Today marks the 7th anniversary of MainStreet Covenant Church’s first weekly worship service. I thought this an appropriate occasion to announce the completion of a commemorative book I’ve produced that details the journey. As you probably know, I love history, and therefore I love probing origins. Any appreciator of the past quickly becomes an appreciator … More NEW! MainStreet Beginnings Book
Jesus’ mission prioritized the marginalized and neglected people of his day. He didn’t send out his apostles—i.e., “church planters”—saying, “Go ye therefore to the sprawling suburbs and invite the upwardly mobile dual income families with children.” He said, “Go out quickly into the streets and alleys of the town and bring in the poor, the crippled, the blind and the lame” (Luke 14:21). Would you try growing a church with such folks? … More Funding the Jericho Inn: A MainStreet Update
What if the fig tree Jesus cursed could tell his side of the story? This is an imaginative retelling of Jesus’ triumphal entry into Jerusalem to shouts of “Hosanna!” during his last week, and how his fate was strangely intertwined with the fate of that old tree. … More Tale of the Cursed Fig Tree
In this series I’m sharing some of the Scriptures that have most radically influenced my own life and faith. Read full series here. I love the moment in The Lord of the Rings when Samwise turns to Frodo and asks, “I wonder what kind of a tale we’ve fallen into?” The two hobbits perceptively realized that their … More LIFE VERSES 9: Acts 17:17
A pastor once challenged his congregation, “I’m not going to preach on another Bible verse until we start obeying and living out the one I preached on last week.” He supposedly preached on that same verse an entire year, or so the story goes. … More New Year: One Verse
Here’s a book I wrote exploring the big plot of the entire Bible through the metaphor of a Divine Symphony or the Dance of the Trinity. Just in time for Christmas! … More My Take on the Bible’s Big Story
I was reading a piece today in Christianity Today (October ’17) about how Bible Study Fellowship (BSF) is trying to reinvent themselves to reach more millennials. This widely respected Bible teaching ministry birthed just after WWII is almost 60 years old, and is struggling to get people under 40 to attend. I found the following very … More Boomers, Millennials & Bible Study
It all began when I turned my knob from FM to AM on my radio dial. I was about 19 years old and had discovered the new world of talk radio. It began with non-stop sermons on a Christian station nurturing my new hunger for Bible teaching. Before long I was also drinking in my daily dose of conservative political talk as well. I was hooked. But then Jesus came along … … More Me & Jesus Cruise the AM Dial
In 2012 a newspaper article was published describing the original vision for our MainStreet location, and I encourage you to go read it here. Here’s a taste: MainStreet will soon open a new center in the Stonegate Plaza in Mound. Hometown Pastor Jeremy Berg is quick to make clear, “This is not a church building; … More NEW: Three Taverns @ MainStreet
Many of you know that I have always felt a tension and tugging in my soul between my desires and gifts for academic study and writing on the one hand, and my commitment to leading real people to experience the life of the Kingdom in the church today. I am a pastor-scholar at heart in a world … More Announcement: Doctoral Studies with Scot McKnight!
When Sarah was a little girl, she loved to dance and twirl barefooted across the soft green grass of her childhood home and feel the soft blades in between her toes. One day she noticed a small solitary yellow dandelion growing up amidst all the green and thought, “How beautiful!” And she danced and twirled … More Dandelions: A Modernized Parable
On January 15, 2017, MainStreet Covenant celebrated our 5th anniversary. Exactly five years ago, I preached an inaugural sermon telling the story of Erik August Skogsbergh, a renowned Swedish preacher and one of the founders of the Covenant, and of his dynamic ministry in Mound in the 1890s. In those days crowds took the … More Aboard the MainStreet Boat – 5th Anniversary Reflection
This essay was my first attempt in college at grappling with the issues related to Theodicy, that is, the problem of reconciling the existence of an all-powerful, all-good God with the presence of evil and suffering in the world. Like many, my first exposure to this issue led me to the more traditional view influenced … More ESSAY: A Theology of Suffering (2001)
Today I want to share a personal update of sorts. Pastors wear a lot of hats. For example, today I was negotiating a lease with our landlord and consulting with our architect for our building project when I received a call from a person in rural Minnesota asking me to pray with him for … More God’s Gourmet Chef
Here’s a sweet and thoughtful video our church put together for Keri and I for Pastor Appreciation Month. All I can say in return is “Thanks for being such a fun, grace-filled, caring and committed church family to lead.” I hear other pastors complain about the shenanigans they have to put up with — petty … More Feeling the Love at MainStreet!
A repost from 2009. -JB This is a thought experiment. Please be gracious and try to understand my line of thinking and let me know if there’s some validity to it. Please also hear what I am NOT saying. I have long been bothered by a common critique or complaint people have after listening to a … More The Dark Side of Personal Application
When the church bells ring on Sunday morning, July 31, you’ll find several local church sanctuaries empty. But this doesn’t mean they won’t be worshiping. “Most Sundays we worship God with words and music,” says Pastor Meg Newswanger of First Presbyterian in Maple Plain. “On July 31 we will worship God with our hands and … More Sunday2Serve: The Church has Left the Building!
This past week we hosted an appreciation event for all our MainStreet supporters. We shared testimonies and celebrated all the lives impacted at MainStreet the past few years. Here’s some videos giving a glimpse of what is happening at MainStreet. So grateful for this beautiful church!
Over 5 Years ago I sat on this rock feeling extremely lonely and scared. God called Keri and I to start a church in Mound, and I often came to pour out my doubts to the LORD in prayer on this rock. Then one night I heard God speak Matthew 16 directly to me, “Jeremy, upon … More On Christ the Solid Rock We Stand
I’ve been creating a baseball field on our lower lawn this summer. I’m letting the outfield grow wild in order to create habitat and let wild flowers and native grasses return. I’m also trying to create a Field of Dreams-like outfield grass fence — our own Green Monster. (Should I plant some corn out there … More Welcome to Stumphole Field!
I have almost finished the long journey toward ordination in the Evangelical Covenant Church. It will become official at our national gathering in Kansas City this June. But I was recognized this week along with other ordinands at our Northwest Conference Annual Meeting at Salem Covenant Church in New Brighton. On Friday morning all of … More Ordination: A Milestone in the Making
Here’s a parable I wrote for a wedding homily. -JB Once there was a newly wed couple who only weeks after their wedding day inherited their grandfather’s beautiful old house in the country. Overflowing joy filled the old house on the day they moved in to begin their new life together. To their great surprise, … More Wedding Parable of the Grandfather Clock
Socrates famously said,”The unexamined life is not worth living.” Another year has passed. I am halfway through my 30s and halfway to 70. Ugh. I hope to follow Socrates’ advice each year by pausing to offer a birthday reflection — to capture the moment, to look back on later, for my kids to read someday, for my … More Birthday Reflection – 35 Years
Reposted from July 2012. -JB This July the City of Mound celebrates her centennial. It’s a time to look back and remember the people and places that have shaped our shared history. As a pastor called to start a church in Mound where I grew up, I’ve been fascinated by the beginnings of other local … More The Spiritual Legacy of the City of Mound
Hello friends and blogosphere! I’m back and with a completely revamped website! Have a look around. It seems like a lifetime ago that I was actively engaged in writing and interacting with the greater blogosphere. Indeed, it was a different life. So much has changed. I have not actively blogged for about 3 years. Since … More Hi Readers! I’m Back.
Jeremy L. Berg 