Salt, Light & Hospitality Blog Post

Hospitality is woven through the Bible—from Abraham’s open tent to Jesus’ open table. This blog uncovers those stories, revealing how biblical hospitality isn’t just about meals—it’s a way of life. Join me in exploring how we can live it out today, being salt, light, and a place of welcome in a hungry world.

  • Marley Was Dead, and the Church Needs a Haunting…

    Marley Was Dead…..I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE! that line. Two of my favorite Christmas movies are The Muppet Christmas Carol and Scrooged with Bill Murray. Yes, I just put felt puppets and 1980s corporate nihilism on the same theological shelf. Stay with me. One has singing rats and Michael Caine delivering Shakespearean gravitas to a frog.…

  • The Moravian Way: Stillness, Firelight, and Faith

    Last night, my family and I went to our church’s Christmas bonfire. No stage. No program. No carefully choreographed emotional arc that crescendos right on time with the bridge of a worship song written sometime after 2016. Just fire. Cold air. A few folding chairs that have definitely survived a couple potlucks. People standing around…

  • Where are you Christmas: Why Can’t I Find You? Why Have You Gone Away…..

    This year, Christmas hit my house a little different. My oldest is struggling with it. Not in a dramatic, doors-slammed, “I hate Christmas” kind of way, but in that quieter, heavier way that’s worse because you can’t fix it with cocoa and a movie night. Between work shifts, school deadlines, homework that never ends, and…

  • Go Tell It on The Mountain We Created: Mount Crumpit

    My youngest loves The Grinch. And I don’t mean seasonal, December-only, “cute cartoon while we wrap presents” love. I mean year-round devotion. July Grinch. Easter Grinch. Random Tuesday in August when it’s 94 degrees, the AC is barely hanging on, and she’s asking, again, to watch a green rage monster spiral over Christmas for the…

  • Home Alone Before Christmas: Preparing the House, Forgetting the Heart

    This past Saturday, I found myself home alone. Not “the house is quiet, I’ll read a book” home alone. I mean Kevin McCallister home alone. No wife. No kids. No schedule. No one to stop me from making objectively poor decisions. The kind of freedom that should honestly come with a warning label. I briefly…

  • “Butter, Chaos, and the Second Coming: A Gantt Family Guide to Advent Preparation”

    When you grow up in the Gantt family, Christmas dinner isn’t a meal, it’s a military operation disguised as hospitality. And by “hospitality,” I mean the kind where the kitchen hits 96 degrees before noon, everyone’s yelling across the house about butter temperatures, and some poor soul is crying in the pantry because the rolls…

  • “Snoopy, Charlie Brown, and the Dangerous Joy of Showing Up”

    My daughter’s obsession with Snoopy is not cute. I need you to understand that. This isn’t a “haha, she likes a cartoon” situation. This is not “she owns a T-shirt.” This is do we need to build a shrine levels of devotion. Year-round. Aggressive. And by Christmas, it’s borderline liturgical. Snoopy mugs. Snoopy socks. Snoopy…

  • Holy Nostalgia and the Faith to Pass It On

    Here I sit in this Advent season missing home — but more than that, missing the version of home that only exists in memory now. Running as hard as I can with 40 hot on my trail like a debt collector with a crowbar. 2026 is staring me down, and with this year almost closed,…

  • Called Home for Christmas

    There was a time when Christmas in Vermont didn’t just sound like a small riot, it was a riot. Not a cute, hallmark kind of chaos. The kind of chaos that probably had an insurance policy rethinking its life choices.Almost thirty of us crammed into my parents’ living room like the world’s most aggressive family…

  • Advent at Ground Zero: Presence in the Powdered Sugar Fallout

    There’s something magical about December evenings, the kind of magic that smells like cinnamon, sounds like Bing Crosby, and looks like the slow descent of powdered sugar across a peaceful kitchen. Unless, of course, you live in my house. Then powdered sugar falls less like a gentle winter snow and more like the opening scene…

  • National Lampoon’s Advent: Opening the Door to Strangers, Prodigals, and RVs

    I come from a line of people who are stubborn, loud, sentimental, and, because God has a sense of humor, Celtic. My proud Scot/Irish heritage means I am genetically predisposed to melancholy poetry, fierce loyalty, potatoes, and an almost prophetic ability to find “just one more seat” at the table even when the house is…

