The Saturday of Holy Week always makes me think of what it must have been like for  the disciples to have lost all hope. Many times I've thought of this day as the Day When Hope Disappeared. Disciples were scattered in clusters. One was dead -  a betrayer with such guilt that he hung himself. Some were alone, hiding in fear. Some were together.

Was the last 3 1/2 years just an empty adventure? Was it possible that their eyes had deceived them? Was it
possible that Jesus was not who He said that He was? Why hadn't they stayed true? Why hadn't they fought for Him? What had He done that merited death on a cross? What would become of them?

Sunday morning was coming . . . but they didn't know what Sunday would bring. 

What are your questions today? What are your doubts? 

It may be the day when your hope is gone, but HOPE is not dead. HE is alive! And Sunday? It's coming!

A Poem For Good Friday

(Using the Seven Last Words of Christ on the Cross)



 Hoisted upon Calvary’s tree

To rectify the sin in me

Jesus looked upon the crowd

Announcing in a voice so loud



“Father forgive them for they know not what they do”

Beautiful words spoken to Gentile and Jew

Callously gambling for a piece of His clothing

The soldiers oblivious man’s redemption He was buying



“Come down from the cross, if you are the Son of God!”

Crowd spoken mockery on Golgotha’s sod

Criminals, on either side of the Lamb

Both facing life’s final exam



“Aren’t you the Christ? Save yourself and us!”

Criminal’s jeering words in the form of a cuss.

“Jesus remember me when You come into Your Kingdom!”

Contrasting words, heart changing, unable to stay mum.



The lips of our Lord move a second time

Responding to the one convicted of crime

Looking straight at the man, knowing all of his vice

“Today you will be with me in paradise.”



That’s when His gaze came upon those He loved,

Some women, a disciple and the mother beloved.

“Dear woman, here is your son,” pronounced He to Mary.

“Here is your mother,” to John, while so wearied.



And then in the middle of that solemn day

Darkness hovered, black sky, not just gray

He who was holy became sin, no facade

And for the first time God was separated from God



“My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”

Was the awful cry that came from that tree.

The only thing in all the world capable of dividing the Trinity

Was the sin of every man, every woman, every boy, every girl, yes even you and me.



Later knowing that all was completed

That sin and Satan would soon be defeated

Jesus, all divine, showed His humanity

“I am thirsty,” He said, displaying no vanity.



When He received the drink, Jesus said, “It is finished.”

His time had come, His work was accomplished.

“Father, into your hands I commit my spirit.”

With that, he bowed his head and gave up his spirit.





At that moment the world reacted

But most of humanity was too distracted

To notice the veil in the temple torn in two

From top to bottom what should we construe?



That Jesus’ death on the cross paved the way

For us to have access to God when we pray

The earth shook and the rocks split

On the day God was hit and we offered spit.



The bodies of some dead were raised to life that day

Holy people appeared in Jerusalem to convey

That Jesus is God, He is the way, Centurion and squad

Declared, “Surely He was the Son of God!”



No bones were broken

Prophecy spoken

Declared body piercing

Blood and water producing



As evening approached so did two powerful men

Perhaps they were remembering when

Jesus had spoken and challenged their thinking

Waiting to live for Him until the world was sinking



They took His body, wrapped it in a shroud

Just as Pontius Pilate had allowed

To the tomb He was taken

Christ had been forsaken.



Forsaken by man and forsaken by God

So great was the cost on the road that He trod

But great is the victory He won on Golgotha

A victory summed up in the word Marantha



The Lord is coming soon is the word’s special meaning

Three days later, He arose and sin took a beating

He will come again soon to take those who are His

Truer words never spoken, it’s the truth, that it is



Will you be like humanity’s generations?

Too busy, distracted, for His interventions?

Don’t miss Calvary’s message of Christ’s great love

Offered to all of us who are undeserving of.







- Brian Schulenburg

April 9, 2009

Easter Sunday has always been a special day for me. It was on Easter Sunday in 1974 that I asked Jesus to be my Savior and Lord. I had no idea just how significant that decision would be as a four-year-old boy, but that day
would forever change my life. It was on Easter Sunday that God's grace reached out to me and saved me from what could have been. It was on Easter Sunday that God's grace reached out and saved me from what I am.

I had no idea as a four-year-old that God would eventually call me into ministry. There are days when I wonder if God knew what He was doing calling me. But that's the thing about God. He works in surprising ways to ultimately accomplish His glory. 

