Anchor Point Church

05/29/2026

Photo by Matt Foxx on Unsplash

A THANK YOU FROM THE COOLEYS

Twenty years. I still can't quite believe it.

Retirement is the right thing for me to do, but leaving AnchorPoint isn't easy. It’s not because it's the wrong decision, but because this place and you all mean so much to us. Clearly, "right" doesn't always mean easy.

Here's what this season has taught me...

Pastor's Blog: https://www.anchorpointlife.com/edit #/page/blog

Available in audio—listen anytime, anywhere 🎧
https://www.anchorpointlife.com/edit #/file/da118a00-5ae1-11f1-8b77-e53b72486de1

05/25/2026

05/22/2026

The Church Merger, the Cuban Pastor, and the Craziest Week of the Year

This is my second-to-last blog as a staff pastor at AnchorPoint Church.

Weird.

About ten and a half years ago, Pastor Reinaldo asked me to meet him at Einstein Bagels. I didn't know him well — just that he'd been on staff at Rio West Community Church. And that he was Cuban. Not holding that against him, I agreed to meet. He asked what I thought about a merger between Cottonwood Church, which I pastored, and Rio West.

Six months later the merger was in full swing, with the first combined service set for September. In the meantime, Rio West invited Cottonwood to their VBS.

Here's the thing, many folks at Cottonwood had no idea what VBS even stood for. When I told them...

Pastor's Blog: https://www.anchorpointlife.com/edit #/page/blog

Available in audio—listen anytime, anywhere 🎧

https://www.anchorpointlife.com/edit #/file/de843cc0-5557-11f1-8e95-0b0e178f5d9a

05/15/2026

The Amazing Reality of Justification

This last Sunday we talked about the relationship between faith and works, looking at James 2:14-26. One thing that came up as we looked at the passage together was the concept of “justification”. James uses the term “justification” (or “considered righteous” in the NIV) to refer to how the reality of our faith is demonstrated for all to see. Our works “justify”—display the reality of—our faith.

Pastor's Blog: https://www.anchorpointlife.com/edit #/page/blog

Available in audio—listen anytime, anywhere 🎧
https://www.anchorpointlife.com/file/eb5ee420-4fdc-11f1-a503-498c1fc81396d