  • “The House of Bread and the Harpers’ Pot”

    There once was a large family named the Harpers. Good people. The kind of family that took up an entire pew every Sunday and half the fellowship hall afterward. They had seven kids, two dogs, one cat that hated everyone equally, and a van that made a noise like it was trying to cough out…

  • THE MESSY CHRISTMAS YOU LOVE: Advent, Eden, and the God Who Sets the Table Anyway

    Merry Christmas and a joyful, wild-hearted Advent to all of you! You already know this is my season, my Super Bowl, my Iron Chef finale, my Home Alone “KEVINNN!” moment all rolled into one. So consider this your friendly warning: you’re about to see more posts from me this month than Santa sees cookies on…

  • The Ghost of Hospitality Past: When Forgiveness Is Spoken but Fellowship Is Withheld

    There’s a particular kind of silence that hits your soul different, the kind that happens when you walk into a room expecting reconciliation and walk out realizing you were the only one who showed up ready for it. I remember the night my wife and I drove to a meeting at the church we had…

  • The Table Where No One Spoke

    Let me tell you something I’ve learned the hard way in the kitchen: Nothing blows up faster than a problem the chef refuses to deal with. I’ve watched it happen more times than I care to admit. You’ve got this line cook, let’s call him “Chad,” because of course it’s Chad, who keeps cutting corners.…

  • Sit Down, King….. We Need to Talk

    I’ve always said real hospitality isn’t about how good your table looks; it’s about who’s willing to sit at it when things get uncomfortable. Anyone can serve biscuits and sweet tea. But when you start serving truth….. well, that’s when folks start losing their appetite. Take 2 Samuel 12. If you ever thought the Bible…

  • “When the Church Sends Uriah”(We pray, they die, and we post about outreach.)

    I once heard about a preacher who stood before his congregation one Sunday morning and made an announcement that shocked everyone. He said, “From this day forward, our church will end all events that do not directly share the gospel.” No more fall festivals just to hand out candy, no more chili cook-offs to fill…

  • Don’t Rush the Beard: The Hospitality of Letting People Heal

     If there’s one thing I’ve learned, both in the kitchen and in ministry, it’s that nobody heals by being rushed. You can’t fix a burnt roux by turning up the heat, and you can’t restore a broken person by throwing them back into the fire before they’ve cooled. But in the world we live in,…

  • From Lo Debar to the King’s Table: Grace in Action

    I remember one dinner service years back, every pan on the stove was screaming for attention and the doors were about to open. The kitchen was chaos, meals firing, pan flying, the usual symphony of insanity. Then one of my fellow cooks got a phone call. His face went white. He set down his tongs…

  • The Sword of Truth Is the Only Weapon That Can Save America

     I remember once standing in a kitchen so hot the walls were sweating. You know that kind of heat… the kind where even the devil himself would’ve asked for a fan. Orders were flying, pans crashing, voices barking. Somewhere between the smoke and the chaos, I noticed a cook who had been on the verge…

  • This Is Not a Drill: Remembering Kirk and 9/11 in a Sleeping Church

    I need you to understand something right out of the gate. I don’t write this lightly. This one carries weight. Heavy weight. And I feel the responsibility of it pressing on me even as I type. Today is 9/11/2025. That date already drips with meaning in this country. For most people, it drags our memories…

  • Club Houses, Cedar Houses and Eternal Homes: When Hospitality Begets Hospitality

    I’ve lived in some places where the word “hospitality” didn’t mean what most people think. It wasn’t always warm cookies on the counter or a welcome sign on the porch. Sometimes it looked like walking into a motorcycle clubhouse where every eye was sizing you up, waiting to see if you respected their space. Other…

  • When My Win Becomes Our Feast

    I’ll never forget the night we rolled out a brand-new menu at one of the restaurants I cheffed at. Blood, sweat, and more profanity than I care to admit went into that prep. The suits from corporate showed up, pressed and polished, ready to taste and critique. The service went off without a hitch, rare…

  • “No headliner but Jesus.”

