Contributors
Tom's church

Retired
Burlingame, Kansas 66413
(785) 438-9390

About Tom
  • Education: BS in public communication from Northern Arizona University. MDiv from Golden Gate Baptist Theological Seminary, Mill Valley, California.
  • Experience: In 1984 I joined the Army Reserve. I have served in chapels at: Fort Riley, Kansas; Fort Wainwright, Alaska; Fort Campbell, Kentucky; Camp Victory, Iraq; Fort McCoy, Wisconsin and Fort Bragg, North Carolina. I pastored three small churches: First Baptist Church, Naches, Washington, The Federated Church, Burlingame, Kansas. and Auburn Presbyterian Church, Auburn, Kansas. I retired from the Army Reserve in August 2013 as a Chaplain (COL). I retired from pastoring in 2016. After retiring from pastoring I taught World Religions and Ethics at a local Junior College.
  • Comment to those looking at my sermons: All sermons are yours for the taking. Please do not preach my sermon but use my ideas as a starting point. Take them - rework them - make them your own. Then preach from the heart. I preach to the needs of my congregation - please preach to the needs of yours.
  • Family: My wife and I attended third thru six grade together. In High school we started dating and we married shortly after graduating in 1972. We now have four grown sons, three daughter-in-laws, and 7 grandchildren.
  • Best advice given to me about preaching: Don’t preach to those who should have been there - preach to those who are. Also - If there is a mist in the pulpit there will be a fog in the pew.
  • Books that have had an impact: The Imitation of Christ by Thomas A’ Kempis. The Pursuit of Holiness and The Practice of Godliness by Jerry Bridges. Holiness by J. C. Ryle. The Chronicles of Narnia by C. S. Lewis. The Singer Trilogy by Calvin Miller. Pilgrim’s Progress by John Bunyan. One of my favorite authors is Max Lucado. Purpose Driven Life by Rick Warren.
  • Hobbies: I enjoy hobby farming – raising bees, chickens, geese, guineas, and turkeys. I like to garden. I also enjoy taking puritan sermons and rewriting them.
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Newest Sermons

  • Ecclesiastes Chapter Five

    Contributed on Jan 24, 2025
     | 41 views

    What if there was no God - what would life be like? It would be meaningless - Meaningless.... The book of Ecclesiastes looks at life from the view that there in no God. This is a verse by verse look into chapter five of Ecclesiastes.

    Ecclesiastes Chapter Five Ecclesiastes 5:1 Guard your steps as you go to the house of God and draw near to listen rather than to offer the sacrifice of fools; for they do not know they are doing evil. When we enter the house of God, we should have the attitude of being open and ready to listen to ...read more

  • Ecclesiastes Chapter Four

    Contributed on Jan 18, 2025
     | 117 views

    What if there was no God - what would life be like? It would be meaningless - Meaningless.... The book of Ecclesiastes looks at life from the view that there in no God. This is a verse by verse look into chapter four of Ecclesiastes.

    Ecclesiastes Chapter Four Ecclesiastes 4:1 Then I looked again at all the acts of oppression which were being done under the sun. And behold I saw the tears of the oppressed and that they had no one to comfort them; and on the side of their oppressors was power, but they had no one to comfort ...read more

  • Ecclesiastes Chapter Three

    Contributed on Jan 11, 2025
    based on 1 rating
     | 133 views

    What if there was no God - what would life be like? It would be meaningless - Meaningless.... The book of Ecclesiastes looks at life from the view that there in no God. This is a verse by verse look into chapter three of Ecclesiastes.

    Ecclesiastes Chapter Three Ecclesiastes 3:1 (NASB) There is an appointed time for everything. And there is a time for every event under heaven-- Solomon's point in this section is that God has a plan for all people. Thus, he provides cycles of life, each with its work for us to do. Although ...read more

  • Ecclesiastes Chapter Two

    Contributed on Jan 4, 2025
    based on 1 rating
     | 176 views

    What if there was no God - what would life be like? It would be meaningless - Meaningless.... The book of Ecclesiastes looks at life from the view that there in no God. This is a verse by verse look into chapter two of Ecclesiastes.

    Ecclesiastes Chapter Two Ecclesiastes 2:1 (NASB) I said to myself, "Come now, I will test you with pleasure. So enjoy yourself." And behold, it too was futility. Solomon conducted his search for life's meaning as an experiment. He first tried pursuing pleasure. He undertook great ...read more

  • Ecclesiastes Chapter One

    Contributed on Dec 20, 2024
    based on 1 rating
     | 177 views

    What if there was no God - what would life be like? It would be meaningless - Meaningless.... The book of Ecclesiastes looks at life from the view that there in no God. This is a verse by verse look into chapter one of Ecclesiastes.

    Ecclesiastes Chapter One Ecclesiastes 1:1 (NASB) The words of the Preacher, the son of David, king in Jerusalem. Verse one identifies the author as Solomon. The Hebrew word that is translated preacher is a word that means a collector of sentences. It can mean a preacher, a lecturer, a public ...read more

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Newest Sermon Series

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Newest Sermon Illustrations

  • We All Set Examples For Others To Follow. I Can ...

    Contributed on Apr 22, 2008
    based on 2 ratings
     | 3,806 views

    We all set examples for others to follow. I can remember growing up and putting on my dad’s shoes and shirt and walking around the house when I was little. Of course the clothes were too big for me. But I can remember how much I wanted to be grown up and be like my father. Do any of you ...read more

  • Soren Kierkagaard Said, "I Went Into Church And ...

    Contributed on Oct 22, 2007
    based on 8 ratings
     | 4,090 views

    Soren Kierkagaard said, “I went into church and sat on the velvet pew. I watched as the sun came shining through the stained glass windows. The minister dressed in a velvet robe opened the golden gilded Bible, marked it with a silk bookmark and said, ‘If any man will be my disciple, said Jesus, let ...read more

  • William Cary Was A Shoemaker When One Day He ...

    Contributed on Dec 12, 2006
     | 3,002 views

    William Cary was a shoemaker when one day he heard of the millions of people in India who had not heard the Good News of Jesus Christ. He believed the great commission to “Go into all the world and preach the gospel.” He believed that that verse was speaking directly to him. So he volunteered ...read more

  • We Should Praise God

    Contributed on Dec 6, 2006
    based on 1 rating
     | 7,749 views

    WE SHOULD PRAISE GOD I heard someone say recently that if the only thing God has done in our lives is to save us – we should praise God from the rising of the sun through the darkness of the night. But He has done so much more for us than that. He has given you the sense of taste – so that you ...read more

  • Does God Always Give A Vision To People? No. ...

    Contributed on Nov 28, 2006
    based on 1 rating
     | 3,662 views

    Does God always give a vision to people? No. But sometimes He does. Sometimes God will give you a vision. Sometimes He will speak to you in a dream. Sometimes He will lead you to a verse in the Bible and show you how that verse applies to your situation. He does not do that every time, but ...read more