Mel Lawrenz

Mel Lawrenz serves as Teaching Pastor at Elmbrook Church and is the author of 19 books with InterVarsity Press, Zondervan, Baker, Jossey-Bass, and others.

Filled with Gratitude

This day forty years ago was my first day “on the job” at Elmbrook Church. Forty years—is that possible? I never would have imagined that I’d have the blessing of doing ministry in the same church for my entire adult life. Today my head spins with memories. I’ve been involved in so many different forms […]

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Time to Rest

Mel Lawrenz is Teaching Pastor at Elmbrook Church. His most recent book is about dealing with loss, A Chronicle of Grief: Finding Life After Traumatic Loss. It is good to work, good to get tired, and good to rest. Work is an important principle of life, but it is not the only principle. God allows rest,

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When We Work Too Much

Mel Lawrenz is Teaching Pastor at Elmbrook Church. His most recent book is about dealing with loss, A Chronicle of Grief: Finding Life After Traumatic Loss. Imbalance can be the result of too much of a good thing. At least on one day that we know of Jesus told his disciples to knock off work. Throngs

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Living with Conviction

[Mel Lawrenz is a pastor at Elmbrook Church in Brookfield, Wisconsin. His newest book, A Chronicle of Grief: Finding Life After Traumatic Loss, was released this week.] ___________________________ What is conviction? How can we have valid convictions that will give us stability, but also have a proper attitude of tolerance? “So then, brothers, stand firm and hold to

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Real Freedom

[Mel Lawrenz is Teaching Pastor at Elmbrook Church and the author of numerous books, including the upcoming A Chronicle of Grief: Finding Life After Traumatic Loss (IVP, July 2020).] _______________ No matter who we are or the position in life we occupy, we all value the wonderful privilege of freedom. But freedom is an easy ideal to

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Freedom and Transformation

[Mel Lawrenz is Teaching Pastor at Elmbrook Church and the author of numerous books including A Chronicle of Grief: Finding Life After Traumatic Loss.] _______________ The promise of spiritual transformation, and with it, the restoration of human dignity, is powerfully at work in the world. Writing to the believers in worldly Corinth, the apostle Paul described

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Beyond Boundaries

We are living in a time of pain, but also world-changing events. It is not an exaggeration to say that Acts 10 reports a world-changing event, one that should shape how we are navigating the times in which we live. 6.14.20 Sermon Edit from Elmbrook Church on Vimeo.

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Restoring Dignity

[Mel Lawrenz is Teaching Pastor at Elmbrook Church. His newest book is A Chronicle of Grief: Finding Life After Traumatic Loss (IVP).] One valid way of describing the gospel of Jesus Christ is that it is the promise of the restoration of dignity. God created humanity according to his image and his likeness, and thus invested humanity

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Things That Remain

In this challenging time when so many things about our normal lives seem to be radically altered, we can look to those qualities of life that never change. The things that remain. Like faith, hope, and love. This message, based on 1 Corinthians 13:13, unpacks those unchangeable realities. 5.17.20 Sermon Edit from Elmbrook Church on

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Thinking Ahead About Rebuilding

[Mel Lawrenz is Teaching Pastor at Elmbrook Church and the author of the upcoming A Chronicle of Grief: Finding Life After Traumatic Loss.] ______________________ We are living a new and unexpected lifestyle right now. We are dealing with an unwelcome and difficult exile from the normal functions of our lives because of the global health crisis.

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Living in the Exile of Pandemic

[Mel Lawrenz is Teaching Pastor at Elmbrook Church and the author of numerous books including Spiritual Leadership Today.] What do you do when life is suddenly terribly disrupted? When you have to change your pattern of life? When your relationships become disjointed? This is where we live now. The global pandemic has imposed this on us.

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Character Matters

There is a story of a shepherd named Gyges who found a magic gold ring which had the power to turn him invisible. He discovered its power quite by accident when he was sitting with some fellow shepherds and twisted the ring so that its bezel was to the inside of his hand. Twisting it

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