Firestarter is a way to recognize churches that have ignited ideas and sparked brilliant communication. The hope is that this project will fan the flame and spread those creative embers to other church communicators. Learn more about Firestarter. From my first exposure to Substance Church it was clear that they were the perfect candidate for a Firestarter. This church in Minneapolis is being used by God in some pretty remarkable ways. They currently report that 70% of their church is under 30 years old, 50% of the people there did not go to church prior to attending Substance, and the one…
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Most Topular Stories
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Firestarter: Substance Church
Church Marketing Sucks10 May 2012 | 1:12 pm -
12 Tools I Use to Run My Business
tonymorganlive.com15 May 2012 | 8:28 amLast week I talked about the three strategies I use to avoid getting overwhelmed with everything on my plate. I talked about focusing on priorities, empowering my team and using systems. Fortunately, it’s getting easier and easier to implement those strategies thanks to a toolbox of web apps that are available. I thought you might be interested in seeing the tools I’m currently using for my business. Some of these will also be applicable in ministry settings. In some instances, though, there are better ministry-specific solutions available. Here are… 12 Tools I Use to Run My… -
How to Train Others: Five Lessons From Jesus
Christian Personal Finance14 May 2012 | 10:00 amWhether you hire workers for your own business, train co-workers within the context of your current position, or equip others for ministry in your church, you should consider the following lessons from the Master trainer: 1. Be real during the interview process. If you are salivating over a prospective employee, don’t succumb to the temptation of sugar coating the job. When a teacher of religious law asked Jesus if he could follow him, Jesus replied, “Foxes have dens to live in, and birds have nests, but the Son of Man has no place to even lay his head.” (Matthew 8:20) If you… -
The Power of a Great Story- Caine’s Arcade
Outside The Box Ministry28 Apr 2012 | 12:27 pm“Caine’s Arcade” a short film about a 9 year old, Caine Monroy, who built an elaborate cardboard arcade inside his dad’s used auto part store – is about to have the best day of his life. The film created to tell his story, has gone viral and gotten a lot of attention in the news. You can find out more about Caine’s story here. Do you have a story to tell or know a good story that needs to be told? Caine’s Arcade from Nirvan Mullick on Vimeo. -
National Conference on Preaching Workshop Notes
tonymorganlive.com15 May 2012 | 11:58 amThis afternoon I will be the token non-preacher at the National Conference on Preaching. My “sermon” doesn’t have three points and a poem, but I do think my message will challenge preachers in a way only a non-preacher could challenge them. If you plan to attend my workshop, feel free to download the notes and follow along. I’ve also provided links for additional reading. National Conference on Preaching Workshop Session Title: Finding Your Communications Focus Whether you know it or not, your church is probably bowing down to the perceived power of the “giant inflatable…
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Frankly Speaking
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A failure to communicate
3 May 2012 | 1:31 pmMy friend Larry Carter told me about a recent conversation he had with one of his students. Larry is the President of Great Lakes Christian College and works hard to be accessible to their student body. So, as is often the case, he joined a table of undergrads for lunch a couple weeks back. Larry and I have several things in common. We both love history. We matriculated from the same graduate -
Tom Crean's Postgame Comments
26 Mar 2012 | 12:01 pmI love what Tom Crean had to say after IU's loss to Kentucky in their sweet sixteen game. Fast-forward to 11:55 to hear his comments about his players becoming the spiritual leaders of their families. -
SLCC / Solomon Foundation Partnership
7 Nov 2011 | 11:36 amOn Sunday, November 6th, I made a historic announcement to the South Lansing Christian Church family. I announced a proposed ministry partnership between SLCC and The Solomon Foundation, a Church Extension Fund that assists Christian Churches and Churches of Christ with building, remodeling and refinancing existing church mortgages. This partnership, if approved be the SLCC membership, will -
Spiritual hoarding
29 Aug 2011 | 3:12 pmMrs. Frankly and I confess to a bad habit. We sometimes watch television programs that highlight the maladies of others. Why? We joke to one another that it makes us feel more normal about our own pathologies. Several years ago that program was The Jerry Springer show. Our extended family was going through a particularly difficult season and it was reassuring to know that ours was practically -
Not leaving people
18 Jul 2011 | 3:59 pmPaul, a gentleman that attends our church, is a highly functioning developmentally disabled older adult. He's a great guy. He lives on his own, washes dishes at one of the MSU cafeterias and can't clap in rhythm to save his life. He sought me out immediately after yesterday's announcement at South Lansing Christian Church. Usually Paul buttonholes me before church. We chat about the Spartans,
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Church Marketing Sucks
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Office Hours: Wasting Time on Twitter & Basic Comm Strategy
16 May 2012 | 9:11 amEvery week I hold online office hours and answer questions from folks like you. This week we’ve got a question about how to get a basic Twitter strategy up and running and how important it is to get buy-in from your senior leadership! Take a look and be sure to join me every Wednesday from 2-4 p.m. CDT for online office hours! What’s the least you can do on Twitter and not be a waste of time? I’d love to start a Twitter feed for my church, but I’m afraid I’ll get busy and it’ll quickly go silent. Is it OK if we only tweet once a week? Or is that just lame? -
Power to the Pews: The Invitation
15 May 2012 | 8:19 amThis is part four in our series on guerrilla church marketing, Power to the Pews. If we’re going to get lay people promoting their church we should probably talk about the most obvious way they can do it. It’s kind of scary though. You ready? Invite people to church. It sounds obvious, but nobody is doing it. You can pick your stats on this issue, but they’re all pretty depressing. In his book The Unchurched Next Door, Thom Rainer says that only 2% of church people ever invite someone to church (guilty; though I don’t think any of us will be raising the 98% banner). -
Church Communication Hero: Athanasius
14 May 2012 | 8:06 amNot every church communication hero is a household name. Case in point: Anthanasius. Who? Exactly. He was a fourth-century theologian who argued for the divinity of Christ. His claim to fame (and what’s perhaps a little more well-known)—the Nicene Creed: “I believe in one God, the Father Almighty, Maker of heaven and earth, and of all things visible and invisible. And in one Lord Jesus Christ, the only-begotten Son of God, begotten of the Father before all worlds; God of God, Light of Light, very God of very God; begotten, not made, being of one substance with the Father, by whom… -
Church Marketing Lab: Epic
11 May 2012 | 5:00 amEpic. The word is epically overused these days. However, sometimes the Church Marketing Lab features compositions that accurately depict some of the amazing stories in the Bible. For example, user cshehee posted a sermon series graphic about the story of Jonah. Juliet Towner‘s series graphic, “Where Is God?” also has a bold feel. And, we can’t forget Colleen Tunis‘ epic message series graphic about vampires. Have you ever created an epic-feeling series graphic? If so, we’d love to see it over in the Lab. -
Firestarter: Substance Church
10 May 2012 | 1:12 pmFirestarter is a way to recognize churches that have ignited ideas and sparked brilliant communication. The hope is that this project will fan the flame and spread those creative embers to other church communicators. Learn more about Firestarter. From my first exposure to Substance Church it was clear that they were the perfect candidate for a Firestarter. This church in Minneapolis is being used by God in some pretty remarkable ways. They currently report that 70% of their church is under 30 years old, 50% of the people there did not go to church prior to attending Substance, and the one…
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Greg Atkinson
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Reflecting on One Year at My New Church
14 May 2012 | 6:40 pmOn April 1st of this year, I celebrated one year of service and ministry at the Forest Park Carthage Campus as Campus Pastor. I can’t even begin to share with you all I’ve learned and all God has done this past year. When I arrived a year ago, the church was unhealthy, struggling, morale was low and attendance was around 200. God has moved, I’ve made some key changes (including hiring new staff) and we are seeing a lot of momentum. Morale is high. On Easter of this year, I challenged our people to invite people in their circles of influence to come to church. I wanted us to… -
What I’m Listening to This Christmas
4 Nov 2011 | 4:38 pmEach year I talk with worship leader friends around the country and find out what they are jamming to this time of year as they prepare to lead worship in December. Of course, Chris Tomlin’s album “Glory in the Highest” is great. At my church last year we did some songs from that as well as some Christmas originals from North Point. This year there’s new Christmas music from David Crowder Band and Matthew West, but what I stumbled across through an app on my iPad called Discovr Music is Jadon Lavik’s new Christmas album. I love it and I think you will to. This… -
A Classic Done With Excellence and Creativity
31 Aug 2011 | 4:18 pmI’ve known Pastor Steven Furtick since he was in high school in South Carolina. He was a passionate leader in a local youth group when I was in college at Charleston Southern University. His church that he planted a few years ago has exploded to over 8000 people in worship. Their band and worship music is amazing. Here’s a taste of how they opened their services this past weekend. Worship leaders: This is the kind of creativity and innovation I’m looking for. This is what I mean by breathing new life into an old hymn. Watch and enjoy! HERE is the link in case you having… -
When Looking for a Worship Pastor…
4 Aug 2011 | 6:50 pmI’m absolutely loving life in Southwest Missouri! I know I’ve neglected my blog over the last 3 months since I started my new role as a Campus Pastor at Forest Park, but it was a sacrifice that I had to make to keep my sanity. With settling into a new city/moving, new job, the tornado/disaster relief and the work of ministry – it’s been all I could do to occasionally blog for our church’s website and even that has suffered. I hope to get back to regular updates soon. So, I’m putting together my team here in Carthage, Missouri – a great small town… -
Where to Begin?
19 Jun 2011 | 8:41 pmFriends, forgive me. You know I’ve been blogging every day for over 5 years. You may not have put it together, but the church where I moved to and went on staff with is based in Jopiln, MO. Yes – the Joplin that you’ve been watching on TV and hearing about from the devastating F5 tornado that hit on Sunday, May 22nd and changed our life forever. I’ve been working 16 hour days and have been living in Joplin (though my campus is 10 miles away in Carthage) since the storm happened. I’ve dealt with death, destruction, devastation and also seen some amazing God things…
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churchrelevance.com
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Nancy Duarte on How to Tell a Great Story
11 May 2012 | 9:12 amAt Catalyst Dallas, Nancy Duarte of Duarte Design discussed how to tell a great story. We are all born with the desire to do something that changes the world. You can have a bad idea and communicate it well, and it will be adopted. You can have a great idea and communicate it poorly, and nothing will happen. So how can we communicate the greatest story well? Establish a likeable hero. I am not the hero; the audience is the hero. The presenter is to come alongside the hero and get them unstuck. Encounter a roadblock. Emerge transformed. Joseph Campell traveled the world to discover common… -
Matt Chandler on the Importance of Affection for Jesus Christ
10 May 2012 | 8:33 pmAt Catalyst Dallas, Matt Chandler of The Village Church (Flower Mound, TX) discussed the importance of affection for Christ. My (Matt) hope for you through this talk is a greater affection for Jesus Christ. I am drawn to passages that seem intimate with God. “As a deer panteth for the water so my soul longs for you.” That isn’t friendship. David’s soul longed after Jesus. In Philippians 3:10, Paul says, “that I might know him.” Augustine said, “How sweet all at once it was for me to be rid of those fruitless joys which I had once feared to lose! You… -
Jud Wilhite on the Roller Coaster of Ministry
10 May 2012 | 3:25 pmAt Catalyst Dallas, Jud Wilhite of Central Christian Church (Henderson, NV) discussed the roller coaster of ministry and leadership. Maybe things are going great for your ministry and then a team member has a moral failing. Maybe the offering report tanks. And then you start thinking… Maybe I’m messing up. Maybe I’m not hearing God’s voice. How do we stay grounded in the ups and downs of ministry? In 2 Corinthians 5, Paul says God knows when we are sincere. So don’t focus on creating a ministry worth bragging about. Focus on having a faithful and sincere heart. -
Katie Davis on God’s Love in Every Moment
10 May 2012 | 2:36 pmAt Catalyst Dallas, Katie Davis shared her story of moving to Uganda, becoming the adoptive mother of 13 children and creating a child sponsorship program that cares for 620 children. Katie says adoption has taught her so much about the Father’s heart. Adoption is an incredible way to look at a child that wasn’t originally your own but love them as though they were your biological child. God is like that. He love you completely and makes you part of His family. I (Katie) want to always focus on the outcome and the goals accomplished, but God is also in the everyday and in the… -
Jon Acuff on Finding Your Identity
10 May 2012 | 11:19 amAt Catalyst Dallas, Jon Acuff discussed finding your identity. Growing up it always weirded me out that sometimes we don’t use our best creativity to celebrate the Creator. We would make t-shirts that would play off of popular brands like Coca-Cola and Burger King. And so I (Jon) started a very popular humor blog about the funny things Christians do. I ran into something I never expected – haters. I learned that haters only get louder when you do something that matters. But we are so accustomed to act like critics matter and then focus on all the bad things. We use critic math…
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djchuang.com
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My Random Life: A Work In Progress
7 May 2012 | 10:43 pmI’m authoring a book about episodes in my life and thought I’d share the work in progress while it’s in progress. The idea of the book is to honestly share about (some of the) struggles in my life in a transparent and vulnerable way so that people, especially Asian Americans, can know that they’re not alone in their struggles. I also intend for this to be an example of how to come out from hiding behind shame and to finding courage to be vulnerable, getting healing, and helping others. Though I wasn’t able to list it on Amazon as a free ebook (but I did list my… -
a List of Churches on Pinterest
2 May 2012 | 9:16 amWhile there are articles (here, here, here, here, there) that give great ideas for how a church could be using Pinterest, right now it’s kinda elusive to find churches actually actively using Pinterest. Aside: I myself have 624 pins and my dear wife has over 2,127 pins. Here’s a list of churches on Pinterest I’d found, with a current count of pins when this list was compiled (please do add more) :: http://pinterest.com/marshill/ Mars Hill Church (577 pins) http://pinterest.com/foresthillpcusa/ Forest Hill Church (477 pins) http://pinterest.com/uuca Unitarian Universalist… -
What’s Next in Church Innnovations
1 May 2012 | 10:38 am“What’s Next? A Look Over the Next Hill for Innovative Churches and Their Leaders” is a new mini-book by Dave Travis of Leadership Network. The book appears to be a report or white paper that was written to inform executive-type leaders of larger churches and that same kind of intel’ is now being made available to the public. And this kind of insider info may well be a glimpse of things to come, in some way like a self-fulfilling prophecy. I was very eager to read this 64-pager (print edition) and devoured it all in 1 sitting. Dave notes that innovations could happen… -
No One Turns Down the Blessing – e-book and contest
24 Apr 2012 | 12:03 amCharles Wear has published his faith journey as an e-book on Kindle = “No One Turns Down the Blessing.” It’s a fascinating read of an ex-pastor’s faith adventure with many unexpected and unconventional turns. Here’s what people are saying: “You’re about to read a dangerous book…” — Steve Sjogren, author, Conspiracy of Kindness, Kindness.com. “Can our churches have an impact on the community around them? What does it look like to be Jesus to a group of skateboarders? In his first e-book, Charlie Wear–ex-pastor, editor,… -
HopeMob.org launches to help people one at a time
19 Apr 2012 | 11:05 pmIs this a great idea or what?! People coming together online and raising money to help one person (or a group of people) with a specific need and in a matter of hours or a few days, that’s take care of via the power of crowdsourcing over the internet! Called HopeMob, this could become the kickstarter of fundraising to meet a need. Simple. Plus, the incorporating of game mechanics (aka gamification) could make this quite an engaging online community. The founder Shaun King was interviewed by Soledad O’Brien this morning on CNN Starting Point. Another thing that’s amazing is…
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| Rhett Smith:. Transitioning Life's Journey - Reflections on Writing, Therapy, and Faith
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How Anxiety is The Greatest Motivator for One Author and Blogger
14 May 2012 | 4:00 amToday I asked author and blogger Renee Fisher to share with us about how anxiety has transformed her life and motivated her to continually pursue God. You can learn more about Renee here, as well as following her on Twitter @devotionaldiva — and don’t forget to cruise over and check out her books Not Another Dating Book and Faithbook of Jesus: Connecting with Jesus Daily. The Greatest Motivator There is nothing else on this planet that motivates me more than my sufferings. Every time I experience the anxiety that plagues me, my immediate reaction is to run! My body tenses up and I… -
When Couples Fight — The Argument Is Rarely About the “Issue”
3 May 2012 | 4:00 am[image by EBKauai] It probably took me a good 5-6 years of marriage before I realized that the fights my wife Heather and I were having were rarely ever about the issue that we were fighting about. The fight is just the top of the surface, or as I like to tell couples — the top of the funnel. But as you enter the funnel and dive deeper you realize there is more to the fight than the supposed content a couple is arguing about. For example, when I thought Heather and I were fighting about too many late nights working (hers and mine) — it wasn’t really about that. In this case,… -
It’s Impossible That You Aren’t Communicating In Your Relationship!