Easter Sunday, 1974 is the most significant day of my life. But, it's not the most important Easter. That happened on the first Easter Sunday. It was on that day that Christ changed the course of human history. It was on Easter
Sunday that He paved the way for mankind to be reconciled to God. It was on that day that ultimate victory was won. We're about 2,000 years removed from the first Easter. It seems like the further we get away from the date, the less impact it has on us. Today in America, the vast majority of people are more excited about the release of the newest iPad, the Hunger Games movie premier, the signing of Peyton Manning, a presidential election year, and a host of other things than we are about the life-changing truth that Jesus is alive.

I was traveling across the country last week, visiting colleges with my son, Chris and then on a speaking trip to New York with my sister. So, I'm catching up this week. I've been catching up on 400+ e-mails. I've been catching up on some Bible reading that I got behind on. I've been catching up on tax work. And, I've been catching up on my preaching schedule. Easter is 2 1/2 weeks away. As I prepared today, I watched a number of videos from the Skit Guys' website (If you have never been to their website, check it out at here.) So many of their videos spoke to me today, but two of them, in particular, hit me to the core. If you have some time between now and Easter, watch these videos and celebrate the fact that Jesus is alive and He is pursuing you! That's worth getting excited about!

BluefishTV.com has some fantastic videos that they are allowing people to download for free right now. I wanted to share three of them with you today.

The first is called "Definition of a Trader."  Check it out - I think you'll be inspired:

The second video is called "History of Traders."

There is a third video that I can't embed on this page called "Church and the Racetrack." You can watch it by clicking here.

So, how do you feel after watching these videos? Do you sense God telling you something?         

I'm speaking on the topic of "How Do You Help Walk Your Kids Through Tough Times?" tomorrow night at Wooddale Church in Eden Prairie, Minnesota. I want to encourage all parents to come if you are in the vicinity. The speech will happen from 6:45-8:15 in Wooddale's Hillside Rooms as part of their Parents InTUNE ministry. Here is the introduction to the presentation, which will include 13 helpful ways to help walk your children through the difficult times of life.

When I first saw her, I knew that my world would never be the same. I was so in love. The location was a hospital room in Lynchburg, Virginia, and the occasion was the birth of my daughter, Breanna. My wife Cyndi and I married so young. We were babies having babies. Just twenty-one years old when we stood at the altar, we had a “five year plan”. Our idea was that we would get married; both work for about five years, make lots of money, explore the world, and have lots and lots of fun before we had children of our own. God had different plans. And, just sixteen months after we said, “I do,” our precious Breanna was born.

The moment I saw her, my heart melted. I didn’t expect her to be a her. She was supposed to be a he. At least in my mind she was. I had all sorts of grand ideas of being the father of a major league baseball team. We were going to have nine boys who all played different positions. The first was going to be my all-star pitcher, the oldest son with the golden arm. I even have a cassette recording that I made on our way to hear Breanna’s heartbeat while Cyndi was still pregnant. On the tape I say, “Hey buddy, we’re going to hear your heartbeat today. How’s my little guy doing?”

But, that sight of her - those perfect little eyes, her cute little nose, those tiny little fingers – she was so delicate. I not only fell instantly in love, I wanted to protect her from any harm that could possibly come her way. When people would come visit, I watched them with the eyes of a protective father. Were they holding her just right? Were they being too rough? Were they paying attention to what they were doing?

It wasn’t just protecting her when she was in the company of others; I just didn’t want to let her go. Cyndi and I have a photo of me holding Breanna in my arms while I brushed my teeth before I left for work. I would hold her until the last possible minute and as soon as I’d get home from work, I’d pick her up again. I never wanted my daughter to go through any pain in her life. And then it happened, the doctors told us that they needed to give her a shot. The vaccination would protect her from serious diseases. But, the vaccination would also cause pain. Knowing that it was best for her, I consented, and held my daughter as the needle went inside of her leg. The scream was awful! The look in her eyes was awful too. With her little baby eyes she stared at me as if saying, “You allowed for this to happen, Daddy! Why Dad?”

And then more and more pain came into her life. There were scrapes and bruises that we paid prompt attention to. There were disappointments. There were failures. There was bullying. There were mean girls and mean boys. There were arguments, and sometimes I had to say, “no,” which made me the direct cause of pain in her life.

Any of you who are parents in this room today know what I am talking about. As much as we would like to protect our children, somehow shielding them from the pain of a cruel world, it is impossible. Pain is a part of the human experience. And you know that, or else you wouldn’t be here tonight. Our topic for this evening is, “How Do You Help Walk Your Kids Through the Tough Times of Life.”