    Here I stand at Worship in the Park, and a t-shirt catches my eye. Nothing flashy. No glitter fonts. No clever logos. Just a bold statement across the back: “No headliner but Jesus.” At first, I just noticed it on a few different people, the way you might notice a food truck sign at a…

  • Honor Over Advantage: Hospitality that Won’t Exploit

    I’ve spent over twenty plus years in kitchens, and let me tell you, if you want to see human nature on full display, just spend a few weeks behind the line when the heat is up and the tickets are flying. The kitchen is its own kingdom, a pressure cooker of egos, sweat, and survival.…

  • More Than a Meal: Hospitality That Restores

    Let’s be real, we’re not exactly good at reconciliation these days. If someone even looks at us wrong, we’re ready to write them off. And if they actually hurt us, or worse, used to walk with us but then turned against us, we put their name on the “do not invite” list faster than a…

  • From Hurt to Hospitality: Learning from David’s Grace to Abner

    Let’s be honest right up front, sometimes the Church has done more damage than healing. I don’t say that lightly, and I don’t say it from the outside looking in. I say it as someone who has been in the thick of it, who has watched people come through the doors of a church looking…

  • “Hospitality In Spite Of…..”

    I’ll never forget my grandfather’s funeral. Not because of the black suits, the solemn hymns, or the endless casseroles that showed up in every shade of beige. No, what seared itself into my memory was my grandmother, Mama. There she was, freshly widowed, her whole world tilted off its axis, and instead of collapsing into…

  • Honor Despite: Hospitality for the Fallen

    I passed him nearly every morning and evening. Same corner. Same weathered face. Same cardboard sign that reads, “Just trying to survive.” Sometimes I nod. Sometimes I stop and talk. Sometimes I just keep moving, caught up in the chaos of double shifts and fill-ins at the hotels downtown. But one day, as I was…

  • Revival Starts in the Ditch, Not the Sanctuary. Part II

    Back when I was training in Krav Maga, we trained like our lives depended on it, because one day, it just might. It wasn’t just about fancy moves or breaking boards; it was grit, sweat, and knowing you could rely on the person next to you. We trained in pairs. We pushed each other. And…

  • Revival Starts in the Ditch, Not the Sanctuary. Part I

    My first hotel gig in Savannah? It was chaos. I was the rooftop bar chef, which meant I was already running non-stop, but I was also the pinch hitter for the head chef down in the main restaurant whenever we were testing a new dish or needed finesse on the plate. So yeah, I moved…

  • Rejected but Protected: God’s Hidden Welcome

    The past week, I was wound up tighter than a rubber band motor on a kid’s makeshift toy car. We were getting ready to head north for a bit, and my brain was doing that special dance it does when I’m trying to juggle packing, family logistics, and car repairs, all while attempting to keep…

  • When the Table Is Bigger Than the Rift

    Lately, I’ve found myself in a weird place, mentally, spiritually, and even geographically. Not exactly exile-in-Philistine-country weird, but close. I’m in a season where I’m interviewing with a few churches for a pastoral role, which still shocks me, considering my history of being more like the guy who flipped tables in the temple than the…

  • This Ain’t About Dinner—It’s About Dignity

    I once watched a woman walk into the church basement wearing three coats in July and a pair of flip-flops held together with duct tape. Her hair looked like it hadn’t met a comb since Easter, and she had a look in her eyes that said she’d seen more than most of us could stomach.…

  • Rebel With A Cause: Defiant Hospitality

    I used to have a bit of a reputation and still do at points…. Not the “bake-you-cookies-and-invite-you-to-Bible-study” kind. No, growing up, I was known as a rebel. And not just in the moody-teenager, “don’t-tell-me-what-to-do” kind of way. I was good at it. Real good. If there was a rule, I broke it. If someone told…

  • The Table Is Set with Mercy: A Story of Hurt, Healing, and Jesus

    Let’s be honest, if we’re talking about the hardest part of hospitality, most people think of cleaning bathrooms before guests show up or cooking for 40 when you only have enough meatloaf for 10, granted if it is my wife’s meatloaf that will be plenty. But real, soul-cutting hospitality? It’s not about food or folding…

  • How Far Will You Go? Stretching Your Hospitality Radius for the Kingdom

    I talk about her often, but I’m going to brag for a second on my sister Robyn. She’s a Bible teacher, a podcaster (catch her on Blooming in a Cage, available wherever you listen), a mom, a wife, and an OK-ish sister (she’d say the same about me being a brother). But beyond all that,…

  • “I’m Sorry, Ma’am—This Is What You Ordered: Hospitality Comes with Sacrifice, No Substitutions.”