12 Apr 2012 | 4:00 amOften in the midst of a therapy session a couple will frustratingly declare to me, “We never communicate.” The truth is that they are communicating all the time, but they just don’t like the message their partner is sending them. If my wife decides to get up when I’m talking to her, walk into our room, and slams the door — she is communicating to me. I just don’t like that message. In the very short and helpful book, Family Ties That Bind: A Self-Help Guide to Change Through Family of Origin Therapy, Dr. Ronald W. Richardson says this: “What most… -
Anxiety Makes Humanity Unique
29 Mar 2012 | 4:00 amEric Chinski at the Paris Review, has a great interview with Brian Christian, author of The Most Human Human: What Talking with Computers Teaches Us About What It Means to Be Alive. The article is a fascinating look at the interaction between humans, computers and AI (artificial intelligence)…and a probing look at what makes us human. Brian won ‘The Most Human Human’ award…which is basically this: The Most Human Human is an award given out each year at the Loebner Prize, the artificial intelligence (AI) community’s most controversial and anticipated annual… -
Disabilities: “Jesus loves me just as I am”
21 Mar 2012 | 4:00 amIn the previous few weeks I had the privilege of being interviewed on the topic of anxiety in church ministry by Dr. Grcevich over at his blog Church4EveryChild. He runs a ministry called Key Ministry which aims to help kids with hidden disabilities and their families, connect to a church community. Over the last couple of weeks I’ve encountered more and more stories (probably because my interview opened my eyes more to the topic) of families who have children with both hidden and non-hidden disabilities, struggling to get connected and feel a sense of belonging in a church and its…
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Jesus Dust
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Alan Hirsch on Incarnational Mission
16 May 2012 | 6:50 amMission is the "what" but incarnation is the "how." Too much talk about the centrality of mission to ecclesiology and discipleship comes off as imperialistic and colonizing because it fails to reflect the fact that, as Alan Hirsch points out, when God's mission landed on planet earth in Jesus Christ, he stayed incognito for thirty years. What if churches were as committed to incarnational -
Whose Mission? What Church? Hoekendijk, Blauw, and the WCC on the Missionary Church
7 May 2012 | 1:16 pmThis post explores the way the church and mission are related and developed in three documents written between 1951 and 1967: “The Church in Missionary Thinking” by J. C. Hoekendijk (1952), The Missionary Nature of the Church by Johannes Blauw (1962), and The Church for Others, published by the World Council of Churches (1967). In conclusion, I offer reflections on the resonant and discordant -
Making Christians: Conversion as Skill Acquisition
15 Apr 2012 | 8:38 amChristians are made, not born. ~ Tertullian, 3rd century (Apol, xviii) If Tertullian is right, the question follows: how are Christians “made”? The specific approach to this question in this post looks at the dynamics and dimensions of religious conversion, as well as theories of skill acquisition that correlate to an understanding of Christianity as a way of life. <!-- /* Font Definitions -
Formation of the Moral Self by J. van der Ven: Summary
10 Apr 2012 | 9:12 amJohannes A. van der Ven’s Formation of the Moral Self arises as a response to the widespread concerns about deterioration of the moral fabric of Western society. The questions which reveal this instability include: What is good? What is right? What is wise? What is purposive? Van der Ven’s intention is not to offer definitive resolution to these questions, or to quell the tumult of concern, but -
Mark Scandrette Video on Missional Community
28 Mar 2012 | 7:12 pmMark Scandrette is the founder and executive director of ReIMAGINE, an innovative organization in San Francisco that facilitates a center for Spiritual Formation and fuels initiatives integrating spiritual formation, community building, the arts, and social action. (If you think he looks weird, think of him as a missionary to an exotic tribe.) In this video, he shares his insights into
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Eric Bryant - Blog
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Interview with Charles Lee (Today at 3pm CST)!
16 May 2012 | 7:47 amJoin us today, May 16th, for an interview with Charles Lee from 3-3:30pm CST! Charles founded the Ideation Consultancy, Inc., an idea agency that specializes in turning good ideas into remarkable brands by developing innovative business strategies & infrastructure, strong brand presence, memorable visual identities & design, creative marketing, new media PR strategies, and web presence. He is the author of the new book: Good Idea. Now What? How to Move Ideas to Execution. Three options to participate include the following: 1. Sign up for a free Spreecast account and join us online… -
M 2012 Conference (Sept. in Detroit)
15 May 2012 | 2:59 pmI will be joining a great lineup of speakers and leaders at M 2012 this fall in Detroit. From the website: “M is an annual experience created by the International Mentoring Network. The experience takes place over 2 days in Motown and serves as a positive and future-oriented rendezvous for Christ-following leaders. The words adventure, exploration, and voyages describe this year’s theme. M is designed to expand your iMagination, Mobilize your team for Mission, and Make our future More HuMan. Registration to M is open to all.” Some of the other speakers include: Erwin McManus-… -
Interview with Kenny Conley (Wed., 5/23 at 2pm CST)!
15 May 2012 | 2:27 amJoin us on Wednesday, May 23rd for an interview with Kenny Conley at 2:00pm CST! Kenny serves as the NextGen Pastor at Gateway Church in Austin, TX. He is the voice behind Childrens Ministry Online and helped launch the Illuminate Conference in 2011. He is one of the co-authors of The Eric Trap: 5 Things Every Leader Has To Get Right. Three options to participate include the following: 1. Sign up for a free Spreecast account and join us online here. You can chat and/or even join us on camera. 2. Watch the interview without joining Spreecast. Just email your questions to me at… -
StrengthsFinder & Spiritual Gifts Workshops in Austin
14 May 2012 | 5:30 pmJoin us for one or both of these great opportunities to connect and discover your uniqueness! The StrengthsFinder Workshop is for anyone – no matter where you are in their spiritual journey. The Spiritual Gifts Workshop is for those who want to deepen their faith. Both will have next steps which include ways to connect, grow, and serve. Click on either of the below links to find out more and for the link to RSVP. Be sure to email at the address above if you have any questions! Strengths Finder in SouthEast Austin (Acton Academy) May 19th 10-11:30am Spiritual Gifts at the McNeil campus… -
Choose Your Own Adventure? by Debbie Bryant
13 May 2012 | 7:59 amMy beautiful wife, Debbie, wrote a post for a mutual friend of ours. In honor of her on this Mother’s Day, I thought I would include her insights on my site today: “Following God is an adventure, to be sure. Fortunately or unfortunately, depending on one’s perspective, it is not however a “choose your own adventure”. We often think we would like it to be such. If we had God’s power at our disposal along with our dreams ready to fashion into reality….oh the adventure we could imagine and create. Secretly, this is what we hope. Yes. This is just what…
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Kindle Prayers
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Peace so I can get through a toxic work environment
15 May 2012 | 11:05 pmI have a job that is literally making me sick. It's a part-time job that requires of me full-time commitment and hours for no extra pay. I'm scared to leave it because jobs are so scarce. I'm also scared to bring my complaints to human resources because I know my boss will retaliate and has the power to make sure I never get another job in our field. But it's hurting my family life. It's taking away from opportunities elsewhere for me. It's the only thing I think about. And I'm getting sick and very depressed. I'd welcome any prayer folks might want to offer. Peace to you all. -
Pray for me!
14 May 2012 | 1:11 pmHi my name is Crystal Lashauna Robinson and I'm a 18 year old female.. I was diagnosed with a blood clot in my lungs Jan. Of this year... A prophet told me that I will surely die. But i know the devil is a lie.. I know Jesus and i know he has the power to turn this all around. I know just like the song standing in the need by John p kee says when the doctor says no Jesus can still say yess!!! Pray for me and keep me in your prays god bless. -
Young Couple Face Tubular Pregnancy
13 May 2012 | 9:14 amPlease join us in praying for C. & S., 2 of our faithful core members and volunteers at Connection Life Church. Newly pregnant, S. experienced great pain yesterday evening and ended up going to the ER. They quickly discovered that she had a tubular pregnancy and required surgery immediately. The surgery went well but this young couple will need much prayer and encouragement over the next few weeks! -
May the Lord protect me and wipe-out my mistake
12 May 2012 | 10:35 pmI made a mistake out of absent-mindedness. Please let it disappear. May the Lord have pity on me and help me out of this ,with a clean slate and nothing on it to show my error. Please help me to not be absent-minded again. Please protect me from all. Let this pass over with no hitches and no problems. May the Lord blow his cleansing breath and take away this darkness. Please let me come out of this without needing to worry anymore. Please save me Lord and have pity on me. -
God's protection over me, my life and my employment
12 May 2012 | 8:59 pmLet God protect me. Let no words that I do not want to hear, or words that I don't want to be said (or to have been said) come out of anyone's mouths. May I abide in the shadow of the wings of the Lord. May the Lord answer me in my distress. May what worries me disappear and never come up again. Amen.
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Church Forward
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When Collective Vision is Critical in a Crisis
20 Apr 2012 | 2:33 pmOne of the most difficult calls in leadership is deciding how many people to pull into important, timely decisions during a crisis. Decisive leaders tend to react swiftly, making unilateral decisions. Some leaders are made to guide people through emergencies, taking the bull by the horns (or the bull horn) and charging forward so everyone else can follow. Not all crises, however, necessitate this style of leadership. For example, a recent WSJ article discussed how two cities—Joplin, MO and Tuscaloosa, AL—are recovering from devastating tornados. Both experienced horrible disasters. Both… -
The Trap of Availability
23 Feb 2012 | 12:17 pmNothing traps you in the urgency of the moment like availability. A leader that is always available never has the time to lead. He or she simply becomes an order taker for the next person who happens to stop by. Required office hours create a cage, a punch clock prison. Or the other extreme—when all your followers are your gatekeepers, there are no fences. Your life becomes a field of chaos. I recognize the above hyperbole. But perhaps you have felt the teeth of this trap from time to time. For introverts, constant availability is exhausting. For extroverts, it is enlivening but entirely… -
The Leader of the Artists
13 Jan 2012 | 8:13 pmCreativity is not necessarily art. Art requires creativity, but not all creative processes produce art. I like to consider myself creative (but not an artist). As a researcher, my creativity is different than an artist’s creativity. My spreadsheets are no works of art. I doubt they will ever be displayed in a museum, or in my church’s heritage room for that matter. But I do take pride in creatively communicating statistics in ways people can grasp. So an artist I am not, even in my most inspired spreadsheet moment. But we do have several artists in our church, and leading them requires a… -
Five Leadership Resolutions for Your Followers
9 Jan 2012 | 2:08 pmNew Year’s resolutions are often self-centered; it’s understandable. Successful people often reflect on who they are. They try to be more self-aware. They desire to develop themselves. So, good leaders often make resolutions involving individual goals, desires and objectives. Many leaders have resolve — the determination to see a goal and achieve it. Too often these goals involve what individual leaders can do on their own. By the nature of their roles, however, leaders have people around them – teams, subordinates and followers – who are necessary components of success. Allow me to… -
The New Geography of Megapolitan Communities
9 Dec 2011 | 5:56 pmUSA Today recently published a graphic that grabbed my attention. As shown below, this graphic reveals what some demographers predict will become “megapolitan” communities. While I might draw the lines differently on some of the physical boundaries of these communities, the concept of megapolitan areas is fascinating to me. The article (which reports on this book) defines these megapolitan areas as “having at least one metropolitan area of 2 million people by 2040 that’s connected — via commuting patterns — to at least one other metro area of more than 250,000 people. A…
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ChuckWarnock.com
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Podcast: A Mother’s Sacrifice
15 May 2012 | 8:50 amThe Bible features several accounts of mothers, but my favorite Old Testament story about mothers is the story of Hannah and Samuel. Found in 1 Samuel 1, Hannah’s story recounts her willingness to give her son, Samuel, back to the Lord. Samuel, in turn, heard the voice of God calling him. As a result Samuel became the spiritual leader of Israel, speaking to the people on behalf of God. Samuel would be used of God to anoint Saul as king. Then, when Saul failed to serve God, Samuel anointed David as king of all Israel. My point is that the sacrifice of those who shape our lives, including… -
Sermon: Sacrifice Demands Responsibility
14 May 2012 | 8:23 amOn Mothers’ Day, I delivered the chapel message at Hargrave Military Academy. The 800-seat chapel was filled with cadets and their families on a beautiful Sunday morning. Sacrifice Demands Responsibility 1 Samuel 1:27-28 NIV 27 I prayed for this child, and the Lord has granted me what I asked of him. 28 So now I give him to the Lord. For his whole life he will be given over to the Lord.” And he worshiped the Lord there. Mothers In The Bible The Bible, as I’m sure you know, contains the stories of several mothers. First, there is Eve, whose name literally means “mother… -
Podcast: Worshipping and Doubting
29 Apr 2012 | 8:09 pmIn Matthew 28:16-20, we usually miss verse 17: “When they saw him, they worshiped him; but some doubted.” What did the 11 disciples doubt during this post-resurrection appearance of Jesus? Did they doubt that he had been resurrected? Or that he was the Messiah, the Son of God? Or did they doubt themselves and their ability to carry on after Jesus left them? The interesting point in this is that some of the same disciples who worshipped him, also doubted. What can we learn from the disciples’ struggle in the aftermath of the resurrection? Here’s the link… -
Podcast: If You Love Jesus
23 Apr 2012 | 10:36 amIn John 21:15-19, Jesus asks Peter three times, “Do you love me?” Most Bible scholars agree that Jesus is giving Peter the opportunity to atone for his betrayal of Jesus during Jesus’ arrest. But what does this mean for us today? How do we know if we love Jesus? In this passage we find the simple evidence of our love for Jesus. During these Sundays between Easter and Pentecost, I am departing from the revised common lectionary to explore several of the post-resurrection appearances of Jesus. Here’s the link to the podcast, If You Love Jesus. Filed under: John,… -
Podcast: Living in Light of Easter
16 Apr 2012 | 8:45 amNow that Easter Sunday is behind us, what do we do next? How do we as followers of Jesus live in light of Easter’s message of hope and joy? In John 20:19-31 we read the story of Jesus’ first encounter with his disciples after his resurrection. This account is unique to John’s gospel and gives us insight into what Jesus intended for his disciples to do in light of his resurrection. The words of Jesus to his followers have implications for those of us who live in light of Easter, too. Here’s the link:…
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Prodigal Magazine
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Telling the Dead Man’s Story
16 May 2012 | 4:00 amEditor’s Note: This story is written by staff writer Matt Appling, who blogs about church (and other things) several times a week over HERE. Do you “like” Prodigal on Facebook yet? What are you waiting for?? This room is full of complete strangers. And most of these strangers are much older than I am. They are wearing their best suits and dresses. I’ve done my best to blend in. The air is permeated with a somber feeling as many of them wipe tears from their eyes. Except for me. I am the only person in the room who has not shed one tear. In fact, my emotions at… -
I’m Not Fine, But I Will Be
15 May 2012 | 4:00 amEditor’s Note: Today’s post is by staff writer Tony Alicea who blogs over HERE. If you don’t already subscribe to Prodigal Magazine to get posts in your inbox or reader, what are you waiting for??? Click HERE now. “What’s wrong?” she asked. Immediately I responded with my typical answer, “Nothing.” But she knew it was something. Her calm, hazel eyes pierced through my disingenuous reply. We were going to have to talk about it and I wasn’t ready to go there. Six months of marriage and she could already read me like a book. The problem was… -
Five Ways To Be A Better Character In Your Story
14 May 2012 | 4:00 amEditor’s Note: Today’s post is by Prodigal President Darrell Vesterfelt who is committed to helping people tell and live good stories. If you don’t already follow him on Twitter, you can do so by clicking HERE. Speaking of which, you should also follow Prodigal on Twitter. If you read Prodigal every day, you know that we are committed to telling stories. In fact, you probably know that we believe good stories have the ability to change the world. Here’s the thing. In order to tell a good story, first you have to be living one. How do you do that? Good question. The… -
