By Alex Anderson, Senior Associate Pastor at Bayside Community Church The songwriter and performer Bruce Springsteen was right when he wrote, “Everybody’s got a hungry heart…” Inside of every human is this need or hunger.  Sometimes we try to fill it with love for another person, but for some reason…another person is not the answer. Sometimes the hungry heart destroys …

By Alex Anderson In August of 1996, I was having breakfast with a pastor that I admired. He did not come from a privileged family, but his life was full of good things. He was very blessed in every way. He had started his church a year and a half earlier, and it was flourishing. He had a beautiful, healthy …

The phrase, “The fear of the Lord,” was one I never liked. By Alex Anderson, Senior Associate Pastor at Bayside Community Church Before I was a Christ-follower I thought, “Who would want to be a Christian and serve a god you would have to be afraid of?” By that time (in my middle teens) I had way too many fears …

By Alex Anderson I don’t know if I’ve mentioned this, but my mom is an incredible Monopoly player. I mean she is phenomenal. And one of the things I enjoyed growing up was sitting at the kitchen table. I’m not just talking about Mom’s amazing cooking. I loved the kitchen table because that is where all the entertainment happened. When I …

By Alex Anderson, Senior Associate Pastor at Bayside Community Church A pastor went to visit a widow. She greeted him with a warm smile. She invited the pastor in and offered him a cup of coffee. As they sat at the kitchen table in her modest home and talked the pastor began to realize how poor the widow was. Not …

By Alex Anderson, Senior Associate Pastor at Bayside Community Church Jerry sat patiently in his shiny black Chevy Silverado in the same spot by the playground like he had done for the last four weekends. He reached over and picked up a brown paper bag, took out and slowly unwrapped his favorite mid- morning snack…a peanut butter and banana sandwich. …

By Alex Anderson, Senior Associate Pastor at Bayside Community Church I’m not a packrat (I’m in denial) but I do tend to pile stuff in my study at home.  After a few weeks have gone by I start feeling sluggish when I sit down to write. I look around the room and begin to feel overwhelmed. I once blamed the sluggish, …

By Alex Anderson, Senior Associate Pastor at Bayside Community Church Every so often I’ll do a bit of executive coaching. I’ll spend a day with a medical, business or non-profit executive. We will end the day with very clear “take-aways” (actionable steps for an area of their life–business, family, or personal). It’s a lot of fun for me, but can …

By Alex Anderson Rabbi Dr. Abraham Twerski tells the story of a man who happened upon a young man enjoying a dish of fish. And he said to the young man, “Why are you eating that dish of fish?” The young man said, “Because I love fish.” The older man said, “Oh, you love the fish. That’s why you took …

By Alex Anderson, Senior Associate Pastor at Bayside Community Church I believe the reason God uses me is because I don’t know of anyone who needs God’s help and love more than I do. There are times I feel helpless and useless. I cannot depend solely upon my abilities nor upon my strength. So because of my weakness, I reach out …