep, a swimming section and a diving well complete with a diving board. Initially he was intimidated, fearful but with some floaties and encouragement (candy, hot wheels, paw patrol toy) he braved the new experience and within a few weeks he was swimming all over the pool and jumping off the diving board.

Something else happened too. After a few visits to Nonna’s house and then coming back to Papa Jon’s, he was no longer interested in the three-foot pool with a sprinkler ring. As cool as I thought my pool was, he had experienced more and he had no interest in splashing. I had to own up to what I was offering, my splash pool was no longer relevant. A few weeks later I packed up my cool pool and sold it in a garage sale.

Over the past few years, since retiring from full-time pastoring, Mary and I visited a lot of churches. What we’ve found or sensed is a lot like what happened to my grandson. While people are initially excited about a splash pad experience at church, eventually they want to experience more. They want to learn how to swim, do laps and dive into deep waters spiritually.

Unfortunately, unlike the town of Noblesville, many churches don’t get it. At some point Noblesville Parks realized we aren’t offering what people wanted, so they made some difficult changes. It meant tearing down the old and created something that fit the model that was needed. In my opinion, which will help you get a tall Starbucks if you have $5, too many churches are wading pools, but little else. Week after week, come and splash with us!

At some point people get tired of splashing and ask, isn’t there more? Where is the lap pool, the diving board, I want to go deeper. Church culture tends to operates in “herd mentality,” whatever is the latest and greatest, lets duplicate, modify it a little, add some smoke and lights, and call it cool. Unfortunately, this repetitive culture wears thin and people grow weary and bored.

Find freedom, simply believe, serve, and find a life group. (Soak. Wash. Rense. Repeat.) If I’ve heard it once in the last four years, I’ve heard it a hundred times. Different logo , same hamburger. It’s not that I’m against splash pools in church, they are important, but there has to be more. Too many people are dying, not by drowning, but by boredom.

Ezekiel speaks in the 47th chapter of his book of being led by a man into water. Initially it was a trickle, a splash pad, but then it became ankle deep, knee deep, waist deep and eventually water that was over his head. He was exhilarated by the experience. Again, my opinion, and maybe another coffee at your own expense, but this is what I sense churches and pastors should be doing. Leading people into deep water, to overwhelming experiences. Take them into the deep waters of the Spirit, with wisdom and balance let the Spirit have liberty. Let them experience miracles. Let them be overwhelmed by God’s presence. Teach them to pray for the sick and see them recover. Take them into the Word and empower them to live boldly and powerfully.

Let people get out of the splash pad and swim laps and dive deep.

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The Walk Off

It was a warm twilight night in the summer of 2006. I was standing in a field along with about 25 others who attended Life Connections. Though it would seem weird to many, our family and the group were pouring olive oil and praying over the five and a half acres that had been given to us in the heart of Fishers. Overwhelmed with thanksgiving, we were praying God’s anointing, favor, and Spirit would be on the soon to be built campus.


Walking along the west side of the property praying, I heard a voice, not audibly, but in my spirit say, “walk the property on the other side of the fence.” I had heard the inner voice before and learned to lean into it. Without hesitation, I climbed over the barbed wire fence and began my first walk off.

The land I had been walking on was mowed, but once over the fence, it was different. The grass was tall and as I walked I encountered thickets, brush, bushes with thorns, and fallen trees. There was a pond in the middle of the property, one that had been created when an overpass was put over the nearby interstate. That became my point of reference. I navigated around the pond, praying, pouring oil, and claiming the property for a church that was yet to be built on donated land.

It would not be the last time, in fact multiple times through the years God would prompt me to do another walk off. Over the barbed wire fence I would go, trudging through the rugged terrain, praying and claiming the land.

By early 2009 Life Connections new facility was completed, creating a beautiful campus. Ebbs and flows of pastoring kept us busy but still there would be days I would stand in my second-floor office and look out the window at the land to the west and wonder. Growth at Life began to explode and by 2014 we began to talk about our next expansion of our campus. As plans were being formed, I remember once again, hiking over the fence and taking a walk, claiming the land one more time. Construction on Phase 2 of our campus began in 2017 and it was about that time that I noticed some activity on the land to our west.

After some inquiring, I found that the property had been sold and that an assisted living center, Lake Meadows, was being built on the property. My heart was saddened. my spirit a little downcast. I had learned God’s promptings but, on that day, as work began on the far west end of the property, it seemed I had heard wrong and my walks in vain.

By 2020 our new stage and 300-seat auditorium was complete. Soon after we added an additional  175 chairs to handle incredible growth. It was that same year that Lake Meadows completed their construction. The owner of the property, Daniel Hubbard invited me to the ribbon cutting ceremony. He had not only built a beautiful facility, but also cleaned up much of the property, including a beautiful paved walking path around the pond that I had circled. That day was a mixture of happiness for him but some sadness for me. I still couldn’t get away from my prayers. Maybe it was my pride. Maybe it was embarrassment.

Fast forward six years, it’s 2026. Much had happened.

·  2020 – COVID has a devastating impact on our church.

·  2021 – God spoke to my spirit and said we had finished our purpose at Life.

·  2022 – Philip and Annie Daigle, are unanimously voted in as pastors of Life Connections.

·  2023-2026 – Miraculous growth. Two expansions. A new name and future, as Life Connections becomes Heart and Soul Church.

With that backdrop I come back to that first walk off in 2006. Mary and I are now but a reminder of what was, as life should, it goes on. But on a Sunday in February of 2026 the past, the walk offs, came rushing to the present. Setting in service, we are stunned when Pastor Philip announced that there has been an amazing opportunity for the church. The opportunity? The property to the west had become available and the church was in the process of securing the land.

While others clapped and rejoiced, Mary and I sat in silence. Emotions? Overwhelmed. Astonished. Stunned. Fill in the blank. A prayer that appeared dead, over, a futile waste of time, in an instant is very alive. 20 years later. In a different form. Under different leadership. A 20-year prayer is answered!

I often said that God says, “yes, no, and wait.” By experience I’ve often felt that God’s default answer was wait. I know people who are praying for physical and mental healings. Parents who have prayed for their children for years. Ministers who are praying for breakthroughs in their ministries or churches. People praying for financial relief. All seem to get the same answer, “wait.” Wait often feels like a “no.” External signs say it’s a “no.” Emotionally it often feels like a “no.” What do we do when “wait” feels like “no?” Keep praying. Have a faith that believes. Never let go of hope. Trust the process, God’s process. Keep walking it off!