This reimagined annual event (formerly Great Hymns of Our Faith) brings together the full N�鶹ԭ�� Music Department and its ensembles for an inspiring afternoon centered on the rich tradition of sacred music. Designed for all generations, the concert offers a dynamic and engaging experience that goes beyond tradition, creating space for both reflection and celebration.

The program will feature a variety of ensemble performances along with opportunities for congregational singing, inviting the audience to actively participate in the music-making experience.

A highlight of this year’s concert is “Te Deum” by Mark Hayes, presented through the generous support of the Wilkes-Tate Endowment. This powerful work anchors the program and reflects the depth and beauty of the sacred choral tradition.

“This is intended to be a signature event for our department and our community,” said Dr. John Dally, Department Chair. “Be it hymns, worship music, choruses or spirituals, we hope people will come celebrate the soundtrack of Our Faith.”

Event Details:
What: Great Music of Our Faith
�³���: April 26, 2026, at 3:00 p.m.
�³�����: Brandt Center, Northwest Nazarene University
Tickets: $10 General Admission / $8 Seniors
Purchase Tickets: nnu.edu/musicevents

This event is open to the public and welcomes individuals, families, churches and community members of all backgrounds to experience an afternoon of meaningful and inspiring music.

For more information, please visit nnu.edu/musicevents.

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In May, we’ll wrap up our sixth season of “Iron Sharpens Iron” (ISI)—our free, weekly N�鶹ԭ��-Clergy peer‑dialogue until we kick off our seventh season in September. ISI is a valuable ministry resource designed specifically by clergy with pastors in mind—it’s where you have a seat in the studio!

In addition to our live Monday sessions at 11:00 a.m. MDT, we continue expanding our video archive of more than 175 past conversations. And if you prefer to listen on the go, ISI is now available as an audio podcast as well.

Each month, we welcome a gifted pastoral co‑host to help guide our conversations and shape our guest lineups. Please join me in thanking these pastoral colleagues for lending their voices and leadership this Spring.

• March: Rev. JanElle Hoffman, Colorado District;
• April: Rev. Jared Trygg, Northwest District; and
• May: Rev. Jodi Combe, Oregon Pacific District.

JanElle, Jared, and Jodi have helped me create a strong lineup for the months ahead, and we would love for you to join us.

Ways to Connect:

• Video Archive: to explore our full library on Vimeo;
• Live Recording Sessions: for your free access link each Monday; or
• Podcast: Search “N�鶹ԭ�� Iron Sharpens Iron” on Apple Podcasts.

However you join us—watching, listening or participating live—ISI offers a fun, enriching way to broaden your ministry horizons. Plus, each session is worth 1.0 unit toward your annual pastoral lifelong learning registry.

We hope you’ll participate this Spring!

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While the gospels offer numerous accounts of Jesus’ miracles, only one appears in all four: the feeding of the five thousand. Choose your favorite version—you’ll find it in Matthew 14, Mark 6, Luke 9 and John 6.

What kind of context do these passages offer? Here’s a brief sketch:

1. Jesus seeks seclusion after receiving the devastating news of John the Baptist’s death, even as the desperate needs of the crowds continue to press in.
2. In this remote setting near the Sea of Galilee, Jesus responds with compassion, teaching and healing the people.
3. The Twelve recoil at the overwhelming challenge of feeding such a massive crowd, yet Jesus insists that they act, even despite their meager resources.
4. After five barley loaves and two small fish are gathered, Jesus takes the bread, gives thanks, breaks it and distributes it through the disciples.
5. Then Jesus does the same with the fish.
6. Finally, all four accounts emphasize the same astonishing outcome: five thousand men—plus women and children—eat and are satisfied. And the disciples even collect twelve baskets of leftovers!

So when, exactly, did the miracle occur? At what moment? Where would you place it?

We might imagine Jesus multiplying piles of bread and fish at some point in steps four and five, with the disciples then tasked as Jesus’ Galilean caterers. Certainly miraculous—but that’s not how the gospel writers describe it.

Instead, something amazing happens only after the disciples begin distributing the broken pieces. Not in a dramatic instant, but in the ordinary gesture of passing food from hand to hand, the meal is multiplied, every person eats and hunger is satisfied. And not just satisfied—there is abundance. Twelve baskets’ worth!

The miracle seems to unfold in the sharing. In the breaking. In the giving.

Friends, we know something about bread and the cup, don’t we? In one sacred moment of ordination, we pastors receive authority to administer the sacraments—an authority we embody every time we break the bread.

In some theological traditions, this moment is called “The Fraction,” from the Latin fractio, meaning “breaking.” It commemorates these gospel scenes when Jesus breaks consecrated bread before giving it.

And this is good news: despite our brokenness, God can take our meager offerings and multiply them into abundance—especially as they move from hand-to-hand and heart-to-heart. It is fraction… in action.

