by Andrew Beard | Oct 31, 2025 | Words from Pastor Andrew
When I was a kid, I remember putting on a pair of khaki pants and a green button-up, looking in the mirror, and thinking, I look like Jack Colton from Romancing the Stone.
Now, if you don’t remember that 1984 Rom-Com adventure classic with Michael Douglas and Kathleen Turner… that’s okay. You’ll be just fine.
I loved that movie, and others like it, Indiana Jones and The Goonies. Over the years, that love for adventure films has carried through to National Treasure, Uncharted, and Fountain of Youth.
There’s just something about the idea that ordinary people can get swept up into something extraordinary. One minute they’re doing normal life; the next, they’re exploring ancient mysteries, uncovering hidden truths. Don’t we all want to be swept up in something exciting? And by “swept up in something exciting,” of course I mean watching other people be swept up while we’re comfortably at home.
by Andrew Beard | Oct 22, 2025 | The Tower
Explore this Tower to celebrate baptisms and dedications, engage in scripture, get excited about youth group, gear up for Christmas, learn about Affiliation membership, find out how you can participate in our Advent Guide and find out more about outreach partners!
by Andrew Beard | Oct 22, 2025 | Words from Pastor Andrew
The other day I came home from work, and one of my sons was outside with wood and a drill.
I asked, “What are you building?”
He said, “I don’t know, but I need to build something.”
I went inside and told Sarah, “Did you see he’s building something outside? Where did that come from?”
She said, “He was watching videos of people building stuff and didn’t want to just watch other people do it; he wanted to build something himself.”
At The Chapel, we firmly believe that Jesus is God’s Son who showed us how to live and love, and then laid down His life so we could experience true life. He is our Lord and Savior, God and King, High Priest and Friend, and our Rabbi.
Now, in the Christian tradition, we don’t talk too much about Rabbis. But the idea is that a Rabbi is a teacher, someone who helps you wrestle with the Scriptures and grow in your faith and knowledge of God. To be a disciple means to be a student or apprentice under a Rabbi.
That doesn’t mean you show up to class on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, listen to a 50-minute lecture, write a few papers, take a test, and call it a day. In Jesus’ time, you followed your Rabbi. You learned their ways. You wanted to be like them.
As I’ve said before, you want to follow so closely you’re covered in the dust of your Rabbi.
by Andrew Beard | Sep 30, 2025 | Words from Pastor Andrew
Recently, we were driving to drop our kids off at school in the morning, and out of nowhere—totally disconnected from what everyone else in the car was talking about—one of our kids said, “What if there were 3-D t-shirts?”
Well…technically, t-shirts are already 3-D…but I get the question.
This is completely normal in our home, and I’m guessing in most of our lives. One of the people in our family will just throw out a completely off-the-wall or bizarre thought that doesn’t seem to be rooted in anything the rest of us are talking about. I’m likely the most guilty of this in our home…Sarah can attest. I am sure you don’t do this…but you likely know someone who does, right?
Regularly, most of us are in our own thoughts instead of being fully present. We’re thinking something and, for some reason, we assume everyone else is thinking about the same thing or at least on the same page of curiosity as us or cares deeply about that seemingly random thing.
We are busy people with busy minds. And this scattered way of living isn’t just in our brains. We have busy and tired lives. We are constantly getting hit with an onslaught of information and misinformation, opinions and responses, push notifications, alerts, posts—the list goes on—that keep us from ever slowing our bodies and our minds down.
How in the world, will we ever be able to hear from Jesus if we never stop?
by Andrew Beard | Aug 12, 2025 | Words from Pastor Andrew
Recently, my youngest son lost one of his last baby teeth at school. On the drive home, we started talking about what happens to all those teeth the tooth fairy collects. Let me just say, the variety of suggestions on that ride ranged from, “The tooth fairy uses them in her own mouth, like a shark tooth situation,” to “Santa moonlights as the tooth fairy to help pay the bills in the off-season.”
Of course, you’re asking, But wouldn’t that cost Santa money instead of making money?
Well, naturally, he then profits by selling the teeth on the black market.
I have never laughed so hard at such a ridiculous conversation.
In that moment, I realized: our kids are becoming like us, and even adopting our humor.
They’re taking on our ways as they grow into adulthood.