    I’ve given up a lot for hospitality. Time with my kids. Countless meals with my wife. Holidays, birthdays, moments that were once-in-a-lifetime and now live only in the background noise of a busy kitchen. I’ve stood over flat tops so hot they could blister your soul, burned myself on oven doors, cut the tips of…

  • Advocacy Is the Hospitality We’ve Forgotten

    I wouldn’t be here if it weren’t for intercession. Not just the kind that happens in hushed sanctuaries or quiet corners at the altar, but the kind that stormed the gates of heaven long before I took my first breath. My story starts before my story started. My mother had a child pass in the…

  • Faithful in the Fire: Why Hospitality Sometimes Means Not Leaving

    There’s a pastor I know, humble, wise, kind of a dork (but we love him for that) but deeply committed to his calling. Not flashy, not loud. Just steady. Faithful. The kind of man who doesn’t chase platforms but chases God. He found himself in the middle of a church situation that was handled poorly.…

  • You Got the Fireworks, But Do You Got the Faith?

    I’ve seen it too many times, and I know you have too. Churches slowly bleeding out while the people sitting in the pews keep smiling and saying everything’s fine. Leaders clinging to their titles and preferences like lifeboats, unwilling to surrender what they like for what God wants. Members checking out because change feels too…

  • God Doesn’t Anoint Who You Pretend to Be

    There was a season in my life where I did everything in my power to not end up in ministry. You ever white-knuckle your way through disobedience? That was me. I was Jonah with a GPS and a gas card, running hard in the opposite direction of Nineveh. Every time someone said, “You should be…

  • Obedience: The Forgotten Act of Hospitality

    If you ask any of my siblings what our mom’s favorite Bible verse is, they won’t hesitate: “Rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft!” (1 Samuel 15:23) She didn’t just quote it, she declared it. Usually while wielding a wooden spoon or side-eyeing the school work that hadn’t been done. One time she caught me…

  • Rak Chazak Hospitality: Courage at the Table

    Let me take you back to my time in motorcycle ministry, specifically, one of our biggest events every June, right outside one of the oldest and wildest motorcycle rallies in New England. Now if you know, you know… These rallies aren’t just chrome and funnel cakes. They’re territory-based. Club patches mean something. One club controls…

  • LET HIM COOK: Hospitality on God’s Timing

    If there’s one thing I’ve learned, after stumbling through it more times than I’d like to admit, it’s this: trying to force something on your timeline is a great way to faceplant into a season of frustration. I’ve done it. More than once. Honestly, I’ve probably done it enough for a small congregation. And each…

  • Truth at the Table: Accountability In Hospitality

    Growing up, I wasn’t exactly the poster child for “peaceful and cooperative.” I didn’t come with a “handle with care” label, more like “approach with caution” and maybe wear flame-retardant gloves. I was loud, stubborn, and always convinced I knew better. And when I didn’t get my way? Let’s just say… it wasn’t subtle. The…

  • What If I Stumble? Well Now I Guess We Know…..

    Let’s clear something up first: Hospitality isn’t about matching pillows or charming dinnerware. It’s not about a spotless home or perfect cooking. Hospitality, at its core, is about making room in your life, and in your community. For people who are messy, hurting, flawed, and sometimes shame-covered. It’s about extending the grace you received from…

  • From Bloodlines to Lifelines: God’s Not Done with Them Yet

    We were hanging out with some friends the other week, and the grown-ups had sunk into one of those conversations, the deep-in-the-weeds, slightly-too-serious kind about church politics. You know the type: furrowed brows, long sighs, and someone eventually drops the classic, “I just don’t know anymore.” Right in the middle of that emotional crescendo, my…

  • Don’t Host the Barbecue if Your House Is on Fire

    For most of my life, I was known as the guy who could handle it. Work headaches, family chaos, church drama, you name it, I’d tighten my bootstraps, grit my teeth, and push through. I wore it like a badge of honor, you would have thought that pulling myself up by my bootstraps was my…

  • Pass the Oil: It’s Time to Anoint the Misfits

    We tend to treat hospitality like it’s something nice but nonessential, kind of like parsley on a plate. A little garnish on the side of the Christian life. Maybe we invite someone over once a quarter, bring a lasagna to the new neighbors, or shake a few hands in the church foyer before heading out…

  • Feeding Donkey Chasers: Hospitality as Kingdom Work

    Nobody ever said obedience would be easy, not even once. But if you’ve walked with God long enough, you learn something: obedience might not always make sense on paper, but it always writes a better story. My parents didn’t leave the Blue Ridge Mountains of North Carolina for Vermont because they wanted a fresh start…

  • I’ll Have What He’s Having (But Should I?)