During the seasons of Lent and Easter, I hope you find intentional opportunities to administer the Lord’s Supper in your ministry setting. Perhaps you might even share Communion with those who cannot come to you. I would love to hear how God uses those experiences of Table service in your life and ministry this year.

Or perhaps you are the one seeking seclusion these days. You’re weary. Worn out. Feeling utterly broken, like urgent needs will never let up and your emotional—and perhaps even literal—checkbook is close to overdraft. Sound familiar?

Bring what you have to Jesus, who is uniquely able to multiply even the smallest fraction—passed from hand to hand and heart to heart—into abundance.

Perhaps this Spring, the greatest miracle still lies ahead. Maybe it’s in step seven, pastor. In your heart and in your hands. That is my prayer for you—and for myself as well.

Pastor, you matter. Blessings on you!

+>j

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Every February, N�鶹ԭ��’s Wesley Center offers a conference around various ministry-related topics for pastors, ministry leaders, laypersons and students. Our 2026 Wesley Center Conference theme is titled “FAIthful?: Artificial Intelligence & Faithful Ministry.”

This event on Thursday and Friday, February 12 – 13 seeks to balance AI opportunities with concerns in hopes that ministry leaders can better evaluate the use of artificial intelligence as an effective tool for ministry and discipleship in their ministry contexts.

We’re pleased to welcome Jason Moore, founder of Midnight Oil Productions and author of 14 books, including “AI and the Church” (Invite P 2025). Accolades for Jason’s work in this area include these words from Dr. Leonard Sweet: “AI and the Church is the digital revelation pastors didn’t know they were praying for! [It’s a] must-read for the digitally devout and the technologically timid alike.”

Conference workshops and a more detailed schedule will continue to roll out in the weeks ahead.

Standard registrations of $99 per person end on January 15, and late registrations of $119 expire on January 31. Group registrations and an online access pass are also available using the link provided. For more information, please email wesleyconf@nnu.edu or call 208/467-8530.

Registration Pricing:

Conference Schedule Coming Soon

The post WESLEY CENTER CONFERENCE 2026 appeared first on Northwest Nazarene University.

Every February, N�鶹ԭ��’s Wesley Center offers a conference around various ministry-related topics for pastors, ministry leaders, laypersons and students. Our 2026 Wesley Center Conference theme is titled “FAIthful?: Artificial Intelligence & Faithful Ministry.”

This event on Thursday and Friday, February 12 – 13 seeks to balance AI opportunities with concerns in hopes that ministry leaders can better evaluate the use of artificial intelligence as an effective tool for ministry and discipleship in their ministry contexts.

We’re pleased to welcome Jason Moore, founder of Midnight Oil Productions and author of 14 books, including “AI and the Church” (Invite P 2025). Accolades for Jason’s work in this area include these words from Dr. Leonard Sweet: “AI and the Church is the digital revelation pastors didn’t know they were praying for! [It’s a] must-read for the digitally devout and the technologically timid alike.”

Conference workshops and a more detailed schedule will continue to roll out in the weeks ahead.

Standard registrations of $99 per person end on January 25, and late registrations of $119 expire on January 31. Group registrations and an online access pass are also available using the link provided. For more information, please email wesleyconf@nnu.edu or call 208.467.8530.

Registration Pricing:

Conference Schedule

The post WESLEY CENTER CONFERENCE 2026 appeared first on Northwest Nazarene University.

This event on Thursday and Friday, February 12-13, seeks to balance AI opportunities with concerns in hopes that ministry leaders can utilize artificial intelligence as an effective tool for ministry and discipleship.��

We’re pleased to welcome Jason Moore, founder of Midnight Oil Productions and author of 14 books, including  (Invite P 2025). Accolades for Jason’s work in this area include these words from Dr. Leonard Sweet: “AI and the Church is the digital revelation pastors didn’t know they were praying for! [It’s a] must-read for the digitally devout and the technologically timid alike,” as well as this  for your amusement featuring feedback from some of the greatest leaders in Church history. Conference workshops and other related content will continue to roll out in the months ahead.

Standard registrations of $99 per person end on December 31; and late registrations of $119 end on January 31. Group registrations and an online access pass are also available by . For more information, please contact wesleyconf@nnu.edu.��

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Music can offer a significant means of spiritual engagement, especially during the Advent and Christmas seasons. What favorite hymn or chorus moves you at this time of year? Here are some favored holiday songs recommended by the faculty and staff of N�鶹ԭ��’s College of Theology & Christian Ministries that you may want to consider for individual or communal worship in the weeks ahead…

• Dr. Rojelio Aguila: “Angels We Have Heard on High”
• Dr. Tomas Alvares: “O Holy Night”
  
• Dr. Joe Bankard: “Silent Night”
• Rev. Sam Bartolome: “O Come, All Ye Unfaithful”
• Audra Butkus: “Be Born in Me”
  
• Vicki Funk: “The First Noel”
  
• Dr. Joe Gorman: “Hark, the Herald Angels Sing”
• Prof. Tim Hahn: “Come, Thou Long-Expected Jesus”
• Dr. Mike Kipp: “What Child Is This?”
• Dr. Diane Leclerc: “Glory Be to God on High”
• Dr. Marty Michaelson: “Joy to the World”
• Dr. Brent Peterson: “Angels from the Realms of Glory”
• Prof. Mary Schmitt: “O Come, O Come, Emmanuel”

The post RECOMMENDED CHRISTMAS MUSIC FROM N�鶹ԭ��’S GOD BUILDING appeared first on Northwest Nazarene University.