Motherhood: The Power of A Kitchen Table
11 May 2012 | 4:00 amEditor’s Note: Today’s post is from staff writer, Krisi Johnson. If you don’t already, make sure you follow Krisi on Twitter. Also, are you already a Prodigal subscriber? If not, make sure you become one by clicking here. My mom is not from Norway. She just married into the clan of mid-west Lutheran farmers, and out of love and commitment to my Dad, she was determined to become an expert Lefsa maker. So we spent hours watching the VHS “How to make Lefsa” and giggled over the plump farm wife’s little phrases and northern accent. I can remember delicately rolling out… -
Motherhood: Word From A New Mother
10 May 2012 | 4:00 amEditor’s Note: This is the fourth in our series called “Motherhood” which we are featuring in honor of Mother’s Day this week. Today’s post is from writer, blogger and new mother Kelsey Williams. Do you follow us on Facebook? Come like our page to stay up to date with all of our posts. I gave birth to my first child, a girl named Rooney Jane, two and a half months ago. And nothing–from the delivery to seeing her for the first time to breastfeeding to how it has affected our marriage–has gone as I expected. We found out pretty quickly that my husband,…
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Worship Ministry Catalyst
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Worship Ministry Catalyst Podcast – Episode 0109 – Hand Signals, guiding the band during worship
16 May 2012 | 10:00 amIN this week’s episode, we talk about having multiple services in different locations. David’s church is just a few weeks into a change which includes two simultaneous services. David & Kevin talk about some of the issues that David and his church have faced. TWITTER: @wmcatalyst FACEBOOK: http://www.facebook.com/worshipministrycatalyst VOICEMAIL: 360 818 – 4339 Email: david@worshipministrycatalyst.com or kevin@worshipministrycatalyst.com Don’t forget you can subscribe to our podcast through iTunes as well. Show Notes: -
Worship Ministry Catalyst Podcast – Episode 0108 – Multisite Worship
7 May 2012 | 10:00 amIN this week’s episode, we talk about having multiple services in different locations. David’s church is just a few weeks into a change which includes two simultaneous services. David & Kevin talk about some of the issues that David and his church have faced. TWITTER: @wmcatalyst FACEBOOK: http://www.facebook.com/worshipministrycatalyst VOICEMAIL: 360 818 – 4339 Email: david@worshipministrycatalyst.com or kevin@worshipministrycatalyst.com Don’t forget you can subscribe to our podcast through iTunes as well. Show Notes: -
Worship Ministry Catalyst Podcast – Episode 0107 – Easter Season 2012
24 Apr 2012 | 7:04 pm(Preface: Sorry for the audio glitches – we were using some new technology this week, and had some time code issues…) This week David and Kevin talk about what they are doing for Easter, unfortunately it comes after Easter so, you’ll have to use it to help you for next year! TWITTER: @wmcatalyst FACEBOOK: http://www.facebook.com/worshipministrycatalyst VOICEMAIL: 360 818 – 4339 Email: david@worshipministrycatalyst.com or kevin@worshipministrycatalyst.com Don’t forget you can subscribe to our podcast through iTunes as well. Show Notes: -
Worship Ministry Catalyst Podcast – Episode 0106 – Technological Adances and woes
26 Mar 2012 | 6:46 pm(Preface: Sorry for the audio glitches – we were using some new technology this week, and had some time code issues…) In this week’s episode of the Worship Ministry Catalyst Podcast, David and Kevin talk about some new technology, some advances of our own Kevin Kruse and some woes that come in other areas of Technology! TWITTER: @wmcatalyst FACEBOOK: http://www.facebook.com/worshipministrycatalyst VOICEMAIL: 360 818 – 4339 Email: david@worshipministrycatalyst.com or kevin@worshipministrycatalyst.com Don’t forget you can subscribe to our podcast through iTunes as… -
Worship Ministry Catalyst Podcast – Episode 0105 – Setting Goals
8 Feb 2012 | 5:00 pmIn this week’s episode of the Worship Ministry Catalyst Podcast, David and Kevin talk about setting goals. We discuss the basic principles and the premise that if we never do the work of setting goals, we’ll keep doing the same things over and over and over. Whether you’re new or have been listening for quite some time, we would love to hear form you! Connect with us on twitter (@wmcatalyst) and facebook (http://www.facebook.com/pages/Worship-Ministry-Catalyst/142395799134634.) Don’t forget you can call and leave a voicemail message to be played on the show. Area Code…
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Outside The Box Ministry
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The Power of a Great Story- Caine’s Arcade
28 Apr 2012 | 12:27 pm“Caine’s Arcade” a short film about a 9 year old, Caine Monroy, who built an elaborate cardboard arcade inside his dad’s used auto part store – is about to have the best day of his life. The film created to tell his story, has gone viral and gotten a lot of attention in the news. You can find out more about Caine’s story here. Do you have a story to tell or know a good story that needs to be told? Caine’s Arcade from Nirvan Mullick on Vimeo. -
Internet Evangelism Day 2012 Resources
15 Apr 2012 | 6:20 pmThe amazing growth of digital media is transforming the world and changing the way we communicate and even think. There are growing opportunities for digital evangelism. Internet Evangelism Day is an annual focus day, scheduled for 29 April 2012. It creates a space for churches, ministries and individual Christians to investigate the many options for sharing the good news online. The Internet Evangelism Day website is also a year-round online resource guide to help Christians understand these varied opportunities. Topics covered include: how to build a church website that is ‘outsider… -
Homeless for the Holidays Film
22 Nov 2010 | 9:32 amI had the opportunity to watch “Homeless for the Holidays” a film based on a true story about an executive that falls from the corporate ladder and finds it difficult to find work. He takes a very unpleasant job, but when the bills begin to pile up he soon realizes that his family is about to become homeless by Christmas. I was provided a free copy of the film so that I could review it. I was not obligated to write this review in any certain way. This powerful story will move you to evaluate what you really have and what really matters. I was drawn into the story and what… -
Visual Media Tools For Ministry
22 Nov 2010 | 9:06 amIt has been a while since I blogged. This has been a busy and exciting year. Since most of my time now is spent in producing films for ministry use, I have decided to write more about that subject. I also want to provide reviews for faith based films and other visual media tools. It is my hope that this will be beneficial to those who are looking for new opportunities and tools for ministry. -
Developing An Idea for a Ministry Tool and Strategy
30 Jan 2010 | 3:35 pmThe “Idea” is the first step in developing a ministry tool and strategy. You probably have a lot of ideas for new tools and strategies, but are they good ideas. I have found the key to a good idea is identifying a need that the idea can help. When it comes to ministry most individuals, churches or ministries are looking for a ministry tool or strategy to help solve a need. If you create a tool and strategy that really isn’t needed then it won’t get used. Once I was part of a team that created a CD-Rom that was complex, but very postmodern. The project took a…
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Christian Web Trends Blog
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My Down Time, Your Blogging Opportunity
11 May 2012 | 1:04 pmYou may have noticed new blog posts have been hard to come by lately here on Christian Web Trends. I was already posting less frequently over the first three months of this year in an attempt to devote more time to some other projects. Now we are short staff and I am trying to keep up with not only my own 50+ hour a week responsibilities but another 30+ hours of work I don’t do particularly well or quickly. So, until we hire the Web Apps Developing Linchpin we’re looking for, I will probably only blog about a week. This provides the perfect opportunity, though, to… -
Are You a Content Consumer, Creator or Collaborator?
8 May 2012 | 8:39 amI read a blog post by Scott Ginsberg yesterday titled Are you a Consumer or a Creator? In the post he writes, Lately, I’ve grown bored with consumption… Now, I’d rather write a book than read one. Now, I’d rather publish a podcast than listen to public radio. In Where Good Ideas Come From, Steve Johnson says, “When ideas form in this hunch state, they need to collide with other hunches.” In other words, great ideas don’t take place in isolation. My best ideas happen when I learn about other people’s ideas and those ideas combine with my ideas and help to refine and… -
14 Digital Ideas to Share with Your Church on Internet Evangelism Day
26 Apr 2012 | 2:01 pmInternet Evangelism Day is set for 29 April, as the culmination of Digital Outreach Month. IE Day is both an annual focus day and year-round resource guide for digital outreach. It has always been our suggestion that churches (or other Christian groups) build a digital evangelism focus into their events or service sheets on or near that day. In previous years, although this could be an eye-opening challenge, actual involvement in digital evangelism or ministry was not something that many church members were likely to take up. The options were somewhat limited, time-consuming, and needed… -
New Site, New Graphics – April 2012 Partnership Newsletter
26 Apr 2012 | 1:24 pmJust firing off a quick note here with the latest news for those of you who participate in our partnership/affiliate program. (If you’re not a partner yet, take a look at how you help us help your friends and website visitors achieve their mission online and earn some cash in the process.) 1) New Site. At the beginning of the year, we launched the new OurChurch.Com website. We designed it to Start With Why, meaning the first and most important thing we tell people is why we do what we do – to help Christian organizations achieve their mission online. We also designed it to… -
12 Ways to Share Your Faith Online with Instagram
25 Apr 2012 | 9:01 amInstagram is mobile app that allows users to take a photo, apply a digital filter to it, and then share it on a variety of social networking services, including Instagram’s own, where “followers” can “like” and comment on those images. It was named “App o f the Year” for 2011 by Apple and recently exceeded 30 million accounts. For its first 18 months, Instagram was only available for the iPhone and iPad, but earlier this month they released an Android version. Shortly after that, they were purchased by Facebook for a whopping $1 billion. While Instagram is often…
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Goodmanson
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Moving Beyond Stories
27 Apr 2012 | 1:18 pmAn article that I wrote that is at Church Marketing Sucks, it begins: What is the objective of church communication? Of using story? What is the role of the church communicator? Last month I had the privilege of tackling these topics for a group of church communicators primarily from large churches in Southern California. Often the larger the organization, the more dangerous the tendency to slip into pragmatism. All of us like to get things done, but it adds a layer of complexity when we seek to do this through others in a church setting. Over the years I’ve failed in this way in numerous… -
Biola Digital Ministry Conference
27 Apr 2012 | 1:14 pmOne of the conferences I enjoy the most is the Biola Digital Ministry Conference. Over the years it’s gone by many different names, such as the Christian Web Conference but this year there is more clarity around the conference than ever before. If you are in the digital ministry space this is a must attend event. Plus, this year we are launching an amazing event, the Hack-a-thon Competition. Digital Ministry Hack-a-thon The Digital Ministry Hack-a-thon is a two-day team competition designed to deepen your faith and give you an opportunity to use your skills for the kingdom of God. The… -
Churches turn to Facebook, Web, high-tech outreach
19 Apr 2012 | 12:58 pmI had an opportunity to be interviewed and quoted in a USA Today article on how the church is using technology. It begins: Find the church by going online — the 21st-century version of sighting a steeple on the horizon. Beyond their website, Christ Fellowship has a Facebook page to give it a friendly presence in social media. You can download the worship program by scanning their customized-with-a-cross QR code. The worship services are streamed online from their Internet campus — with live chat running so you can share spiritual insights in real time. Afterward, says senior Pastor… -
Church Communication & Media – 77 Event
9 Mar 2012 | 3:43 pmJoin me and a group of thought leaders at the Communication/Media 77 Event in Huntington Beach next week. In addition to actionable take-away plans, you will hear each presenter give a “TED style” talk on a thought provoking area. I’ll be hitting a topic I hope is thought-provoking, including touching on ”Why STORY misses the point in communication” and “why Church Communicators are setup for failure and how their role needs to be re-imagined.” See you there! -
CLA Ministry Internet & Technology Summit 2012
23 Feb 2012 | 6:25 pmJoin MonkDev this April at the CLA Ministry Internet & Technology Summit 2012 where we will lead the following sessions: Build the Right Social Media Strategy for Your Ministry (ITI Full Day Intensive) This session offers unprecedented access to social media experts that will help you determine how to craft a social media strategy for your organization. The session will include creating a one-page ministry strategic plan and learning from the best practices from 100+ ministries in the Excellence in Online Ministry research. After attending this session you will be able to: 1) Implement…
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Ron Edmondson
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The 5 Shadows of Leadership
16 May 2012 | 6:00 amThis is a guest post by Tyler Braun. Tyler is a 27-year-old INTJ living in Portland, Oregon with his wife Rose. He works full time as a worship leader, while also finding time to study at Multnomah Biblical Seminary in pursuit of a masters degree. Tyler’s first book releases in August of this year through Moody Publishers and is available for pre-order now. You can find Tyler on Twitter, Facebook, or his blog. Here is the post: The 5 Shadows of Leadership Life is often the summation of darkness and light. One job of a leader is to bring more light into the world of those around them. -
Leadership and Life Advice from My Mom
15 May 2012 | 6:00 amI previously posted this story under another title, but since it’s been 4 years, I thought I was expand it and share again. Recently I received some great life and leadership advice from my mom. Please understand, my mom is retired from over 40 years of work in the business world, but she is usually not the first person I would think of for business advice. I mean, she is smart, no doubt about that, but she is my mom. I would read Truett Cathy or Warren Buffett for business advice. I look to John Maxwell (and others) for leadership advice. I have a plethora of people I go to for life… -
When You Don’t Want to Get Out of Bed
14 May 2012 | 6:00 amDo you ever have days when you just don’t want to get out of bed? I’m not talking about the days you wake up and wish you could hit the snooze button a few more times. I’m not referring to days when you didn’t get enough sleep because you stayed up too late watching David Letterman. Those days are normal. For some they happen everyday. I’m talking about the days when you don’t want to get out of bed, because you don’t think you can face the world outside the covers. I’m talking about days when it hurts to think about facing life. Do you ever… -
Happy Mother’s Day Mom!
13 May 2012 | 6:00 amMy mom is my hero. She’s the most gracious, forgiving, patient person I know. My mom raised 3 children mostly as a single mom. My dad finished life well, (I wrote about that HERE) before dying a couple years ago, but to fully understand my life, you would have to know that for much a my life, my dad was an absentee father. That put a huge burden on my mom. Some of you know the hardship of the single mom, and it’s one I never take lightly. My mom sometimes worked as many as three jobs, but honestly, I never remember her not being home. She kept our house immaculate, she cooks… -
How God Goes Green
12 May 2012 | 6:00 amrecycle |rēˈsīkəl| verb [ with obj. ] “convert waste into reusable material” How does God go green? God recycles. I’m an example of that…how about you? Related posts: Wasting Valuable Resources of Human Capital Friday Discussion: Non-Negotiables in Parenting Focus on the Family, John 3:16 Commercial Don’t Kill Meetings
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faithmaps blog
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Abiding in the Vine
12 May 2012 | 11:36 amMain Entry: vinePronunciation: 'vInFunction: nounEtymology: Middle English, from Middle French, from Old French vigne, from Latin vinea vine, vineyard, from feminine of vineus of wine, from vinum wine -- more at WINE1 : GRAPE 22 a : a plant whose stem requires support and which climbs by tendrils or twining or creeps along the ground; also : the stem of such a plant b : any of various sprawling herbaceous plants (as a tomato or potato) that lack specialized adaptations for climbing from Merriam-Webster Online Dictionaryjohn's classic statement on the concept is in John 15:1-5"I am… -
An Around-the-Room on Coverage of Harold Camping's Incorrect Rapture Prediction
7 Jul 2011 | 10:24 pmBackground, reflection, and fall out from Harold Camping's prediction that Saturday 21 May 2011 would bring massive earthquakes, the rapture, and the beginning of Earth's end:NewHarold Camping Moved to a Nursing HomeHarold Camping Suffers a StrokeBackgroundA profile of Harold Camping"An Insider's Look at Family Radio and its Leader Harold Camping""How Harold Camping Marketed the Rapture"RC Sproul Outlines the Major Christian Biblical Theories about the End of the WorldResponsesHour of the Apocalypse passes quietly, believers confused and philosophical"Believers reactions mixed to unfulfilled… -
ESV Study Bible Notes Plus the NIV (2011)!