    We humans have a real gift for looking past a full plate just to envy what’s on someone else’s table. Back when I was a kid growing up in my dad’s church up in Vermont, I remember a season when some of the elders got real fired up about the idea of building a brand-new…

  • Welcoming the Vibe but Not the Voice

    There was a church just off the highway, tucked in a decent-sized strip mall between a gym and a Dollar Tree. Big enough to have a decent budget, clean signage, and a coffee bar that proudly served “locally roasted, mission-minded beans.” From the outside, it looked alive, modern, welcoming, “relevant.” But something was missing. It…

  • “Before You Host the Ark, Check Your House”

    There was a couple from a local church, God-loving folks, full of heart, big family, the whole nine yards. They had a house already bursting at the seams with kids, noise, and barely enough peace to finish a sentence before someone spilled something or started crying over a stolen toaster waffle. One day, a teenage…

  • “WWE Worship: When the Applause Goes to the Wrong Throne”

    I’ll never forget the Sunday morning that felt less like worship and more like WrestleMania. Now before I start swinging the storytelling chair over my shoulder like some rogue character out of a tag-team match, let me set the scene. The sanctuary was full, the coffee in the foyer was flowing, the band had just…

  • Kung Pao and the Kingdom: When Hospitality Comes with a Warning Label

    Two years. It’s been two whole years since I’ve had good Chinese food. Not “passable,” not “well it’ll do,” but real, sit-down, don’t-talk-to-me-I’m-eating Chinese food. Now, as many of you know, my family and I packed up our lives in the mountains of Vermont about three years ago and traded snow shovels for sand between…

  • “Locked Doors and Lost Glory: How We Left God Standing Outside”

    I wish I could tell you church leadership stood tall when it mattered most.But truth is? A lot of them folded like cheap lawn chairs,  just like Eli letting his punk sons wreck the temple, and the Body of Christ has been bleeding ever since. I’ll be real with you… at first, I got it.…

  • “God Speaks in the Silence—So Why Are We Always Talking?”

    This isn’t one story. This is…well, a pattern. A pattern that I’m not proud of, but one that the Lord (and my wife) keeps using to refine me like spiritual steel wool. It usually happens like this: I’ve had a long day. One of those days where the to-do list grew a new head, the…

  • 360° Hospitality: Body, Mind, and Spirit

    There were seasons in the kitchen when I wasn’t just serving food, I was serving something deeper, even if I didn’t have the words for it at the time. A good friend of mine, one of the guys on the line, lost his mom. No warning, no long goodbye… just gone. If you’ve ever lost…

  • The Power of a Single Act: Why Hospitality in the Church Matters

    I’ve seen it too many times: a man walks into a church for the first time in years, maybe ever. His heart pounds in his chest. He doesn’t know where to sit, doesn’t know if he belongs. He’s hoping, just maybe, that someone will see him. That someone will shake his hand like they mean…

  • The Risk of True Hospitality: When Doing the Right Thing May Come at a Cost

    If you think hospitality is all warm bread baskets and perfectly fluffed guest pillows, let me tell you…sometimes it feels more like sticking your hand in a bear trap and hoping for the best. Showing kindness, welcoming people in, and offering a seat at the table comes with risks. Sometimes, it leads to deep friendships,…

  • Leaving Extra Grain Behind: The Kind of Hospitality That Transforms Hearts

    My last paid gig was at the Kimpton Brice in Savannah, GA, a boutique hotel with a kitchen that had more heart than haute cuisine. Walking in, I found a crew that wasn’t exactly Michelin-star ready, but they had spirit. My job? Turn up the food and service quality without burning the place to the…

  • Hospitality That Heals: A Picture of the Church as God Intended

    It was the kind of cold that made you question every life decision that led you to be outside. The wind cut like a blade, the kind of bitter chill that snuck into your bones and set up camp. Inside the soup kitchen, though, it was a different world. The air was thick with the…