The Greek writer Plutarch (c. A.D. 46-125) once attributed an anecdote from King Antiphanes of Sparta that once in time, a severe cold was so intense that spoken words crystalized in the air as soon as they were uttered, only thawing out and becoming audible the following summer.

In some ways, Antiphanes’ legend reminds me of the ways many of us think about Advent, the opening season on our Christian calendars. As daylight constricts and temperatures plummet, it’s tempting to follow our culture’s headlong rush straight to the twenty-fifth day of December. Just think about it: when did you first see Christmas decorations for sale in the stores this year, or how long have you been hearing radio stations blasting Christmas music on the dial 24/7? How many weeks ago did you see your first Christmas commercial on television? We’re so eager for Christmas to arrive that it almost feels as if our hopes in these intervening weeks will hang frozen in the air until they finally thaw on Christmas morning.

Instead, Advent utters a humble two-word response in low tones: quietly, almost imperceptibly, the recurring phrase is “Not yet.”

Tempting as it can be, Advent reminds us to delay our singing of “Joy to the World” until the anniversary of Jesus’ birth actually arrives. It’s a “Not yet” season. Instead, Advent invites us to spend time anticipating the birth of the Christ child, similar in many ways to how eagerly we once longed for Christmas morning when we were young children ourselves. During Advent, we wait earnestly with those from two millennia ago who prayed, “O come, O come, Emmanuel.” We prepare ourselves, inviting the world to join us in receiving her King. We long with Bethlehem for the Messiah’s coming, even in dark streets where everlasting light imperceptibly shines and “the hopes and fears of all the years are met in thee tonight.”

Children often interpret their parents’ “Not yet” responses to their requests as a cast-off “No.” But Advent invites us to enter into the spiritual adventure of preparation and anticipation of Emmanuel—the God who comes to us. Not on our timelines, but on God’s.

During Advent, we’re training to hone patient endurance, which prepares us inevitably for challenges during other seasons in our lives. Advent reminds us that “not yet” is not the same as “no.” One is a dead-end, a rejection; the other is a refinement of expectations.

On behalf of my colleagues in our Office of University Mission & Ministry, as well as the administration, faculty, staff and students of N�鶹ԭ��, I pray that you, your family, and your congregation experience meaningful Advent and Christmas seasons this year. As we navigate all of life’s “Not yet” seasons together, may every heart prepare room for the holy infant who comes so tender and mild, when “Not yet” ultimately becomes “now.”

Blessings, my friend!

+>j

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On Sunday, September 14, the Nashville (TN) First Church of the Nazarene elected Dr. Grant Miller as its next pastor. This historic church was founded in 1898 as the Pentecostal Mission Tabernacle by Rev. J.O. McClurkan, a Cumberland Presbyterian minister, leading voice in 19th-century holiness circles across the American southeast and founder of what is now Trevecca Nazarene University in Nashville.

Grant noted recently: “We don’t undertake this transition lightly, but we also feel confirmation from the Spirit that this move to Nashville has been directed by the Lord, and in so doing are seeking to faithfully steward God’s calling on our lives.”

Likewise, N�鶹ԭ�� Pres. Mark DeMichael shared these thoughts about Grant’s pending departure: “As a University, we are grateful to be a place that grows leaders and sends them into the world for Kingdom impact. We trust in a loving God who goes before Grant and his family. We commit to lifting them in prayer during this transition, believing that God’s presence will guide and sustain them. We also hold confidence that the same God who is leading Grant is preparing the right person to step into the role of University Chaplain at N�鶹ԭ��… On a personal note, in my short time here at N�鶹ԭ��, I have come to love and appreciate Grant. He is a humble leader, gifted with the extraordinary ability to show compassion and understanding to those around him, while also demonstrating courage in his commitment to speaking and living out God’s Word. He truly embodies God’s call to live with GRACE and TRUTH, and he will be deeply missed.”

Dr. Miller has served as our University Chaplain since 2021. Prior to that, he was N�鶹ԭ��’s Director of Community Life for seven years while also serving as college pastor at Nampa (ID) College Church of the Nazarene. An ordained elder, Grant and his wife, Jen, have three children. At this time, the Millers are in consultation with both the University and their new congregation on a more definite schedule of Grant’s departure from his role on our campus.

Please join us in praying for the Millers, Nashville First Church, and our campus community during this leadership transition.

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