12 Jun 2011 | 5:02 pmI'll be the enjoying the best of both worlds when on the road. The ESV Study Bible is too large to carry along while traveling. So I'll be carrying along my new Thinline NIV and accessing the ESV Study Bible Online! -
A New Bible Reading Project: The OT Prophets in Historic and Christocentric Perspective
11 Jun 2011 | 2:25 pmSo I've decided to embark on a new Bible Reading Project and plan to do most of my reading in the new NIV that's just been published. I don't think I've ever read all of the OT Prophets in one fell swoop, so I'm planning to read them in chronological order (I haven't decided whose chronological scheme I'm going to use yet). But to provide background, I'm going to read all the relevant OT history first. I began reading a few days ago with 1 Kings 12, just after Solomon dies and the when the Kingdom is divided into Israel and Judah. I'll either begin reading the first Prophets as I get to the… -
On Bible Translations: "Befriend Faithfulness?"
8 Jun 2011 | 5:59 pmThis afternoon I was flying from Boston to Baltimore after a couple of days with one of my clients and I was reading Psalm 37 in my little English Standard Version (ESV) NT with Psalms and Proverbs. While reading I came across"Trust in the LORD, and do good;dwell in the land and befriend faithfulness."37:3Befriend faithfulness? No clue what that means. The margin note reads "feed on faithfulness" or "find safe pasture."I also thought, "Who says 'befriend' anymore, anyway?"It made me want to buy the most recent revision of the NIV. There's a history behind that statement.On my flight I was…
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CONNECT
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RFP Questions To Ask
20 Apr 2012 | 12:53 pm1) How would you help us solve this problem? 2) Who else have you helped? 3) What will it take to get us there? (time, budget, resources) That's it. Don't get me wrong. I understand where a Request for Proposal comes from and the purpose it can serve. But oftentimes an organization believes it needs to know HOW to solve the problem when creating the RFP and subsequently compares costs against executing that solution. But it doesn't matter which car we drive if we're headed in the wrong direction. Don't feel the pressure to figure out the how—That's a big… -
Uncomfortable in the Quiet
9 Apr 2012 | 9:17 amThis morning, I found myself stepping over dog toys on my way to the kitchen. I've been picking up toys for what feels like an eternity. But today there's this crazy, empty kind of feeling as I tossed the toys in the basket. When our children were small it seemed like a constant whirlwind of activity that seamlessly blended from one stage to the next without a moment to catch my breath Constant feedings and sleepless nights Chasing toddlers, trying to keep them out of harm's way Filling out permission slips; packing lunches Chauffering from one practice to another Late…
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Ed Stetzer
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A Family Update (and Why I Didn't Show Up in Atlanta and Lynchburg)
16 May 2012 | 11:00 amUpdate #6 at 2p.m. Wednesday: Well, we really are ready to get some confirmed information and really could use some good news. A quick update: Ricetssia is also a possibility and we are hoping for test back tomorrow or Friday. That is also when we expect the Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever test to return. We've been told to expect a hospital stay of several more days unless there is a major turnaround today-- still no eating, drinking and she is doing lots of sleeping. Also, if she does show some improvement today, I've "requested," and they've agreed, to bring in another Infectious Disease… -
Morning Roundup - May 16, 2012
16 May 2012 | 7:00 amEight Warning Signs for Forced Terminations of Pastors -- Thom Rainer Christianity Today summarized some fascinating information about forced pastor terminations. Using the combined research of the National Congregations Study and the Review of Religious Research, the magazine noted eight warning signs or predictors for forced terminations. Keep in mind that this research does not tell the why of terminations; rather it deals with certain categories where pastors are more likely to lose their jobs. 1. If the church had a recent church fight. 2. If the church is declining in attendance. 3. If… -
Australia Reflections, part 6: Pray for Australia
15 May 2012 | 11:00 pmI don't think that the future of American faith practice looks like Europe. Europe had a whole different religious journey--there is much bitterness and resentment from state churches, persecution, and wars. I am not sure it looks like Canada either. The Canadian example is different: while Americans pursue "life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness," the Canadians revolve around the spoke of "peace, order, and good government." That has been reflected in how people see religion as well. Yet, I do see America's possible faith future in Australia's present-- a happy people largely… -
The Exchange: The Story of Scripture
15 May 2012 | 12:00 pmI encourage you to join us today-- and each Tuesday-- at 2:00 p.m. CDT, for The Exchange. On last week's episode, I discussed my new book Subversive Kingdom. Here is a clip from that show. You can watch the entire episode here. This week, guests Trevin Wax, author of Counterfeit Gospels, and George Guthrie, author of Read the Bible for Life, will discuss the Story of Scripture. Watch The Exchange Live -
Monday is for Missiology: Beginnings at Babel-- A Thread of Hope for God's Mission, part 2
14 May 2012 | 11:00 amToday I continue my series on the ethnolinguistic thread we find in Scripture (you can find part one here). My intent is that everyday Christians would view God's sacred mission as being bigger than their ministry comforts or preferences and to see just how the tongues of the nations matter in the mission of God. God's missionary heart was obvious at Babel. Men conspired together in same language to become famous, but instead they became infamous. Heathenism (self-glory) was born. God had previously instructed his people to scatter (Gen. 9:1) after the flood and multiply (His mission). And…
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tonymorganlive.com
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It’s Personal: An Interview with Brian & Amy Bloye
16 May 2012 | 7:26 amInterview Highlights I reminded Brian that the Cleveland Indians are ahead of the Detroit Tigers in the baseball standings. Find out what the Bloyes identified as the biggest challenge of planting a church. Brian: “There are a lot of folks out there who, in my opinion, just shouldn’t be planting churches.” Learn why “it’s personal.” Interview Links Brian Bloye The Launch Network Exponential Leadership Network -
National Conference on Preaching Workshop Notes
15 May 2012 | 11:58 amThis afternoon I will be the token non-preacher at the National Conference on Preaching. My “sermon” doesn’t have three points and a poem, but I do think my message will challenge preachers in a way only a non-preacher could challenge them. If you plan to attend my workshop, feel free to download the notes and follow along. I’ve also provided links for additional reading. National Conference on Preaching Workshop Session Title: Finding Your Communications Focus Whether you know it or not, your church is probably bowing down to the perceived power of the “giant inflatable… -
12 Tools I Use to Run My Business
15 May 2012 | 8:28 amLast week I talked about the three strategies I use to avoid getting overwhelmed with everything on my plate. I talked about focusing on priorities, empowering my team and using systems. Fortunately, it’s getting easier and easier to implement those strategies thanks to a toolbox of web apps that are available. I thought you might be interested in seeing the tools I’m currently using for my business. Some of these will also be applicable in ministry settings. In some instances, though, there are better ministry-specific solutions available. Here are… 12 Tools I Use to Run My… -
Soul Detox: An Interview with Craig Groeschel
14 May 2012 | 7:31 amInterview Highlights “We’re actually not a body with a soul, but the reality is we’re a soul with a body.” Find out why Craig couldn’t get a date in high school. Craig challenges churches that focus on entertainment. Interview Links Soul Detox Soul Detox DVD Study YouVersion: The Bible App Craig Groeschel’s blog LifeChurch.tv -
Two similar stories. Two different endings. God is glorified in both.
13 May 2012 | 3:59 pmOver the past few years, I’ve had two close friends diagnosed with colon cancer. Their stories were similar. The outcomes were different. In both stories, though, God is glorified. Here’s the story from Troy and Lindsey Page that was shared in this morning’s services at West Ridge Church. And, here’s the story from Zac Smith, my friend from NewSpring Church. I hope you’re both encouraged and challenged by these stories. God is good all the time.
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CatalystSpace | Catablog
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We want YOU to MAKE it to Catalyst Atlanta 2012
16 May 2012 | 7:32 amThe Making of a Leader We can do many things. But, we are made to do few. The Process is what Makes us unique. It defines us, shapes us, and reveals our calling. Beauty is revealed in the process, and influence is gained through the journey. We are here. We desire to be there. As leaders, we all want to get there as quick as possible, yet we know that the process is what builds our character. It's what MAKES us who we are. There is no fabrication of influence. No skipping the essential steps. No fast-forwarding through the benchmark moments of clarity and wisdom gained. We must earn the right… -
Catalyst Dallas 2012 // Speaker Recaps
14 May 2012 | 4:23 pmCatalyst Dallas was an amazing event. In case you didn't take awesome notes, we had a blogger taking notes for you! Kent Shaffer did a PHENOMENAL job summarizing the speaker's talks. Here are a few of the highlights from some of the speakers at Catalyst Dallas. If you'd like to listen to all of the message, you can get all the audio from Catalyst Dallas here. Andy Stanley on Being Accessible While Successful 3 Ways to Do for One What You Wish for Everyone Go deep, rather than wide. Go long-term, rather than short-term. Go time, not just money. Jon Acuff on Finding Your Identity If you… -
Catalyst Dallas 2012 Photoblog: Part 2
12 May 2012 | 7:00 amPhotos by @scottawade @karicrowe & @sunnythomas, check them out! -
I’m fighting for my life with my art.
11 May 2012 | 3:14 pmThis piece was created on Thursday, May 10th 2012 at Catalyst Dallas. Photographer Jeremy Cowart met houseless artist Donald Collins the day before after he saw Donald drawing people. They decided to collaborate and create this piece together the next day. All proceeds of this print will go to buy Donald new art supplies, including a new scanner to scan his drawings. Don says "My art is what keeps me alive. I'm fighting for my life with my art." -
Catalyst Dallas 2012 Photoblog: Part 1
10 May 2012 | 6:59 amPhotos by @scottawade @karicrowe & @sunnythomas, check them out!
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Ragamuffin Soul
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The Solution To The Celebrity Pastor Dilemma
16 May 2012 | 12:20 pm[A spokesperson from Bishop Long's church said this was about honoring a man of God and not making him a king. OK. Fair. A bit of advice to you pastors out there… If in your Sunday planning meeting the idea of lifting you up and walking around stage with you comes up… Probably should say..."Thanks kenny for that idea. Anyone have something else?] Anything that gives us satisfaction above Christ is an idol. There is something just plain horrifying about that truth. For me, I have crafted idols out of virtually everything. We are living in a day and age where creating idols out of those… -
Where Do You Sit?
15 May 2012 | 6:17 pmWhere do you sit? Los -
The Grace Sniper
15 May 2012 | 10:28 amThere comes a moment in your life when you learn how to give grace. This normally comes the moment you are given grace yourself. Crazy how that works. You can always tell the people who have been shown no grace in their life. They make your life hell when you are looking for it. Picking you off like a sniper. At this moment, you have a choice… A. Pick up your sniper rifle and wait for them to turn around and pick them off… Or B. Keep walking towards Christ and away from their fire. This does not equate to not getting hit. It just equates to them having to shoot you from farther and… -
3 Thoughts On Breast Feeding And Magazine Covers
14 May 2012 | 9:52 amTime Magazine has an article on breast feeding in their new issue. You can’t tell by the cover. I just want to say 3 things. 1. This kid. He’s gonna be 13 one day. Just sayin you may want to start practicing your parenting for that season when this is plastered all over his locker. 2. You are no more a mother because you produce breast milk than you are a father because you had a good time that night. 3. To all the mothers out there who didn’t breastfeed for medical reasons or personal choice, I’m a product of the powder…The kid will be ok. 4. We breastfed 1 out… -
Where was your prom, who was your date, and where are they now?
8 May 2012 | 1:24 pmWhere was your prom, who was your date, and where are they now? Los
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Pomomusings
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Why Pastors Should Only Have 1 Facebook Profile
16 May 2012 | 8:00 amMy good friend and blogger Adam Copeland has been talking a lot recently about pastors who use more than one Facebook profile. I will say that I have some friends who have decided to do this, and while I understand their reasons, it’s not the choice that I make, and not the choice I encourage others to make. As someone who trains ministers and others on the use of social media at Social Media Boot Camps, I do not recommend that ministers use two separate Facebook accounts. For one, if you do, you break Facebook Terms of Service (“You will not create more than one personal… -
Adam Walker Cleaveland on (Re)Imagining Christianity
14 May 2012 | 8:00 amThis post is part of an ongoing blog series on Pomomusings entitled “(Re)Imagining Christianity.” To read about the series, as well as get a full schedule of participants, click here. What is one belief, practice or element of Christianity that must die so that Christianity can move forward and truly impact the world in the next 100 years? First off, I want to thank all those who contributed to the (Re)Imagining Christianity blog series. The past two months have been filled with some wonderful conversations here on this blog. Some of my favorite have included Lars Rood on why we… -
Children, Youth and a New Kind of Christianity: A Review
11 May 2012 | 12:49 pmI’ve spent the past week in Washington DC at the “Children, Youth and a New Kind of Christianity” conference. It’s been awhile since I’ve been at a Continuing Ed event and it was a great chance to get to connect with some friends (old and new), do some networking and hear from some great folks. I thought I’d just share some highlights and then offer a few comments. Best Presenter: Patricia Lyons While I struggled at first to keep up with her pace and excitement as she shared about her conversion to Harry Potter, her presentation was definitely a highlight… -
Kevin Carey on (Re)Imagining Christianity
30 Apr 2012 | 8:00 amThis post is part of an ongoing blog series on Pomomusings entitled “(Re)Imagining Christianity.” To read about the series, as well as get a full schedule of participants, click here. What is one belief, practice or element of Christianity that must die so that Christianity can move forward and truly impact the world in the next 100 years? Performance. I have been performing in one sense or another since I was six years old. Whether it was acting professionally as a child, or learning the music business during my college days in Los Angeles, or spending my 20s as a worship leader,… -
Carol Howard Merritt on (Re)Imagining Christianity
27 Apr 2012 | 8:00 amThis post is part of an ongoing blog series on Pomomusings entitled “(Re)Imagining Christianity.” To read about the series, as well as get a full schedule of participants, click here. What is one belief, practice or element of Christianity that must die so that Christianity can move forward and truly impact the world in the next 100 years? Brainstorming women, armed with their Sharpies and poster boards, are going to battle. If you haven’t heard, there is a “war on women.” Is this hyperbole? Is this “war on women” tagline merely something that can unite the various…
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Tall Skinny Kiwi
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Blog banter on church leadership and fresh expressions
15 May 2012 | 12:58 pmUp at 4am this morning. Interesting blog banter going on from 3 Brits: 1. Richard Passmore on Fresh Expressions "I think FE may actually hinder change in the longer term because of the gravitational pull of the institution and accompanying orthodoxy. I think we are already seeing dissenting voices being marginalised as FE spreads and the orthodox centre gathers pace. I was talking the other day to someone about how some of the most pioneering imaginative work (both inside the Church of England and outside) i see are not part of FE. Is Fresh Expressions a Movement? 2. Mike Breen on church… -
Video: Our family at PassionFest2012
14 May 2012 | 4:50 pmSo PassionFest blew us away again this year and it was so good to be here. Its a festival for justice-minded Christians hosted at the Ngatiawa contemporary monastery here in New Zealand. I managed to put a short video together to give you a taste of the festival. Our kids appear constantly and my wife Debbie is teaching spinning and asking young people what they think PassionFest is all about. Hope you like it. -
Baptist monks and couch-surfing apostles: 10 Signs that the future church is here already.
