David Dollinger

I was with my wife and youngest daughter last year at the Sand Dunes along the shore of Lake Michigan near New Buffalo last summer. Emily and I saw this huge sand dune and people walking on top of it, along with some knuckleheads rolling down at top speed. So we decided to climb straight up the dune. Emily had no issues climbing the dune. I myself had some issues. The climb was steep, and my legs would get buried ankle deep in sand with every step I took. About half way up the dune, I am breathing heavy and sweating. About 50 feet later, my legs are weak and my heart is pounding. I was less than 50 feet from the top and I physically could not make it. I sat and rested at a bush and positioned myself so that I wouldnt roll down the dune uncontrollably. Emily made it without issue and encouraged me to get up there with her and look at the view of Lake Michigan. I wanted to, but I simply couldnt. I was even afraid that I might not be able to walk down the dune. After 15 minute

I will confess to you that I am easily turned off by religious people who try so hard to prove to me how spiritual they are. I have been in pastoral ministry for nearly 16 years, and I have been in leadership for 19 years. If you have met me and know me, you would know up front that I carry far more baggage in my life than God has ever intended for me to have. But many of you know those people that I am talking about. They brag about how spiritual they are and how it is so hard to be fed anymore because they know so much. These are the same people that speak Christianese in church and around their church friends. Among these spiritual people that I have been around the last 19 years, God has revealed a lot of junk in their lives. Spousal abuse; Horrendous marriages with a lot of fighting behind the scenes; Sexual harrasment; Numerous broken relationships within their own family; Its a turn off for me because I am speaking about the spiritual people who rip into other peoples sho

On March 10th I got to experience my first leadership conference since attending a youth leadership conference at Willow Creek in 2004. The conference was named Unleash and it was hosted by the Newspring Church in Anderson, South Carolina. As I pulled into the parking lot, I was greeted by dozens of attendants directing traffic in the parking lot. They were extremely cheerful, and made me feel welcome. When I got out of my car, I was greeted by 3 attendants who were happy to see my Indiana license plate. They were ecstatic that I traveled all the way from Elkhart, Indiana for their little conference. My walk from the car to the front entrance was about 100 yards. Along the way, I was greeted by at least 12 more volunteers who welcomed me to their little conference. In all there were 600 volunteers helping out to put this conference together. Let's just say that I was overwhelmed by the cheerful greeters. Another pastor told me that this is how the parking lot is ran every

A couple of months ago I was at the home of an elderly lady setting up her new wheelchair. Our conversation led to my revealing to her that I am a pastor also. She told me that her grandson has no use for her church but would probably like mine because I seem so young. Just then her grandson enters the room. He is 15 years old, has a mullet, and is wearing a "Thug Life" t-shirt. I forgot to mention that this home was in a section of South Bend that I refer to as South Bendtucky. Anyways, this kind lady tells her grandson that I am also a minister. He then proudly tells me that God is a number one priority in his life followed by his weed then his hoes. The sad thing was, he was serious. He is no different than many of us in this country. He has taken an extraordinary God and made Him ordinary. How do we do that? We act like its a big deal to give God our Sunday mornings. Its as if we are giving Him a one hour shout out. Then we just go on with our lives without gi

There was a auto accident in Kentucky. The man who drove the pickup truck had to explain why he caused the accident and why he had burn marks on his neck. I heard about this on the radio so this must be true. This guy and his wife were learning about the new shock collar they bought their dog. They wanted to know how far the signal would reach. So he puts the collar on around his neck, and tells his wife that he will drive his truck over the hill, and when he honks his horn, she is to push the button to activate a shock on the collar. So he drives his truck over the hill and hits his horn, she presses the button sending her husband into excrutiating pain. He swerves into the oncoming lane where another truck in approaching. That truck hits its horn, so the man's wife hears the horn and presses the button again causing her husband to continue to swerve. Well there was a car behind her husbands truck that then honked it's horn. Hearing the horn, the woman hits the button

I am not a trained counselor. A lot of people would hear that remark from me and say, "Hey! You are a Pastor! You are supposed to be a trained counselor and fix my problems!" There are counselors out there who help you dig deep into your feelings and straighten things out complete with all the Dr. Phil and Oprah tactics that make you cry and then you feel better. I use the GOYB approach of counseling. GOYB stands for Get Off Your Butt. It's not the most popular approach with those who enjoy living their lives as victims. Listen, my father abandoned my family when I was a Sophomore in high school. We then lived on welfare for the next 2 and a half years. We ate pot pies everyday. The best meal of the day came from the school lunch. I found out something during that time. The world didnt care. It sounds a bit harsh. But follow me on this one. We didnt get condolences cards from the Governor. Ty Pennington didnt come out to makeover our apartment. The world