  • Foxes, Fires, and Freeloaders: The Cost of Hospitality

    Like I’ve mentioned before, I was once part of a motorcycle ministry that worked with 1% clubs. And just like in those clubs, before you earned your cut and became a full-fledged member, you had to prospect. That meant proving yourself, showing loyalty, putting in the work, and treating your fellow prospects like brothers. There…

  • Grief, Hospitality, and the Jesus Way: Meeting People Where They Are

    This is a hard one, hard to write, might be hard to read, but it needs to be said. I remember it like it was yesterday. Most of my work life had been in the food industry, but at the time, I had taken a break and was working for a road construction company. It…

  • Manoah’s Dinner Guest and My Unforgettable Restaurant Encounter

    I remember it like it was yesterday, I was grinding it out at the Kimpton Brice in Savannah, running on fumes because we were rolling out a new menu. Anyone who’s ever worked a kitchen knows that a menu launch is chaos on steroids. I was dead tired, frustrated, and about two seconds from losing…

  • “We’re in This Together… Until We’re Not”

    A few years ago, the whole world got tossed into a blender, and someone hit “frappé.” The COVID-19 pandemic turned everything upside down, and for a brief moment, we all heard the same chorus: “We’re in this together.” It was the battle cry of the day, stand shoulder to shoulder (well, at least six feet…

  • Who’s Got Your Back? A Lesson in Faith and Community

    By now, if you’ve been around long enough, you know that in 2022, my family and I packed up our lives and moved to the Savannah area. Why? Well, because we felt like God was leading us here, and when God gives you marching orders, you march; even if you’re not entirely sure what battle…

  • The Mighty Warrior Hiding in the Winepress (Yeah, That’s Me Too)

    Ok, if you know me, you know me. I don’t just walk into a room, I arrive. Big personality, big presence, and yes, I absolutely love to take control of the space. If I’m there, you’re getting a story, a joke, a full-blown production if the mood strikes. I live for the energy, the laughter,…

  • Hospitality Ain’t for the Faint of Heart (Or the Spineless)

    Back in the fall of 2023, I took a job as a youth pastor here in Georgia. Now, I knew I was called to ministry, but I hadn’t exactly sat down with God and gotten the full job description. It’s almost a running joke, okay, more of an unspoken truth, that most pastors start in…

  • Bold Hospitality: Why Keeping People Safe Sometimes Means Getting Dangerous

    Alright, folks, we’re stepping into the book of Judges, and let me tell you, hospitality in these pages doesn’t always come with warm bread and a cozy guest room. Sometimes, it comes with a tent peg, a sword, or well… the Old Testament equivalent of hospitality with a purpose. Now, before we get into the…

  • The Hospitality Cycle: Four Key Phases That Make a Difference

    Back in the fall of 2022, right after we packed up and moved to Georgia, I had a dream. And not just any dream. The kind of dream that shakes you to your core, the kind that leaves you questioning reality when you wake up. Now, I won’t get into all the details of the…

  • How Not to Make Meatloaf (and Why Small Wins Matter)

    Working in the kitchen for over 25 years has taught me a lot. Some lessons came in little bites over time, others hit like a flaming sauté pan to the face. Now, my wife… bless her heart… has not spent 25 years in a professional kitchen. And, in our early days of marriage, that fact…

  • When Hospitality Stops the Sun: Big Moments, Big Impact

    Working in the kitchen of a private school was like stepping into a culinary world tour. We had students from every corner of the globe, and with them came a calendar packed with every holiday you can imagine, some I’d never even heard of. At first, this meant a lot of extra work, cooking dishes…

  • Red Flags and Ragged Sandals: Lessons in Discernment

    Sometimes, the people you let into your life with open arms are the very ones who’ll knock the wind out of you. This is a story about friendship, or what we thought was friendship, and a hard lesson learned about trust, discernment, and inviting God into our decisions from the start. Back when my wife…

  • Stay Salty: Living out Matthew 5:13

    Picture it, there we were, my wife Hannah and I back in 2021, kicking around the idea of packing up our lives and leaving behind the cozy, maple-syrup-soaked hills of Vermont. Now, let me tell you, Vermont isn’t just where we were born and raised. No matter where we’d end up, Vermont would always hold…