13 May 2012 | 4:13 pm10 years ago today I published an article on Soularize that suggested the church still had a long way to go before it was hitting its target but that there were early signs that prove hopeful and promising. Reading the article [Postmodern Church: Are We There Yet?] again today, it seems a lot of those first-fruits are more visible and integral to how we do church today. 10 Years! This was a long time before CouchSurfing.org appeared and became a vehicle for young pilgrims to cruise the planet, and before my term "deep ecclesiology " found its way into books, and before the new monastic… -
Global emerging church gathering in Brazil
8 May 2012 | 4:23 pmUpdate: I am reposting this because Encontro Global Tribal Generation 2012 happens next month. They had over 4000 in attendance when they did this event 2 years ago. A teaser for this year: Olgalvaro Bastos Jr who is hosting the gathering is the guy who kicked off our "new wineskins for new wine" discussion on the video in the previous post. Olgalvaro is the author of A Revolução do Pensamento, a book that describes the emerging church movement in Latin America, which, as everyone knows, started in Chile in the 90's. Hope you can read Portuguese. Original Post: A global gathering of… -
Videos from Underground Ministries Roundtable
7 May 2012 | 9:32 pmI just uploaded some videos I took at the Global Roundtable of Underground Ministries which we held at Cornerstone Festival in Illinois last year. Sorry it took so long to get the videos up. Hope you enjoy them. Attendance was a little spotty in places because most of us were also involved in Cornerstone Festival [I taught 3 seminars] but we managed to have some really good discussions about what God was doing in our countries and what new movements were springing up. Here is a taste of our morning worship, this time led by an American, a Romanian and a Portuguese. And a Canadian on his big…
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Church Communications Pro | Church Marketing | Church Web Design
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30+ Tips on How to Get Hired: My New Book
14 May 2012 | 4:25 pmI just launched my new ebook called “I Want To Hire You But Your Resume Sucks,” filled with 30+ tips to get a job. It’s packed with things I’ve learned as both an employer and employee. Here’s a snippet about what it’s about really …. A resume is just piece of paper. But it’s also a brochure that sells your services to employers. But the fact is: Most resumes suck. Not because of the paper or even format, but because you haven’t done the work building the key areas employers look for to make it rock. The statistics about those who are… -
Need a Custom Yet Affordable Church Web Design?
8 May 2012 | 10:02 amCheck out our new Creatives Services team at iThemes. We have some excellent web design packages that are perfect for churches or ministries. Related posts:Get All the WordPress Web Design Goodies You Need for 44% Off The “Everything” package is the Web Designer’s ToolKit – the... Launch Your Church Website with WordPress and iThemes Builder City Church is the only child theme you need for... -
Our LifeDev Plan for Investing in People at iThemes
8 Mar 2012 | 11:24 amI’ve just rolled out our LifeDev plans as part of our Make Waves Manifestos at iThemes today. It is our way to invest in you — our community and our team. It is one way for us to give back and give of ourselves and I hope you will join us in doing so. Throughout the year (or next 10 months), we’ll be rolling out training through webinars and blog posts on certain life themes I feel have been instrumental in my life and helping me maintain happy and health relationships. These are the things I’ve gathered over a lifetime of seeking to learn and grow and improve my life. -
Get All the WordPress Web Design Goodies You Need for 44% Off
5 Dec 2011 | 5:57 pmThe “Everything” package is the Web Designer’s ToolKit – the all-encompassing resource collection including the developer’s license to ALL the themes at iThemes (including iThemes Builder), the developer’s license to ALL the plugins at PluginBuddy - including the best-selling BackupBuddy) and the Premium Annual License at WebDesign.com. This huge 44% discount is the best deal of the year on the Web Designer’s ToolKit. PLUS…Just Added – all Web Designer’s ToolKit members will receive 50% off registration at WebDesign.com LIVE Events. -
Is Entrepreneurship for You? Check Out our Bootcamp Dec. 17
18 Nov 2011 | 10:51 amSince I started my business full-time in 2008, achieving a lifelong dream, I’ve had numerous people, most of whom are friends and family, ask me what it takes to become an entrepreneur. Helping others start the adventure of entrepreneurship is a passion of mine, so I’ve teamed with a couple of veteran entrepreneurs to do the Pre-Entrepreneurship Bootcamp: What You Need to Know and Do Before Starting a Business on Saturday, Dec. 17, 2011 from 8 a.m.-6 p.m. in Oklahoma City at our nonprofit foundation, The Div. This event is designed for aspiring or budding entrepreneurs –…
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WithoutWax.tv by Pete Wilson
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Life Change
15 May 2012 | 9:44 pmI’m addicted to life change. There’s just a few things more incredible to me than watching Jesus transform the life of another human being. The following video got me so excited!! God is doing some pretty incredible things at Cross Point these days. Honored to be along for this ride. -
To Tithe Or Not To Tithe?
15 May 2012 | 7:25 amThere’s a lot of debate these days about whether the Old Testament tithe still applies today or not. People often want to argue that it was part of the “law” and therefore doesn’t apply to us since Jesus fulfilled the law. We are now under the New Covenant and free from the legalism that so dominated the Old Covenant. Much smarter people than me have spent their lives debating and researching whether that’s true or not. And quite frankly, I think it’s a mute argument. If you ask me if you should tithe I would say. Probably not. I think you should… -
The Constant Evolving Face Of Social Media
14 May 2012 | 8:00 amAs a pastor and author I freely admit I love social media. I love the immediate feedback it gives me on messages and books as well as the interaction it allows me to have. It’s amazing how quickly social media changes. There’s no taking naps in this arena in life because if you blink you’ll miss the next “big thing.” Something new that has come along which didn’t even exist when Plan B came out two years ago is Instagram. I’ve loved watching Instagram the past few weeks to see which quotes from Empty Promises have stood out to readers. Here’s a… -
Record Breaking Grace
11 May 2012 | 7:21 amI just happened to be in Dallas on Tuesday night when Texas Rangers star, Josh Hamilton, hit his record breaking 4 homers in one game. Here’s a video of all four of his killer home runs. A-mazing!! Hamilton is only the 16th player in Major League history – and the only currently active player – to hit four homers in a game. I know Josh has had his ups and downs, but I’m cheering for him. Couldn’t be more proud of him. Not sure if you’ve ever seen his “I Am Second” video but if you haven’t seen it you’ve got to watch it. So powerful. -
The identity lie – Podcast #4
11 May 2012 | 12:30 amIn this podcast episode we talk about identity and the dangers of gathering our self worth externally from accomplishments and approval. Any questions or topics you would like to hear us talk about? Joins us for this conversation and for future podcasts, we would love to answer YOUR questions. If you have a question you can call us at 218-248-7383 or leave a comment on this post. Podcast: Subscribe | Download | Play on mobile
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Perry Noble | Leadership, Vision & CreativityPerry Noble | Leadership, Vision & Creativity
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10 Things Your Husband Wants To Tell You
16 May 2012 | 6:36 amWomen, you may think that your man is confident, strong, and sure of himself. But you’d be surprised what he would tell you if he felt like he could be completely honest. So I want to tell you on his behalf. Here are 10 things that your man may have thought at some point, or may be feeling right now. 1. I am really insecure about lots of things, but especially about how I am doing as your husband. 2. I worry that you are not happy with me and that one day you will leave me. 3. I’m scared that our kids may not turn out the way we hoped they would. 4. I never feel… -
A Letter From Pastor P To NewSpring Church
15 May 2012 | 6:12 amHowdy NewSpring Church, FIVE things I want to share with you today… #1 – I ABSOLUTELY LOVE what Jesus is doing in our church. On the Sunday that Clayton spoke (May 6) I received a text from a young man in my high school discipleship group that I lead telling me that he was PUMPED because a guy in his Fuse small group received Christ when Clayton gave the invitation! Well…this past Sunday night I received another text from him and the conversation went like this… Him: ”Remember how my small group kid got saved last week” Me: ”Yep” Him:… -
Every Number Has A Name, Every Name Has A Story, Every Story Matters To God!
14 May 2012 | 3:33 pmHere is the video from Mother’s Day, I LOVE stories like this…they NEVER get old!!! (Warning…if you haven’t seen this yet you are going to need some Kleenex!) -
Eight Things To Keep In Mind In Regards To Conflict At Work/Church
10 May 2012 | 6:33 am#1 – Email DOES NOT WORK! (This would also apply to texting as well as any form of social media!) When conflict use to arise with me and someone in the office I used to walk to my desk, log on to my computer and fire off an abusive email, several problems with this… It is the act of a coward, I would do this so that I would avoid a eye to eye conversation. It removes the fact that I am actually dealing with another person…if I type an email I don’t have to look them in the eye and removing that obstacle allows me to say things to them through typing that I… -
How To Deal With Betrayal
9 May 2012 | 6:15 amBetrayal is one of the most brutal things a person (especially a pastor) deals with. It hurts…deeply. Someone who was close to you and who you trusted walked away…and they did not do so silently, they left making a lot of noise, saying things about you that simply were not true. They called people and spoke lies/half truths about you. They sent out mass emails… And at some point you felt like everyone in the world believed them, hated you and ultimately wanted to see you fail. You know what Jesus said about loving your enemies…but it’s hard, really hard because the wound that they…
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MoreThanDodgeball.com
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Church Stage Design Ideas
16 May 2012 | 11:02 amMy friend Jason pointed me to a website I can’t get enough of right now. When I’m looking for inspiration for a set design or stage theme – this is where I look. Some are incredible, some will inspire you to create something fantastic for your youth ministry, some are good lessons on what not to do. JG -
Reading Books That Are Necessary vs Books That Are Trendy
16 May 2012 | 6:56 amA rut I was in early in ministry was to seek out the books that were trendy instead of choosing the books I should actually have been reading at the time. Now I think all reading is good development – you could even read the Hunger Games and it could help your ministry and stretch your mind. But I think we have to be careful not to chase after the trendy books (Christian and secular alike) when the best stuff we should be reading sits idle on the shelf or gathers digital dust at the bottom of our Kindle. I appreciate the larger conversation that takes place in Christianity when someone… -
HSM Weekend in Review: Volume 181
15 May 2012 | 7:47 pmWeekend Teaching Series: Worship (1-off) Sermon in a Sentence: The power and purpose of music. Service Length: 78 minutes Understandable Message: This weekend our Student Ministries Worship Leader Taffy took over the services in HSM and created a fantastic weekend talking about the purpose of worship, the power of music and the trigger and emotion of what we listen to. It was a FANTASTIC weekend that carried incredible power with students understanding and participating in worship music. Element of Fun/Positive Environment: This weekend was typical for this time of the year –… -
HTB Leadership Conference: Day 1
15 May 2012 | 12:00 pmGreetings from London! I am here with my wife attending Holy Trinity Brompton (Home of Alpha) Leadership Conference all week as leaders from all over the world gather to hear from some of the brightest minds in the Church, Business, Culture and Commerce leadership. Some of the notables include Tony Blair, Judah Smith, Christine Caine, Rick Warren, Nicky Gumbel, Matt Costley and many others. I thought I would share with you some great content from each day and save you the plane ride! PS I took this photo at Royal Albert Hall which is an incredible venue. Main Session 1 Nicky Gumbel… -
The Other Direction Music Video
15 May 2012 | 9:06 amA video we made for this past weekend’s service on the power of music and why we worship. You’re welcome. JG
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History in the Making
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Defining Moments in My Life as a Creative
16 May 2012 | 9:29 amWe say in Dream Year that there is a history to your dream. All of us have "defining moments" that helped shape our creative potential. Here are a few of mine: When I was a kid, my children's pastor was a Barnum & Bailey-trained circus clown. The events he put-on for our community were nothing short of spectacular. Circus tent, carnival rides, staged productions with an "arch nemesis" trying to shut it all down unless we brought enough friends. It has ruined children's ministries for me with my own kids When I was in college, I got to work backstage at a… -
No One Likes to Pet Armadillos
11 May 2012 | 8:18 amThe busier a creative agency gets, the greater its need for a process. This process helps them manage client accounts, deliver the goods consistently and otherwise appear more professional (probably the real reason most do it). But as a consumer of creative services, I can tell you the last thing a client wants is a process. We know it's there. We just don't want to see it. A visible process only serves their needs. We don't want to fill out a form. We want a real conversation. Ask us in person. When we call to discuss a project, we don't want to be handed-off to Lenny just… -
Call for Submissions: STORY Notebook
10 May 2012 | 5:43 pmEvery year, we put together a really nice book for STORY that's half notebook / half magazine. We have some extraordinary pieces going into this year's book, but we're looking for a few more. If you'd like to write a 750-word piece on a creative subject, person, place, trend or phenomenon, pitch your idea to everywhere@storychicago.com. We'd love to hear it! -
Wednesday Morning Rundown
9 May 2012 | 9:59 amColor Forecasts from Paris, Milan (via @lifeographer) Amazing branding for a Gelato shop Faded-edge painted business cards Edge-painted letterpress business cards Love the mysterious branding of 50Kings Came across Sarah Bray's A Small Nation here in Virginia Beach. Brilliant idea for a marketing agency Aaron Niequist's released #3 of the New Liturgy Project We're planning creative meet-ups for STORY in Des Moines and Minneapolis this summer among other cities If you gather a team of 3 other people to join you for STORY by May 18, you'll make out like bandits Very few people… -
Cultivating Weird
8 May 2012 | 10:47 amIf it's not careful, an organization will turn its success and experience into automation. This year's event or this year's book or this year's offering becomes easier to create than last year's offering because it's been done before. It becomes an assembly line process. Someone told me recently that James Patterson has an $18 million a year book factory. He (self-admittedly) has a formula for best-sellers, so he writes an outline and hands-off the book to a team of writers who fill-in-the-blanks while he sits on a yacht. (I don't actually know if he has a yacht.)…
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eugene cho
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When girls bully girls and women bully women.
15 May 2012 | 2:01 amFirst of all, if it’s not clear by my name or by the facial hair on my face, I’m not a girl. Now that we’ve got that cleared up, you might be wondering why I’m writing a post entitled, “When girls bully girls and women bully women.” I’m doing so because it’s causing… great pain and damage. Bullying happens in many places and happens in both genders. By writing about girls and women, I’m not implying that it happens only among girls or women because that would simply not be true but what I’m discovered as a pastor is that more… -
When a parent cries for their child and comes to the admission that they can’t fix everything.
11 May 2012 | 7:00 amIt’s been couple weeks since my last post. I’ve been meaning to write numerous posts – all incredible and brilliant posts (in my mind at least). I start but can never finish. It’s just been that kind of time where my heart and mind has wandered to other places. Namely, they have wandered to health issues of one of my children. While I need to be careful what I share and how I share it (for the sake of honoring my child’s privacy), I thought it would be good – for my own sake – to share a bit of my heart and thoughts when a parent cries for their child… -
Don’t escape. Sit in this pain. Recommit to the work of peacemaking. [Warning: Graphic Image]
18 Apr 2012 | 2:15 pmI’ve always wanted to be a photographer but doodling on my phone camera and my new Instagram account will have to suffice for now. But I’ve been particular intrigued by the role of photography in humanitarian and various aspects of global development. This is why I was intrigued by an article that came through my reader about an Afghani photographer named Massoud Hossaini who was awarded the 2012 Pulitzer Prize for Breaking News Photography. I clicked it and saw the image and in a split second, I wished I had NEVER clicked to read the article and of course, the accompanying… -
What Blue Like Jazz teaches us about creating a better story.
