John Louk

How are we doing at making disciples of Jesus Christ who transform the world? 2015 was a momentous year for us! Each year, in assessing the state of Salem, we take a look at some benchmark statistics. Our membership now includes 235 professing adults. We also have 38 baptized infants and children— so 273 total. This past year 7 members died while we received 15 new members. That means we have received 81 new members since arriving at our current location a little over five years ago! We will be receiving more new members come Easter. Our worship attendance increased again. We averaged 209 this past year, up from 185 in 2014 and 177 in 2013. That’s close to 20% growth in the last two years! Salem’s attendance, at its lowest point after the flood in 2008, was 126. We’ve grown more than 65% since then. One of our goals for this year is to continue holding “bridge events” outside our building to reach our community. We’ll keep doing things like the Easter Egg Hunt and Trunk-or-Treat...

I really enjoy The Incredibles , a movie about a family of superheroes. At one point, the dad becomes complacent. He's led an  exciting, adventurous life, but now his wife needs him to engage in the real life of their family and world. In 2011, the Study Committee, a requirement for our construction, presented a report to the Leadership Board and Staff. Near the end of the conversation, we named Salem’s three greatest strengths as welcoming others, our mission focus, and our teaching. Salem’s three most significant weaknesses were lack of space, lack of youth and youth ministries, and lack of hands-on mission work. The three changes we most wanted to see were a building project, the development of hands-on mission work, and engaging more people fully in the life of the church. Over the last five years, I’m pleased that Salem hasn’t simply focused on building a new church facility. That’s been a huge accomplishment, of course, but we know the church is the people, not the bui...

2016 In 1999 Time magazine named Albert Einstein the Person of the Century. They considered him the preeminent scientist in a century dominated by science. His name is synonymous with the word “genius.” Einstein was once traveling from Princeton on a train when the conductor came down the aisle, punching the tickets of every passenger. When he came to Einstein, Einstein reached in his vest pocket. He couldn't find his ticket. He reached in his trouser pockets. It wasn't there. He looked in his briefcase but couldn't find it. Then he looked in the seat beside him. He still couldn't find it. The conductor said, “Dr. Einstein, I know who you are. We all know who you are. I'm sure you bought a ticket. Don't worry about it.” Einstein nodded appreciatively. The conductor continued down the aisle punching tickets. As he was ready to move to the next car, he turned around and saw the great physicist down on his hands and knees looking under his seat for his tic...

It was there  that we made the decision. When I was a new pastor serving my first, full-time appointment, my wife, Joy, and I had only been married a few years. Like many young couples, we were struggling financially. I remember well our money meeting at the kitchen table. Things weren’t going very well for us financially. It was there that we made the decision to commit our money to God. We literally got on our knees at the kitchen table and asked God to help us handle the money entrusted to us in a faithful way, and we committed to tithing, giving 10% of our income to the church. Our financial situation didn’t completely change overnight, but it did begin to change for the better.  That was twenty years ago. Today we live with no debt except the mortgage on our home. The first thing we do with our income each month is give to the church. We have two daughters in college, braces on the third girl (finally!), and a car that’s older than all of them, but we give more tha...

On June 3, 1994 I graduated from Garrett-Evangelical Theological Seminary, located on the north side of Chicago on the campus of Northwestern University. Commencement was still a few hours away. Senior Chapel was just beginning, and I had been asked to preach. In my three years I had never seen so many people in that large hall of worship. As the grand procession moved down the center aisle, I looked into the many faces and felt the fervor rising in me. The sermon started with a prayer that God might breathe life into my words. And then when I put my hands to the plow, I never looked back. At times when I was preaching I felt like I had taken a step back from the pulpit, as if I was watching myself preach. In that hour I felt the power of God’s Spirit surging through that place of worship as it surged through me. In a speech to a group of teachers, Martin Buber once said that if he ever met the great Christian theologian Karl Barth, there was only one thing this bearded Jewish s...

A helpful question for a church to ask is, What difference would it make to our community if Salem closed? Of course, it would make a big difference in the lives of people who are a part of Salem. But what about in our community? Does anyone know we’re here? Are we making any difference? After all, our mission is to make followers of Jesus who transform the world . When I am on vacation, I like to take the opportunity to visit other churches. I like to see how they do things and whether they’re making a difference in the world. So when I had a vacation Sunday in June, I visited Veritas Church which meets in a hotel in downtown Cedar Rapids. “Veritas” is a Latin word that means “truth.” I arrived with a steady stream of people going into the hotel and followed along to the ballroom where the worship service was held. There as a table in the lobby for children’s ministry and there was an information table outside the ballroom. The greeters at the door smiled and said hello, but af...

Terry Hershey tells this story: “There was once an American traveler who planned a safari to Africa. He was that typical Type-A American tourist, who many of us may be and who I admittedly am when I travel. We do our research about this travel destination and we have a timetable, maps, and a clear agenda of the things we need to see and do. Some local people had even been hired to carry some of the traveler’s supplies as they trekked throughout the land—it was that level of planning. “On the first morning, they all woke up early and traveled fast and covered a great distance. The second morning was the same—woke up early, traveled fast, and traveled far. Third morning, same thing. But on the fourth morning, the local hired help refused to move. Instead, they sat by a tree in the shade well into the morning. The American traveler became incensed and irate and said to his translator, ‘This is a waste of valuable time. Can someone tell me what’s going on here?’ The translator looked a...