  • “Cut to the Covenant: Brotherhood, Faith, and Divine Hospitality”

    The road was long—literally and metaphorically. Prospecting for the motorcycle ministry was no walk in the park, though, to be fair, I never expected it to be. This wasn’t some casual Sunday biker’s club with pancake breakfasts and polite waves to each passerby. No, this was a Christian ministry with the heart and grit of…

  • Hospitality from the Unexpected

    Sometimes, we’re the ones who need a little hospitality, even when we don’t realize it. And let’s be honest—it often shows up from the most unlikely sources. Take this story, for example. It’s not mine. It’s my brother’s. Believe me, it’s one of those “you can’t make this stuff up” moments. My brother, a pastor…

  • Gifts Fit For A King: The Hospitality We See

    In the quiet hills of Vermont, where snow blankets the world in December and the church steeples stand like sentinels of hope, my home church had a tradition that embodied the true spirit of Christmas. Every year, they set out a simple table. It wasn’t adorned with fancy decorations or filled with expensive gifts; instead,…

  • The Real Santa: Defender of Truth

    When I think back to my childhood, the magic of Christmas wasn’t just in the twinkling lights, the smell of cookies baking, or the thrill of presents under the tree. No, the true enchantment came from the lengths my Mama, Papa, and Nana went to keep the spirit of Santa Claus alive. To them, Santa…

  • Tinsel and Truth: Unwrapping the Deeper Story of the Nativity

    Every year, my home church hosted a Christmas Eve White Gift Service. It was one of those deeply cherished traditions that felt like stepping into a warm, familiar storybook. The centerpiece of the evening was always the living nativity, performed by the children of the church. To call it a “production” might be a stretch—it…

  • Ugly Sweaters and Sacred Spaces: A Christmas Reflection

    This past Sunday, our church hosted its annual Ugly Christmas Sweater service. To say it was a spectacle would be an understatement. There was a Rasta tie-dyed Santa, Christmas cow sweaters, and what I’m pretty sure was a Dominic the Donkey shirt in the mix. One brave soul went full Grinch, complete with pointy green…

  • Yippee-Ki-Yay, It’s Christmas: A Tabernacle-Inspired Take on Holiday Hosting

    Thanksgiving weekend in our house isn’t just a time to polish off the turkey leftovers (though let’s not pretend those sandwiches aren’t a highlight). It’s the sacred kickoff to the Christmas season—a whirlwind of nostalgia, chaos, and enough twinkling lights to rival the Vegas Strip. It’s messy, it’s magical, and it’s hands-down one of my…

  • Whoville in Vermont: Finding God’s Grace in Family Chaos

    Christmas at the Gantt household in Vermont wasn’t for the faint of heart—or the light of appetite. With five siblings, their spouses, a hoard of grandchildren, and Aunt Donna (who wasn’t technically family but earned her place at the table every year), the holidays were nothing short of organized chaos. And then there were the…

  • From Manna to Miracles: Finding God’s Abundance This Christmas

    The Joy of Giving: Reflections on Christmas Past When I dig through my mental attic of Christmas memories, it’s not the shiny packages or big reveals that steal the spotlight. Don’t get me wrong, I’ve had my share of surprises—like the year I got a watch that lasted just long enough to survive Christmas dinner—but…

  • Celebrating God’s Abundance: Hospitality Lessons from Elim to the Manger

    If you’ve ever spent two days crammed into a station wagon with siblings, you know what real endurance is. Not the kind of endurance you see in marathon runners or survival shows—no, I’m talking about the special kind of grit it takes to survive the energy of two younger siblings who could give caffeinated squirrels…

  • Generations Gathered: How Passover, Hanukkah, and Christmas Call Us to Connection

    Every year, like clockwork, we’d pile into the car for the trek down to North Carolina. The mountains there always seemed to breathe out Christmas, even if the air was warmer than Vermont’s. My Nana—Dad’s mom—would meet us at Mama and Papa’s, my mom’s folks. Each visit was a patchwork quilt of traditions, quirks, and…

  • From Passover to Christmas: A Season of Radical Hospitality

    Alright, folks, let’s dive into Exodus 12—the epic tale of the Passover, where the Israelites figured out that escaping slavery in Egypt is a bit like throwing a surprise party for yourself: it’s messy, chaotic, and you really hope everyone shows up on time. This meal is packed with symbolism and significance, showcasing not just…

  • Turning Famine into Feasts: Hospitality That Heals (PART III Hospitality with a vengeance…..)