13 Apr 2012 | 2:01 amHello people. Eugene Cho the Reviewer is back. You hated my last review of Mark Driscoll’s book, Real Marriage, so I’m trying again with my endeavors to be a world class reviewer and thus, I am writing a review for the movie, Blue Like Jazz, based on Donald Miller‘s book…Blue Like Jazz. Love how those matching titles work. Let me first say that I have yet to see the film but since we’re living in a day and age where people are inclined to write reviews about books they have yet to read, I say what the heck. As much as I want to say I’ll see the film very… -
Get outside. Be creative. Dream. Create something. The story of 9-year-old Caine Monroy and Caine’s Arcade.
11 Apr 2012 | 2:01 amDear friends, readers, strangers, and blog stalkers: I try to be careful with overly extreme outrageous over-the-top superlatives but the story of Caine’s Arcade and its 9-year-old founder, Caine, might be one of the greatest things I’ve ever read or seen. This story of not judging a book by its cover was cool, too, but wow…this is amazing. No joke. First, do yourself a HUGE favor and watch the video. I guarantee it’ll be worth your 11 minutes or I will pay you $2 for your very own “Fun Pass” (this will make sense later). Money back guarantee. Who is Caine…
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9Marks Blog: Building Healthy Churches
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Should you quit going to church when your pastor goes on sabbatical?
14 May 2012 | 10:21 amCome on, this is 9Marks. What do you think we're going to say to that question? Too-obvious setup aside, our good friend Jeramie Rinne shared some helpful thoughts on the subject with his church in view of his own upcoming sabbatical. Jermaie's post is a good word not just for those of us whose pastors may taking a sabbatical soon, but for all of us as the summer approaches. Things slow down, people travel, and you may hear more guest preachers than usual. But that doesn't mean you should take a vacation from church. Instead, keep on meeting with your church and encouraging your… -
Must Baptism Precede Membership? Of course!
12 May 2012 | 11:00 pmMust someone be baptized before he or she can join a church? I've been told by people who know history better than I do that Christians of almost all traditions have said yes for 2000 years. It's really only today that people have thought otherwise. The historical precedent is pretty compelling in and of itself. It is also helpful to think about what a local church is and what church membership is, which I have tried to do in two previous posts. But understanding the relationship between baptism and membership finally requires us to consider the purpose of baptism. -
What Is Church Membership?
11 May 2012 | 10:38 amIn the last post, I answered the question, What Is the Local Church? That brings us to the next question: what is church membership? Answer: It’s a declaration of citizenship in Christ’s kingdom. It’s a passport. It’s an announcement made in the pressroom of Christ’s kingdom. It’s the declaration that a professing individual is an official, licensed, card-carrying, bona fide Jesus representative. More concretely, church membership is a formal relationship between a local church and a Christian characterized by the church’s affirmation and oversight of… -
The Curious Case of the Unnamed Prophet
9 May 2012 | 12:58 pmThere's an amazing story recorded for us in I Kings 13. If you remember the context, Jeroboam has built an altar in Bethel to compete with the temple of Yahweh in Jerusalem. Then suddenly, an unnamed prophet let loose a blast against the altar: And the man cried against the altar by the word of the LORD and said, “O altar, altar, thus says the LORD: ‘Behold, a son shall be born to the house of David, Josiah by name, and he shall sacrifice on you the priests of the high places who make offerings on you, and human bones shall be burned on you.’” And he gave a sign… -
A Faithful Witness Whose Testimony Challenges Muslim Insider Movements
9 May 2012 | 9:55 amThe Written Defense of the Rev. Mehdi Dibaj Delivered to the Sari Court of Justice - Sari, Iran December 3, 1993 A born Muslim who decided to follow and serve Jesus and paid the price with his life "In the Holy Name of God who is our life and existence" With all humility I express my gratitude to the Judge of all heaven and earth for this precious opportunity, and with brokenness I wait upon the Lord to deliver me from this court trial according to His promises. I also beg the honored members of the court who are present to listen with patience to my defense and with respect…
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Human3rror
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I Space You – I Need More Space
16 May 2012 | 5:48 amAww… sad! You just finished reading I Space You – I Need More Space! and you survived! -
Good Morning
11 May 2012 | 5:11 amYou just finished reading Good Morning! and you survived! -
Ja-va
8 May 2012 | 2:28 pmYou just finished reading Ja-va! and you survived! -
Jesus Clears the Temple
4 May 2012 | 5:40 amHe’s so fly. You just finished reading Jesus Clears the Temple! and you survived! -
If Jesus Were to Compete in a Swimming Race…
2 May 2012 | 5:43 amSuper powers. You just finished reading If Jesus Were to Compete in a Swimming Race…! and you survived!
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[TerraceCrawford.com]
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Free eBook: A Beautiful Mess
15 May 2012 | 12:01 pmMy friend, Mark Oestreicher, has a brand-new book out that is available for FREE for a limited time! Over 3,000 youth workers downloaded the book within the first 24 hours it was available! You can download, "A Beautiful Mess: What's Right With Youth Ministry" by [clicking here] Here's a short description from the cover: 'Theologically and anecdotally, we can uncover plenty of encouraging signs in the realm of youth ministry, according to Oestreicher, whose youth ministry experience includes time as an in-the-trenches youth worker and as a publisher of youth ministry books… -
#OC12 Notes: Doug Fields
27 Apr 2012 | 3:50 pmDoug Fields Doug is doing a talk on what he's learned (and been healed from) since he left a paid church staff position. I've journaled my learnings over the last few years. I want to share 3 things that I've been healed from. One thing I realized is how much I (we) put the spotlight on numbers in the church. We had a little slogan in our church that "we count people because people count." A leader is to attendance what a crack addict is to a crack pipe. I realize now that from week-to-week all I was doing was feeding the beast (of my ego). I've read a great book recently called "Renovation… -
#OC12 Notes: Kara Powell
27 Apr 2012 | 3:23 pmKara Powell Kara is doing a talk on "Sticky Faith" We do segregation well in the church. You might be thinking of "race" right now... but I'm talking about "age." Luke 2:41 I'm not satisfied with the stat that 40-50% of students are drifting away from God and the church. Are you? The way that I parent is different because of research. The way that I lead is different because of research. We are asking "How do we win students back?" when really we could be asking "What if we never lost them?" Building deep faith in students has the potential to change this country! Kara gave a fantastic… -
#OC12 Notes: Andy Stanley
27 Apr 2012 | 11:11 amANDY STANLEY Andy is doing a talk on "Healthy Staff Culture" I think the church should be the greatest place to work on the planet! Northpoint Community Church came in 3rd for the BEST place to work in the Atlanta area. I want to talk about something (one thing actually) that I've learned that drives healthy staff culture at churches more than anything else! I believe this is the most contagious thing! Mark 10:32-45 Whoever wants to be out front must serve. Mark 10:45 -- this is why Jesus came! Healthy and productive staff cultures are characterized by "mutual submission." This is a game… -
#OC12 Notes: Craig Groeschel
27 Apr 2012 | 10:46 amCRAIG GROESCHEL Craig is doing a talk on "Raising the Next Generation" What do you think success looks like for the next generation? Culture says success is raising well-rounded, well educated kids. When I'm hiring I want someone who is great at "one thing"... not someone who is average at many things. Jesus asks "What good would it be for a man to gain the whole world and lose his own soul?" David in Psalm 71:18 "Do not forsake me... till I declare your power to the next generation." We are called to unleash single-minded, Christ-centered, Biblically-anchored world changers! There are…
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TheWorshipCommunity.Com - Worship Leader Resources, Articles, Forums
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Worship Music News: New Releases (May 15, 2012)
16 May 2012 | 1:23 pmHey, some great music available this week! If you’re an independent worship artist and you would like to be included in this list please email any information to editor@theworshipcommunity.com AHEAD OF TIME. We’ll do our best to include you in the list! New Worship Releases: May 15, 2012 Phil Wickham – Singalong 2 Recorded live on March 30th at Calvary Chapel Costa Mesa, CAFans of Phil Wickham’s first singalong have been anxiously awaiting this release. PhilWickham.com | Facebook | Twitter Around The Community: We’re pleased to share a few releases that are also… -
Happy Mother’s Day! Sunday Setlists #199
13 May 2012 | 10:13 amShare your worship confessionals, recaps, and setlists for the week of: Sunday, May 13, 2012 Happy Mothers Day!! Welcome to the 199th consecutive week of “Sunday Setlists.” Hard to believe we’re only 1 away from TWO HUNDRED! The purpose of “Sunday Setlists” is to share a recap of your worship services. What songs did you use, what arrangements? What worked really well and what didn’t work as well as you’d like? What issues did you have preparing? What is the sermon series? How about creative elements used in the service? You don’t have to be the… -
Is Your Worship Team Too Exclusive?
11 May 2012 | 12:49 pmThanks to Steve Ball for sharing this post with TWC. Originally published at: http://stevejball.wordpress.com/2012/03/30/worship-bands-and-exclusivity/ From the age of about eleven I’ve always been involved in playing in a band. In the early days I was the drummer (which may surprise some as I now rarely get to play them!). Other members included bass, piano, sax and singers. After a few years together we even recorded a couple of albums which are thankfully now collecting dust on bookshelves somewhere! As time went on and we got more involved in worship at church, I was needed to play the… -
Worship Music News: New Releases (May 8, 2012)
8 May 2012 | 2:32 pmHey, some great music available today! If you’re an independent worship artist and you would like to be included in this list please email any information to editor@theworshipcommunity.com AHEAD OF TIME. We’ll do our best to include you in the list! New Worship Releases: May 8, 2012 Ben Cantelon – Everything In Color Worship leader Ben Cantelon is calling on believers to open their eyes and see the world differently. Throughout his second full-length album, Everything In Color, Cantelon unpacks the paints and unleashes the creativity, offering eleven songs designed to leave… -
Sunday Setlists #198
6 May 2012 | 9:20 amShare your worship confessionals, recaps, and setlists for the week of: Sunday, May 06, 2012 Welcome to the 198th consecutive week of “Sunday Setlists.” Hard to believe we’re only 2 away from TWO HUNDRED! The purpose of “Sunday Setlists” is to share a recap of your worship services. What songs did you use, what arrangements? What worked really well and what didn’t work as well as you’d like? What issues did you have preparing? What is the sermon series? How about creative elements used in the service? You don’t have to be the pastor or worship…
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Part of the Glue
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Centralize your accounts
5 May 2012 | 5:53 pmRecently we decided to centralize all of our accounts to one primary gmail account. We had a vimeo, youtube, blip, miro, and a txtsignal account all linked to various emails and password. I found that by creating a central gmail account with the same password it was much easier to remember the accounts and pass on to others in our ministry who might need to update video. -
Using pinterest in your ministry
17 Apr 2012 | 9:15 pmFor the longest time I tried to ignore pinterest. I ignored the tweets, facebook messages and invites. One day I decided to give it a try. Something about new technology that I have grown to become skeptical at first. I logged into my exisiting pinterest account and decided to start a new pinterest board full of youth ministry websites. Because I develop websites for youth ministries its always helpful to have a list of other sites for inspiration and new ideas. One of the things I love about pinterest is that I can access the site and features from… -
Be With Conference
1 Apr 2012 | 6:24 pmI had the priveledge to design the website and look for the Be With Conference coming up in May. This conference is geared to mentoring/discipling teenagers effectively. Check out the conference website for more info. Hope to see you there! -
Accomplish something BIG
4 Feb 2012 | 3:23 pmI lead a drama/media team of teenagers at my church. Every once in a while I feel a need to accomplish something BIG together. We find projects that our bigger than ourselves and take up an entire weekend or numerous saturdays…but everyone rallies together and we accomplish it. I like the story in the gospels when Jesus is speaking to the five thousand and his disciples come to him saying the people are hungry. Jesus says "You feed them" Jesus is calling the disciples with their limited resources "five loaves and two fish" to perform a… -
Drag and drop websites for your ministry
8 Dec 2011 | 9:32 pmPagelines is by far my favorite wordpress theme. I have used this drag and drop framework to build more than 7 websites in the last year. Recently pagelines has updated their system to 2.0, which means better customization and a new store with specialized plugins coming soon.
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Branded With Love
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Forefronters: Everything You Need To Know About This Sunday & The “What If…” Series
15 May 2012 | 4:34 pmSo excited about this Sunday and what is going to happen with the future of Forefront. But, you might be asking some questions… If you’re wondering what’s happening this Sunday, missed a service, been serving with the kids, missed one of the combined Gel Celebrations, did not receive a What If… Prayer Guide, haven’t seen the What If… FAQ Sheet, or just want to remind yourself about all the great things happening at Forefront as we start this great new chapter… This is post is for you. We put together everything you need to know, and even… -
The Incredible Hulk & Jelly Bracelets
30 Apr 2012 | 8:49 amEvery time my daughter Chloe comes to the office she checks my desk. She runs in, looks, and makes sure that the Incredible Hulk is there… With jelly bracelets on his head. I’m not quite sure when this started. But I do remember her being in my office, taking off her bracelets and putting them ever so delicately on top of the Incredible Hulk’s head. I didn’t think much of it that day. But, every day since then, I remember the moment. “Why?” you ask. Well, because the Hulk holds my cords to plug in my laptop so they don’t fall back behind the desk. -
What If… Everybody’s Welcome @Forefront757?
29 Apr 2012 | 8:05 pmToday we started our journey towards being in a permanent location for Forefront Church. It’s Exciting. Scary. Terrifying. Filled with Anticipation. It’s going to be glorious. “Why?” you might ask. Well, because we’re chasing after a biblical mission: to spread the love and grace of Jesus. Because His role was to come and “seek & save the lost.” (Luke 19:10). But, this isn’t going to be easy. Following God never is. It takes prayer, connection with God on a personal level, so as a church we can be sure we’re fulfilling what God… -
I’m Introverted. Where Do I Fit?- Part 2
25 Apr 2012 | 1:37 pmNot everybody feels comfortable in the church culture that’s been created. And by comfortable, I mean the introverts can feel a little left behind in a world of “engage, connect, share, be in community, etc.” It isn’t easy to connect with people when you’re an introvert. Actually it’s downright awkward and terrifying. A handful of people in our student ministry have this running joke when something awkward happens, “It’s not awkward unless you make it.” Well, I hate to burst anyone’s bubble here, but that couldn’t be… -
Change Who Waits: In The News
23 Apr 2012 | 6:01 pmWe’ve been very thankful for all the attention the Change Who Waits rallies are getting, both in Richmond and here in Hampton Roads. In the 757, The Current had us on during the Vertical Radio Show (Saturdays 5-10pm) to discuss the rally. A few other radio spots on other stations should be popping up in the coming week. Today, WVEC’s Lucy Bustamante came out to the Forefront Church office to discuss the need for the rallies and how people can get involved. Very thankful they came out to cover this story (read the story here) and looking to see everyone come out and learn…
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LeadingSmart
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I Hope You Had a Great Mother’s Day
14 May 2012 | 8:16 amTo all the moms who get up early to make lunches and check backpacks, I hope you had a great Mother’s Day. To all the moms with teens who love you but don’t know how to show it so it comes off more like disdain or disinterest, I hope you had a great Mother’s Day. To all the moms who read to your kids every day, help them with homework, pay for tutors and still have a child who struggles in school, I hope you had a great Mother’s Day. To all the moms who spend more time behind the wheel of your car than a taxi cab driver just to get your kids from point a to point b and… -
McGoldrick Family Fund
9 May 2012 | 2:15 pmSince 1989, Patrick & Dena McGoldrick have spent their lives helping teens, most recently at Cornerstone Baptist Church in Roseville, MI. Literally thousands of students have been impacted in Kentucky, Illinois and Michigan because of their ministry. On December 5, 2011, Patrick was diagnosed with ALS. This is a life-ending disease for which there is no cure. A few people live many years with ALS, but most do not. Patrick’s disease is progressing quickly—and his ability to speak is becoming more difficult each day. In April, he preached his last message at his church, and they… -
Stalk People Before You Hire Them
8 May 2012 | 6:24 amFacebook. Twitter. Tumblr. Instagram. Blogs. These social networking tools (and scores of others) have changed everything about hiring staff, finding volunteers and leading people. Why? Because everything you’ve posted, tweeted, commented, emailed, sent—it’s all out there. Seth Godin says it this way: “Google never forgets.” A report from the University of Evansville seems to back this. They found that more and more employers are turning to the internet to screen applicants. The study determined that employers were able to determine with a “surprising level of accuracy”… -
Shawn Lovejoy: “Why Are So Many Church Leaders Falling?”