Woodbury Community Church has set an aggressive goal this year to see 75% of the people who attend our weekend services involved in small groups by the end of this year. Our eventual goal is that 125% of our congregation's weekend attendance average would be involved in small groups. Why? Because we believe that nothing changes a person more than being a disciple of Jesus Christ, and that disciples are best nurtured in the context of a small group. Small groups allow us to strip away false pretense. Healthy small groups mean that we are known by others. It means that we have a place to be real about our failures and people with whom to celebrate our victories. Life is hard. It was never meant to be lived alone.

My Dad sent me an e-mail last night. The e-mail is an interview with Rick Warren, the pastor of Saddleback Church in California. In the interview Rick says, "Life is a series of problems: Either you are in one now, you're just coming out of one, or you're getting ready to go into another one. The reason for this is that God is more interested in your character than your comfort; God is more interested in making your life holy than He is in making your life happy. We can be reasonably happy here on earth, but that's not the goal of life. The goal is to grow in character, in Christ likeness."

This year, our church has been studying The Sermon on the Mount. In His revolutionary sermon, Jesus gave his listeners the secret to a life that was blessed by God. Blessing doesn't always mean happiness this side of heaven. Sometimes blessing means that we get on God's anvil, and He chisels away the things in our life that need to be formed into something new. The process may hurt, but the end result brings blessing.

Small groups help us through the process. They also help move us to action; away from complacent Christianity and into the spiritual battle. This 4 1/2 minute video by Matt Carter, the pastor of The Austin Stone Community Church in Austin, Texas talks about being a people who live in missional community. It's a video that has encouraged me today, and I hope it will encourage you.

I Love My Wife . . .

Cyndi has been with her Mom and Dad in Colorado for the past week. She is there to help her Mom recovery from foot surgery. With each day that passes, I’m reminded more and more how much I love her and how much of a difference that she has made in my life and the life of my children. I can’t imagine what life without my precious wife would be like.

She is the sunshine who brightens our home, the constant who brings order to chaos, the counselor who listens with tender ears and speaks with God-given wisdom, the culinary diva who continually creates amazing meals that rival those of any five star restaurant, the coupon queen whose extra time researching saves us hundreds of dollars a month. She is my best friend, the woman of my dreams, the sweetest person that I’ve ever met. I’m still captivated by her beauty, drawn to her presence, and in awe that she said, “Yes.”

Thank You, Lord. She is all of this, because she is first, Yours. You have done a wonderful work in her and I’m a different man today because of it.

People regularly ask me if the sermons that I preach are available in manuscript form. You may now download .pdf versions of my sermons at the Woodbury Community Church website. You may also download small group questions to help you dive deeper into the content of the sermons. The new sermon and small group content is available by clicking here.

Would you prefer to listen to The Challenge, rather than reading it?

You can listen to the chronological reading plan for The Challenge on your computer or iPod by clicking here.

In 2010, over seventy people at Woodbury Community Church took The Challenge, a challenge to read through the Bible over the course of one year. Many of those who took The Challenge completed that challenge yesterday. Many did not, but in taking The Challenge, they read more of the Bible in 2010 than they did in 2009.

In 2011, I want to challenge you once again to attempt to read through the Bible. There is nothing that will change you as much as God’s Word. D. L. Moody once said, “This book will keep you from sin, or sin will keep you from this book,” when referring to the Bible. When we spend time in God’s Word, we are changed.

In 1959, D. Martyn Lloyd Jones, the minister of Westminster Chapel in London wrote, “There is nothing more important in the Christian life than the way in which we approach the Bible, and the way in which we read it. It is our textbook, it is our only source, it is our only authority. We know nothing about God and about the Christian life in a true sense apart from the Bible. We can draw various deductions from nature (and possibly from various mystical experiences) by which we can arrive at a belief in a supreme Creator. But I think it is agreed by most Christians, and it has been traditional throughout the long history of the Church, that we have no authority save this Book. We cannot rely solely upon subjective experiences because there are evil spirits as well as good spirits; there are counterfeit experiences. Here, in the bible, is our soul authority.” (D. Martyn Lloyd Jones, Studies in the Sermon on the Mount, Second Edition, Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 1976, p. 6.)

One of the common requests that I received last year was for a reading plan that would allow us to read through the Bible chronologically. This year we’ll use the Chronological Reading Guide, which was put together by Back to the Bible Ministries. You can download your copy of the Chronological Reading Guide by clicking here.