    Alright, folks, buckle up because we’re diving back into one of the most heartwarming (and slightly dramatic) family reunions in history. Joseph, after all that brotherly betrayal—let’s not forget the whole “throw him in a pit and sell him into slavery” incident—is now in a position of power and, boy, does he know how to…

  • Turning Famine into Feasts: Hospitality That Heals (PART II Hospitality Harder…..)

    Alright, let’s talk about Joseph’s wild ride from the pit to the palace, and how it’s a wake-up call for us to be hospitality ninjas at a moment’s notice. You see, when Pharaoh started having dreams about fat cows and skinny cows, it was like a scene straight out of a bizarre cooking show. Nobody…

  • Turning Famine into Feasts: Hospitality That Heals (PART I)

    Alright, folks, gather ’round! Let’s talk about Joseph—the guy who went from pit to palace faster than you can say “dream interpretation.” Picture this: Pharaoh is tossing and turning at night, haunted by visions of seven fat cows munching away, followed by seven scrawny cows who look like they just ran a marathon. His advisors?…

  • Deception at the Table: The Cost of Twisting Hospitality

    Let me tell you a little story about Jacob, Esau, and their family dynamic—talk about a soap opera packed with tension and a whole lot of questionable choices! Rebekah, bless her heart, decided to help Jacob pull off a little family heist by deceiving poor blind Isaac. Instead of creating a warm and loving home,…

  • True Hospitality: Serving Without Strings Attached Lessons from Jacob and Esau

    Let’s talk about Jacob and Esau—two brothers who took sibling rivalry to a whole new level. Picture this: Esau, fresh off a wild day of hunting, stumbles home ready to devour a meal fit for a king. Meanwhile, Jacob, the homebody of the family, has whipped up a stew that smells so good it could…

  • Watering Camels and Scrubbing Floors: The Power of Over-the-Top Hospitality

    Alright, picture this: we’re in Genesis 24, and here comes Rebekah, casually going about her day when she meets Abraham’s servant and, by extension, a herd of thirsty camels. Now, if she was just doing the bare minimum, she could’ve tossed the guy a water bottle and been on her way. But no—Rebekah’s got that…

  • When Hospitality Changes Everything: Lessons from Abraham’s Table

    Alright, so here’s Abraham in Genesis 18, setting the gold standard for hospitality. He’s just minding his business, hanging out under some shade in the heat of the day, when three strangers show up. Instead of a casual “Hey, y’all hungry?” Abraham runs out to meet them. Not a mosey, not a brisk walk—he runs,…

  • When the Storm Hits: How Hospitality Becomes Hope

    Is hospitality always about whipping up a hot dish? Not necessarily. Sometimes, it’s about showing someone the ropes, just like God did with Noah. Instead of serving up a five-course meal, God gave Noah the ultimate survival guide, complete with blueprints for an extended stay on a floating barn. He didn’t just hand Noah supplies…

  • Skip the Raisins, Bring the Ribs: How to Offer Your Best to God and Others

    Imagine rolling up to The Cookouts—smoke billowing, laughter cutting through the humid air, and the grill blazing like it was auditioning for its own reality TV show. For my mom, the 4th of July wasn’t just a holiday—it was the holiday. Forget Christmas trees and stockings; give her fireworks, sparklers, and a sideyard filled with…

  • God’s Garden Plan: Hospitality and Fellowship from the Start

    Growing up, my mom’s garden wasn’t just a patch of dirt—it was her magnum opus. Seriously, Eden might’ve taken one look and thought, “Okay, this is a bit much.” Rows of tomatoes, beans, squash, and everything else you’d need for a Southern feast stretched as far as my childhood eyes could see. And come harvest…

  • “Hospitality Unlocked: How Food Opens Hearts to God”

    Hi, I’m Andrew Gantt, and I firmly believe life’s best moments happen around a table. Whether it’s a wild family dinner where chaos is the main course, a quiet coffee chat with a side of heart-to-heart, or handing a plate of food to someone who didn’t see it coming, hospitality is where the magic happens.…