7 May 2012 | 6:45 amThis is a guest blog post written by Shawn Lovejoy, a pastor and Christian leader whom I trust and who has become a great friend. My good friends Ed Stetzer of Lifeway Research and Todd Wilson of the Exponential Network conducted research in 2010 that only confirmed what I have sensed and seen for years. Their research showed that most pastors don’t feel “successful” in their ministries. In their research, most pastors admitted to struggling with the battle to overcome pride and drivenness; loneliness and isolation; mistrust; lack of rest; maintaining joy. The question I’ve been… -
We Recently Emerged from a Five-Year Winter.
3 May 2012 | 10:38 amI live in northern Indiana near the shores of Lake Michigan. Winter begins in early November and typically doesn’t let up until late March. It’s five months of howling winds and snowy roads. The weather systems come across from Chicago, pick up moisture off the relatively warm waters of the lake and dump it as snow on our walks and driveways. Last year over 110” of snow landed in our front yards. I enjoy living in a place where there are four very distinct seasons. But winter gets extremely long. By early March, I’m usually wondering why I decided to live in such a place. Everything…
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Rich Kirkpatrick's Weblog
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New Worship Mythbusters Podcast – Episode 14 with Rick Muchow
15 May 2012 | 7:19 pmI am excited to have my friend Rick Muchow as a guest on Worship MythBusters Podcast, Episode 14. We talk about transition and other fun stuff after he served 24 plus years under Rick Warren at Saddleback Church. Rick is so down to earth and authentic every time I talk to him. Leaders of all stripes should listen to this guy and learn from his attitude. Also, his book The Worship Answer Book is now available in digital formats. -
Gay Marriage: Why use the word? A different view on the subject by a person of faith
14 May 2012 | 12:57 pmI may not appease too many with this article, including some friends. All I ask is that no matter where you are on the political spectrum that you read with the hope of finding common ground where there are divergent cultural and religious views. Christians should be thinking people, as is our history from sciences to art. When it comes to politics we run to the right or left. I suggest we do not always have to make that choice. As the photo presents, our President made a very polarizing and political statement. I am attempting to actually have a discussion that is a bit less rhetorical and… -
Instagram Addiction and Squished Pictures – Are you in?
7 May 2012 | 12:06 amInstagram is an addiction. If you have an iPhone or Droid smart phone you may have already been hooked. Like most social networking apps, Instagram has its rockstars. TransitionPete has led many of us to use the squish technique each day in May. Part of the allure for me is the community in real time. People who also love coffee, food, family, and music love to connect with me. I would love to connect with some of you lurkers, so I dare you to leave your username for Instagram and the favorite subject you photograph. Here is my feed for Instagram (rkweblog). -
5 Things that keep creatives up at night!
2 May 2012 | 1:35 pm“Creativity is just connecting things.” – Steve Jobs, ” Wired Magazine, 1996 5 Things That Keep Creatives Up At Night: Everything. Everything. Everything. Everything. Everything. Did I leave anything out? One thing people who are not creatives must learn about us is that we “process” things to death. It is part of seeing globally before executing a design, finishing a song, or solving a problem. All of it is mixed in together. The majority of people are linear and can compartmentalize their thinking. Creatives connect. After all, creativity is making connections… -
April 29 Worship Setlist and Recap: Venia Church, Murrieta, CA
30 Apr 2012 | 1:40 pmThis past weekend I was honored with the task of guest leading worship for a brand new church plant’s third public worship service. Venia Church is a new church in Murrieta, CA that has been meeting in a pizza parlor. Pastor Tim Thompson used a trash can for a pulpit to deliver the sermon in a room full of local sport team banners and shirts that celebrate the community gathering that takes place in such a locale. If Jesus can be birthed in a barn, I think birthing a church in a pizza place simply rocks! Right off the bat, this group of people sang. These committed worshippers did not…
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Ministry Best Practices
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Ministry And Identity
14 May 2012 | 2:05 pmI once heard a pastor unwittingly verbalize this problem well. My brother Tedd and I were at a large Christian life conference listening to a well-known pastor speak on family worship. He told stories of the zeal, discipline, and dedication of the great fathers of our faith to personal and family worship. He painted astounding pictures of what their private and family devotions looked like. I think all of us felt it was very convicting and discouraging. I felt the weight of the burden of the crowd as they listened. I was saying to myself, "Comfort us with grace, comfort us with grace," but… -
Top 10 Signs Of A Dying Church
10 May 2012 | 5:41 pm10. There’s plenty of parking near the building for weekend services. 9. You can always get your favorite seat, or simply ask who is sitting in it to move.8. The music is always familiar, and never too loud.7. The pastor has been in everyone’s home, and knows everybody’s name.6. You are never asked for money.5. Phrases like, “We’ve never done it that way before,” “I’m not being faithless, just realistic,” “Why pray? God’s gonna do what God’s gonna do,” “If God wants His church to grow it will grow – we don’t have to do anything,” and “They really should do… -
Remember This ONE Simple Thing!
9 May 2012 | 10:59 pmSomeone's NAME! Remembering names is one of the most important things you can do when you are meeting guests on Sunday morning. I remember reading in college, Dale Carnegie's book, How to Win friends and Influence people ( a pretty manipulative title, I know!) and it had one point that I will never forget - A person's favorite sound is hearing their own name. Using a person's name provides a point of connection. It communicates care and that they matter. We shouldn't just remember names for self-serving reasons, but rather because every person we meet is special, they matter to God. But on a… -
The Millennial Teenager
7 May 2012 | 4:47 pmCourtesy of: Online Schools -
A Question For Your Staff Meetings
2 May 2012 | 12:50 pmYou've begun another staff meeting. And like many meetings in the past, this one will have the tendency to meander or get bogged down in the weeds with minor issues magnified to look like major problems. Instead of letting your staff meetings be pulled by the tyranny of the urgent or get distracted, it is important that your meetings, as well as your staff, remain focused and constantly drawn back to the vision. That is why I love this quote from Andy Stanley on a key question he brings to his staff meetings. “What did you see, hear, or experience this week that makes…
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Klampert
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Onsong and Pageflip: a match made in heaven?
2 May 2012 | 3:20 pmI remember it like yesterday. It actually wasn’t yesterday, but about a year ago when the IPAD 2 came out and I brought it home. One of the main reasons I bought it, besides being an extension to my design business, is that I had found the app ONSONG. If you have been living under the “worship leader rock” let me break it down for you in simple terms. For years worship leaders have had many 3″ binders filled to the brim with loads of sheet music. On top of that we have been killing trees to print copies of charts transposed in 35 keys and variations for our vocalists,… -
Pete Wilson “empty promises” book review
12 Apr 2012 | 8:24 amI am a huge fan of Pete Wilson as a pastor, blogger, parent and aquiantence. Pretty much anything he says I want to hear. I read his first book “plan B” three times and am currently discussing it in my churches small group. Because of this when I received an advance copy of “empty promises” I was very excited. Sadly it took me a little longer to get to than I’d hoped. This morning as I fed my kids breakfast I cracked it open and in about an hour I had digested the whole thing. (I am a fast reader) This book was fantastic. I have been in ministry for a long time… -
The Grace Effect book review
29 Mar 2012 | 12:37 pmThe Grace Effect How the Power of One Life Can Reverse the Corruption of Unbelief By Larry Taunton I received this book to review a few months ago and I have to say it was an ok read. In the book he uses his adoption of his youngest daughter from the world of communism as the underbed for his book. He uses it to basically to show that God’s grace exists through the presence of Christians. He comes to great conclussions with beautiful examples however I just could not get into this book. I remember reading Blue like jazz which had a “blog” style of writing and this one is… -
Sun Stands Still Book review
27 Mar 2012 | 3:16 pmSun Stands Still by Steven Furtik I received this book to review over a year ago and have been slow to post a review of it. It might be because I am lazy, but it is also because I have read it multiple times. I have devoured it’s content and even discussed it in a small group that I lead. This is one amazing book derived around the story in the bible where the sun actual did stand still because God responded to an audacious prayer. I have learned a lot through reading this. I love how furtick lays out the need for us to not only dream big but pray with ferver and without ceasing. This… -
Top 20 Worship songs according to me
10 Mar 2012 | 12:09 amWorship Leader Magazine continued their series of “Top 20s” with a post of their top 20 songs of the last 20 years. I was floored by their choices once again and found myself disagreeing with much of it. I felt like “songs that impact the church” is much less subjective and should make sense but it didn’t. Because of this I decided to create the top 20 worship songs that impact me. These are the songs that grip me, give me goosebumps, and bring me in Jesus presence like no other. They are listed in random order. Some you may think odd choices. What did you…
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Shaun In The City
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HopeMob is Working!
24 Apr 2012 | 1:47 pmHey Everybody! We have some amazing to share with you! 160+ people from all over the world chipped in to make little Wyatt’s wish come true and we’re not wasting time! The project is starting today and we will send you updates soon! Thank each of you that chipped in and all of you that spread the word. This is why we created HopeMob! Now, we have a brand new Featured Story. Meet Carey Fuller - an amazing woman and mother on the streets of Seattle. See that van? They live in it. Carey doesn’t want a handout – she just wants a job! All of us hate… -
Why I Put Deadlines on My Dreams
6 Apr 2012 | 3:39 pm(This post has not been edited for errors) At my core I’m a dreamer. I have a million ideas. Only a very small number of them ever make it of my mind. When they do, I give them deadlines. If you don’t give your dream a hardcore deadline, you will absolutely talk yourself out of pursuing it. I fancy myself to be an aggressive dream-pursuer but even I hear so many voices (internal & external) that tell me my dreams are crap and that I should drop them. I bet you have talked yourself out of dozens of dreams. In fact, I’m willing to bet that the most revolutionary,… -
Why I’ve been bi-vocational for 10+ years
2 Apr 2012 | 8:08 pm(Not edited for errors and written on the go) With a few exceptions I’ve worked anywhere from 2-4 jobs at a time for the past 10 years. I have 3 jobs right now. Most people know me for HopeMob, but I’m working two other jobs right now so that it’s even possible for me to pursue this dream. If you believe in something enough you will work your vocation all day and your dream at night … Or vice versa. My two primary jobs also allowed me to have funds to get HopeMob started. I will keep these jobs until I just can’t make it work anymore. Hopefully by that time… -
The Dehumanization, Criminalization, and Quadruple Murder of Trayvon Martin.
