Phil Siefkes

Recently our church and family celebrated my 40th anniversary as pastor here at Calvary Baptist Church. Hard to believe how quickly time has passed. We arrived in Sleepy Eye just before Christmas of 1985. My wife was 8 months pregnant with our firstborn.

Anticipation is a wonderful thing, and around the holidays we all seem to experience some form of it. Some anticipate people coming to their home, while others anticipate finally getting to go home after a long separation. We see this with parents and

The proverbial mud-slinging season is in full force. One candidate tosses their oozing handful while the other candidate is reaching down into the muck to fill their hand. I, for one, am weary of such nonsense. If it isn’t mud slinging, it is smoke-and

In 1962 Leslie Bricusse and Anthony Newley published What Kind of Fool Am I? which became a popular song. Artists such as Sammy Davis Jr. and Andy Williams, even Kermit the Frog, performed the song throughout the 60’s and 70’s. Though the song addressed a

Yet again we find death plastered across the screens and pages of various media news sources. The people of France are once again forced to deal with the horrific murder of scores of her people. Police officers are being targeted and ambushed here in

Often people will talk to me about the church they currently attend. Frustration and anger are occasionally expressed. Sometimes there seems to be a problem with the pastor. At other times it appears to be a problem arising from another person who attends

The politicians have been pandering for some time now, making statements or pseudo-promises concerning what they will do if they get elected. We’ve heard all the empty promises before, but for some reason we think this time things might be different.

The body of Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia has been publicly reviewed by thousands, and will be buried on the day I write this article. Scalia served his country on the Supreme Court for approximately 3 decades. This Justice, arguably one of the