The Goat Has Left the Building
Leviticus 16 deals with the Day of Atonement. In the Jewish feast calendar there are seven major feasts—four in the spring, three in the fall. The fall feasts begin with the Feast of Trumpets, also called Rosh Hashanah. The Feast of Trumpets inaugurates the ten days of awe, which is ten days of repentance, of soul searching. They begin the New Year getting right with God. You fast, deny yourself, you search your heart. God, I want to start the New Year right. We as a…
Healing Church
Almost Everything I Learned About Growing a Church Was WrongA pastor’s journey from platform to presence, and what I found on the other side of church growthPAUL DAZET, A WOUNDED HEALERAPR 21, 2025 What if success wasn’t the goal, and healing was?In 2008, I was a young pastor leading one of the fastest-growing churches in our denomination. We followed the Willow Creek model: sleek branding, powerful worship, relevant sermons, clear pipelines for growth. Metrics mattered, and we were crushing them.Then cancer came.I shaved my head before…
Small Churches
I recently encountered an Alabama pastor and his wife in a department store. This pastor has served in a (numerically speaking) small church for several years. He faithfully drives a distance to preach to a handful of people. During our conversation he excitedly told me about a new family that had started attending church. He already baptized one the children from the family. I became excited from his excitement. He was in a church where one family coming made a big difference. I told him, “Thank you for faithfully serving that church. You…
Church Discipleship Ministries
Searching the Byways “Then he said to his servants, ‘The wedding feast is ready, but those who were invited were not worthy. 9So go into the highways and byways, and invite everyone you find to the wedding feast.’ 10And those servants went out into the highways and gathered together all they found, both bad and good; and the wedding was filled with guests. Matthew 22:8-10 [TLV] “It is the most challenging and most rewarding ministry I have ever been a part of.” Those are the…
Pray for our Camps
Camp season is here. Hundreds of our students will be packing up to go to Camp Chula Vista for an unforgettable and life transforming experience. They will have fun but, most importantly, they will experience the presence of God and be challenged in their faith. Life long friendships will be forged. I am calling on the churches of Alabama to have a season of prayer beginning May 26 - June 16 for the camps. Pray for students to be saved, to be called to ministry, to…
Do Not Fear the Future, the Best is Yet to Come
Cutting wood to heat our log cabin of a house was a chore every Saturday at our home. I usually did not mind because I wanted to be warm on cold nights. But on this particular Saturday I was anxious to get finished because I had plans. I had a date to take my girl friend to see “Love Story”. What could go wrong? What went wrong was the tree dad was trying to cut down hung up in another tree. Now we have to get the tractor involved…
A Prayer for the New Year
As I close this last year’s chapter of my life I thank you, Father, for the blessing of your presence in every moment of every day. When I was troubled or frightened or anxious or afraid you did not abandon me. You gave me confidence and strength to walk into and through the storm. In the normal, regular every day moments you were walking with me even when I was not aware of your presence. When I was joyful or happy or peaceful you rejoiced with me. You…
A True Christmas Story
I was 9 years old when I experienced the most frightening moment of my young life. Our family car was stuck in a snow drift late on a dark, freezing night along with my brother, sister, mom, dad, and my baby brother. Our family had left home in Chattanooga early that day to visit my granny, my dad’s mother, in Nashville for Christmas. We left her house late in the afternoon to make the two-hour trip to Elkwood section road in Madison County, Alabama to visit…
WELCOME to Jerry and Veronica Roesly
Alabama Church of God welcomes Jerry and Veronica Roesly as new pastors to Penton and Opelika.