27 Mar 2012 | 2:08 pm(Preface: As a matter of personal policy, I no longer blog or tweet about my political thoughts, ideas, and preferences. This case, one of murder, in my strong opinion, transcends politics and should be discussed by tempered minds. If you’d like to discuss this post with me, Tweet me: @ShaunKing. I wrote this on the 6 hour plane ride from NYC back home to Southern California.) —– Under no circumstance would it ever be acceptable to kill “this” Trayvon Martin. His cheeks are too squishy, his eyes too… -
An Update on My Family and Our Future
21 Mar 2012 | 1:18 pm(This post has not been edited for errors. These are my raw thoughts.) Last September, I stepped down as Pastor of Courageous Church in Atlanta after some real leadership conflicts. I tried to do some revolutionary stuff there and it just didn’t work. I’ve blogged about that here many times. In the end, I was all the way beat down and about as depressed as I’ve ever been in my entire adult life. I was in such a low place. One of my heroes, Dave Gibbons, reached out to me and offered to move our family out to Southern California for a 3 month period of detox and…
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Christian Personal Finance
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It All Belongs to God: A Devotional
16 May 2012 | 10:00 amPsalm 50:10-12 – “For every beast of the forest is Mine, the cattle on a thousand hills. I know every bird of the mountains, and everything that moves in the field is Mine. If I were hungry I would not tell you, for the world is Mine, and all it contains.” Our Nature For you and me it was an old worn out tool, but to a little boy it was a treasure … and it was mine! Little Aaron was playing with daddy’s tool belt left on the floor after a long day of work. Quickly he noticed the most fascinating multifunction screwdriver and took off to accomplish some minor repairs around the… -
How to Hire Financial Help
15 May 2012 | 10:00 amHiring a financial professional can be a daunting task. It can be a bit like dating – you need to understand yourself and what you need out of the relationship. Get up to speed on the lingo of professional credentials. Then you can look for some good candidates to team up with you. Finally, a few clicks on the Internet can confirm credentials and find out about any past problems. What is your current situation? The hardest step in meeting with a professional is doing your homework first! Take time to gather some general information about your household that includes a list of your assets… -
How to Train Others: Five Lessons From Jesus
14 May 2012 | 10:00 amWhether you hire workers for your own business, train co-workers within the context of your current position, or equip others for ministry in your church, you should consider the following lessons from the Master trainer: 1. Be real during the interview process. If you are salivating over a prospective employee, don’t succumb to the temptation of sugar coating the job. When a teacher of religious law asked Jesus if he could follow him, Jesus replied, “Foxes have dens to live in, and birds have nests, but the Son of Man has no place to even lay his head.” (Matthew 8:20) If you… -
How Residual Income Works: What You Need To Know
11 May 2012 | 10:00 amAre you stressed out by your paid-by-the-hour job? Do you feel like you’ll never make a substantial income? Then you should take some time to learn how residual income can help you relax and increase your profits at the same time. Are you ready? Linear Income vs. Residual Income The Definition of Linear Income With linear income, you do work and get paid once. Pretty simple. Like many of you, I was raised as a kid to produce linear income. I was told by teachers that the way to make a living was to go to college, get a steady paying job, and support a family. All of that is great, but… -
The Basics of Value Investing
10 May 2012 | 10:00 amIn today’s mutual fund–and computer–driven investment environment value investing can sound almost exotic. Yet it’s probably the most time-honored way to successfully invest in stocks. It has none of the thrill of watching your portfolio grow every quarter or every year in bull markets, but it can be a cozy place to be when the market is heading the other way. Think of it as being as close to “patient capital” as it gets in the stock market. What is Value Investing? Value investing is buying stocks that are lower in price than other stocks in the same industry group. This can be…
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JakeBouma.com
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Adam Walker Cleaveland on Cancer & Theology
15 May 2012 | 12:09 pmThis post is a part of a series which features an assortment of adroit voices exploring how to think theologically about cancer and those who have it. Read the series introduction or view all posts in the series. Like others have mentioned, there will be profanity in this post. If you don't like that - go ahead and skip this post. Jake asked me to blog about cancer and theology. At first, I wasn't sure I'd have much to say. I mean, I don't have cancer. But then, I got thinking and realized that my grandmommy died of cancer and my granddaddy died of cancer and my uncle died of cancer and my… -
Chemotherapy, round five and the mental struggle [+Video]
8 May 2012 | 6:43 pmThe latest video update is below. If you're unable to see the embedded video, click here to watch it on YouTube. If you don't mind, please be sure to "like" the video by clicking the thumbs-up while it's paused. Thanks! As I mention in the video, one of the things I find myself struggling with lately is how to balance the continuing documentation of my treatment and all of its side-effects while remaining sensitive to the fact that nobody wants to watch video after video of me complaining and/or sleeping/vomiting/cramping, etc. In fact, during those times the last thing I think to do is reach… -
Carol Howard Merritt on Cancer & Theology
7 May 2012 | 9:59 amThis post is a part of a series which features an assortment of adroit voices exploring how to think theologically about cancer and those who have it. Read the series introduction or view all posts in the series. Our family is moving. As we pack up our stuff, making sure that each item is securely packaged, I’m also shifting things inside myself. My husband is going to start a new church. For the first time in fourteen years, I will not be a pastor serving a particular congregation. As I sorted through this transition, my daughter asked why I loved being a pastor so much. I thought about my… -
The lost confirmation sermon of Dietrich Bonhoeffer
2 May 2012 | 11:22 amAbove: Dietrich Bonhoeffer poses with boys who have just been confirmed (Spring 1932). After Confirmation the boys of the Zion's Church congregation have a weekend getaway. On the evening of April 9, 1938, Dietrich Bonhoeffer preached a sermon he'd written for his small group of confirmation students — Maximilian von Wedemeyer, Spes von Bismarck, and Hans-Friederich von Kleist-Retzow — on the estate of the Kleist-Retzow family. Though penned nearly seventy-five years ago, his words to the young confirmands are, in my opinion, as germane and stirring as ever. Unfortunately, the text of… -
Andy Root on Cancer & Theology
30 Apr 2012 | 10:03 amThis post is a part of a series which features an assortment of adroit voices exploring how to think theologically about cancer and those who have it. Read the series introduction or view all posts in the series. Warning: I'm going to start crassly and swear in this post... so if you don't like that kind of thing, do something else on the internet. Jake asked specifically to NOT address his cancer in this post, so I won't, rather I'll do what I’ve tried to do with all my own theological work: I'll try to seek for God by addressing my own existential issues with this demon called cancer. But…
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Echo Hub » Posts
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The Best and Worst Question
16 May 2012 | 10:07 amI have a friend who, every so often, asks me the question I least want to answer and most need to answer. For a private and closed-off person like me, it’s the best and worst question: How’s your heart? I don’t know how he knows to ask — maybe he knows we have a lot in common or he just senses it. I don’t know how he chooses his moments, but it’s always at the right time. It happened again yesterday morning in a text message. How’s your heart? I love it. I hate it. I answer honestly … eventually. But first I have to resist the urge to placate him with my usual evasive… -
New in the Store: Cosmonaut
15 May 2012 | 1:54 pmWhen I blogged about a great new iPad app called Paper a few weeks ago, I also mentioned my beloved Cosmonaut stylus. What I didn’t mention at the time was that we’d been working for months to get a batch of Cosmonauts for the Echo Hub Store. Last week, we finally got that batch, and you can see Cosmonaut here. Cosmonaut is a beautiful stylus for iPads and other touchscreen devices that began in 2011 as a Kickstarter project (of which I was a backer). Now Cosmonaut is available to the masses, and as you can see from this feature on The Verge, it stands up well against competition… -
Get 12 Free mp3s from Integrity Music and Kingsway
14 May 2012 | 10:43 amYou’ve gotta love Twitter. I know I do. One of my favorite things about Twitter is that it makes meeting someone for the first time exciting instead of awkward. For instance, I’ve been tweeting back and forth with Jim Gray for years now, and last week we finally got to meet at Catalyst Dallas. Jim works for Integrity Music and Kingsway, the music divisions of David C. Cook, and during our conversation he told me about how to get 12 free mp3s from artists such as All Sons & Daughters, Paul Baloche, Leigh Nash, and Desperation Band from WorshipForward.com. To me, great music is one of… -
Heaven and Hell
10 May 2012 | 9:25 amThe year after I stepped away from pastoral ministry was a difficult one. To help me process the feelings I was experiencing, I invited a counselor friend to coffee. His name was Ron, and he was amazing. As a part of his life-giving words to me, he included this: “Gary. You are an artist. Because of this, you will experience higher highs than I ever will. But you will also experience lower lows than I ever will.” Then, he said something I’ll never forget. “Don’t try to change that, because you can’t.” And after I pursued that with him for the next thirty minutes, I began to… -
Believe In the Work
9 May 2012 | 10:04 amUntil last week, I’d never heard of Ashok Gadgil. Thanks to this Co.EXIST article, I now know Gadgil is a professor who helped invent a means of disinfecting water using ultraviolet light. Thanks to Gadgil, five million people in India, Liberia, Nigeria, the Philippines, and Ghana have clean water every day. Five million people. And although Gadgil’s work is recognized inside the science and engineering communities, he’s relatively unknown throughout the rest of the world. Even in the regions where his work saves lives on a daily basis, nobody knows his name. Contrast that with the…
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1000churches - Kingdom Ministry On The Net - Bishop James I Feel God Brown
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Federal Judge Tells Mayor You're Wrong,
20 Apr 2012 | 1:22 pmTrial Continues on Charges Bolingbrook Tried Illegally to Prevent Church from Worshiping BOLINGBROOK, Ill., April 20, 2012 /Christian Newswire/ -- Liberty... -
Internet Ministry: Small Town Pastor Touches Over 50,000 People Worldwide Per Month
6 Apr 2012 | 8:32 pmPINE HAVEN, Wyo., April 6, 2012 /Christian Newswire/ -- Never in his wildest imagination did Pastor Duke Taber of the... -
Black Leaders, King, Gardner, Broden: Senseless Killing of Trayvon Martin Calls for Justice
27 Mar 2012 | 5:10 amATLANTA, March 27, 2012 /Christian Newswire/ -- Trayvon Martin's death is senseless, and we are deeply grieved that a... -
Is Your Church Sending People To Heaven ... EARLY?
20 Mar 2012 | 12:45 amDaniel G. Amen, M.D. Wants to Help Prevent Churches from 'Sending People to Heaven ... Early' NEWPORT, Calif., March 20, 2012... -
Guideposts/OurPrayer -- Good Friday Day of Prayer -- April 6, 2012
19 Mar 2012 | 9:00 amDANBURY, Conn., March 19, 2012 /Christian Newswire/ -- May We Pray for You? The Guideposts OurPrayer Ministry, announces its 42nd...
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Solar Crash... Where heaven and earth collide.
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You are a writer
26 Apr 2012 | 2:00 pmJust finished Jeff Goins soon-to-be released book “You are a writer” And yes, I read this because I’ve been in hiding working on a book. It’s almost done too. Content is there, but pulling it together, cutting and editing has been making me hemorrhage . More to be unveiled later. Goins does a great job addressing core issues any artist faces – reasons behind our craft, identity, and the unending insecurity. Steven Pressfield‘s influences are all over it, though I’d expect nothing less. Goins goes further in gently taking the reader through… -
Do what other’s won’t
16 Apr 2012 | 1:30 pmImage credit -
unstash manifesto
12 Apr 2012 | 10:27 amIt’s been a bit quiet here, but I’m still alive. The above image is a manifesto I wrote up for unstash. It’s received some great attention, but could use more. Please keep passing it around. I’m also working on a new writing project. More on that soon. -
What God said…
27 Feb 2012 | 2:52 pmSince being commissioned out of Mosaic, our family has been taking the opportunity to explore what God might be doing in and through other communities of faith in the city. I love the above song/video by Anthony David that was aired during our most recent experience. I’m thrilled that there are communities out there that are unafraid to confront the subtle lies and shear lunacy held by some religious circles. Lyrics: Shake the hand my imaginary friend See the trouble he gets in Can’t he be trace back to me He can pretend at the slightest of his whim He has the power to suspend all… -
that thing you do
6 Feb 2012 | 11:20 amvia Chase Jarvis Your thoughts?
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My World
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No Party for You
15 May 2012 | 11:11 amI had my every other week coffee time with Jason Wood today. Always walk away from that time encouraged, challenged and wishing it lasted longer. I know many pastors don’t have someone in their life that challenges and encourages them, I used to be one of them, but it is a sad way to live. But that’s another topic. Each time, we go through some questions together and one of them is, “What is God teaching you right now?” Jason talked about how he’s reading through the book of Luke and in Luke 17 Jesus talks about his servants and how they lived. It says: “Will… -
The Question we Ask After Church to our Kids
14 May 2012 | 5:53 pmSaw this on Alex Absolam’s blog the other day. It’s all about what you learned What’s the first question we ask our kids after church? ”What did you learn today?” It’s a telling question if you think about it for a moment. It infers that what is most important at church is what we learn (information). Of course students will learn more in a setting designed just for them and therefore having them in adult church can not be too helpful. But what if we changed the question? Aren’t there better questions to ask after church? What if we started to ask our kids,… -
Links to Start the Week Off
14 May 2012 | 9:00 amThe gospel coalition on How to win the public on homosexuality. I think the points made in this article as to how we should engage this debate is right on. Our view of this reveals so much about our view of ourselves, God and his plan for our lives. What sermon prep really looks like. Yep. Filed under: links Tagged: barack obama, colin hansen, gay marriage, pastor, sermon prep -
Links to End the Week On
11 May 2012 | 5:27 pmCharles Stone on Preaching sticky sermons. Great post. Brad Lomenick on How to get things done. Super helpful. 4 reasons to preach through books of the Bible. This sums up why we preach like we do at Revolution. Leadership training that works. Scott Williams 5 reasons you should tweet in church. 5 books you should read if you preach or if you want to preach. If you are a parent at Revolution Church, here is why you need to pick up the family bible study each week. Using Pinterest for the glory of God. Filed under: links Tagged: aaron armstrong, brad lomenick, charles stone,… -
Responding to the Same-Sex Marriage Debate as a Christian
11 May 2012 | 12:56 pmThe debate surrounding same-sex marriage has been all over the news and internet this past week. I’ve gotten questions about how to respond as a follower of Jesus and since so many others have already responded, I thought I’d just share some of the articles that have been the most helpful to me. Colin Hansen on How to win the public on homosexuality. I appreciate how Colin identifies the sin underneath the sin. That’s the issue, what drives our desires. Ed Stetzer on how Christians should respond. Trevin Wax on Why we lose this debate too often. This is a couple years old,…
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Mister Nifty
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Google Drive, The Dropbox Knockoff, The Data Mine
26 Apr 2012 | 11:10 pmThis is an obligatory post for Google Drive which is a direct knockoff of Dropbox. This week Google Drive went live to the public. If you know about Dropbox, you know everything there is to know about Google Drive. Other than wonky space sharing with their other services (Gmail, Picasa, etc…), Google Drive is an almost feature-for-feature knockoff. I was a bit perplexed a few weeks back when Dropbox upped my storage limit to 16GB for past referrals, and I’ve never paid them a penny. They now give 500MB for each referral. I also noticed their new file sharing feature went live in… -
The Cardinal Sin of Design
27 Sep 2011 | 2:54 amAbout ten years ago, I was sitting in a graphic design class and the teacher asked us to present a composite image for a mock ad campaign. The first image presented was of a skyscraper and was stretched disproportionately vertically and horizontally. I’ll never forget the look of disgust on the teacher’s face as he lit into us about maintaining proportionality and ratio aspect. Our show-and-tell turned quickly into a diatribe that lasted the remainder of the class. He repeated “Stretching an image disproportionately is the cardinal sin of design” so many times it… -
My Favorite New Writing App WorkFlowy
21 Sep 2011 | 12:31 amI stumbled upon a simple web application called WorkFlowy. At first glance I was a bit bored to be honest. I thought, “Oh great, another online text editor and outline application.” But, I gave it a shot to see if I could organize an idea quickly. After writing a few outlined notes, I had the WorkFlowy epiphany. I accidentally pressed a key combination and it navigated the entire page into the sub outline I had created. I pressed it again, and it took me one level deeper, showing me only the information connected to that grandchild bullet. In other words, the zoom in/out feature… -
Free video converter for Android, iPad, iPhone formats
17 Aug 2011 | 10:54 amMiro is a super simple and free video converter for Mac that allows you to convert a plethora of video formats for quite a few mobile devices. I’ve used this plenty of times to optimize and convert videos for mobile devices. Video conversion is typically a techie task, but Miro makes it dead simple for anyone to easily convert videos. Here’s a screenshot of the video conversions that are available. What are you favorite video converters? Let us know in the comments. Get Miro Video Converter here Free video converter for Android, iPad, iPhone formats is a post from: Mister… -
NiftyMaps – Print Google Maps The Easy Way
25 Jul 2011 | 11:21 pmNiftyMaps is a small application to help you easily generate branded Google Maps printouts. NM was originally created for our church outreach visitation efforts. Typically, our admin staff would browse Google Maps and print off dozens and dozens of ugly Google Maps for the team. This was painstaking as it took many hours to complete this task. I built NiftyMaps to generate a large number of maps within minutes, formatted in a nicely branded template. Features Control your destiny with granular settings in the config file Allow a list of approved recipients to receive lists of generated map…
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The Resurgence
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Jesus Loses No One
16 May 2012 | 2:00 am“All that the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never cast out. For I have come down from heaven, not to do my own will but the will of him who sent me. And this is the will of him who sent me, that I should lose nothing of all that he has given me, but raise it up on the last day. For this is the will of my Father, that everyone who looks on the Son and believes in him should have eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day.” John 6:37–40 It’s easy for many of us to fall into thinking of God as angry and disappointed toward us,… -
Why You Should Send Your Worship Pastor to Re:Train
15 May 2012 | 2:00 pmJust a Guy Playing a Guitar In my experience, I’ve often observed the preaching pastor to be more of the theological heavyweight of the church and the worship pastor usually can get by with just knowing the basics of the gospel as long as he pulls his job off well for five songs on Sunday mornings. But that’s just a guy playing a guitar who needs a gospel-centered education. A worship pastor is someone entirely different. Talking Theology in a Bar Our worship pastor is Gregg Katz. Before coming to Four Corners, he was a security project manager in the field of… -
God’s Refrigerator Art
15 May 2012 | 2:00 amTry Harder My father loved me as best he knew how. I know he did. But he had a way of communicating to me about most everything I did: “Not quite good enough. You’ve got to try harder.” Grades and sports were where I most frequently received those messages. In hindsight, I’m sure he was projecting onto me his own sense that he was not doing quite enough in his own life. It wasn’t enough that he was the first generation of his family to go to college. It wasn’t enough that he had gone on to graduate school to earn a doctorate. After all, he only rose to the… -
Gospel Homework
14 May 2012 | 2:00 pmPastor Matt Chandler interviews Pastor Jonathan Dodson about his latest Re:lit book, Gospel-Centered Discipleship, and the "exciting" idea of gospel homework. Pick up your copy of Gospel-Centered Discipleship here -
Admit It. You're Stuck.
14 May 2012 | 2:00 amWhatever you do, work heartily, as for the Lord and not for men, knowing that from the Lord you will receive the inheritance as your reward. You are serving the Lord Christ. Colossians 3:23–24 Have you ever had a day, week, month, or year where you’ve felt stuck? (Or maybe you feel like this all the time?) Whether it be vocationally, spiritually, or relationally, you just feel like things aren’t moving along as they should. We’ve all been there. The question is, how do you get out of those seasons? The other day I went to help a friend get…
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ChurchCentral.com News
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The Church is not the Titanic (a mini manifesto)
12 May 2012 | 7:00 pmI'm not trying to stick my head in the sand. I can read a bar graph as well the next guy. I know The Church is struggling. I also know that for myself, and for every church I've been a part of, there …Read more... -
6 distinct FLASH MOB secrets for your church
10 May 2012 | 7:00 pmDo you tear up at those YouTube flash mob videos where unsuspecting people are suddenly serenaded by dozens of extraordinarily talented strangers? I do—every time! I've tried to figure out why …Read more... -
Critical Abilities, Part 5
10 May 2012 | 7:00 pmEngaging the Power! In this final piece I want to present one more critical ability necessary for missional leaders to turn churches around and get them on the right track toward healthy growth. If …Read more... -
Staying Power: Pastor Gordon pleads to not be fired
9 May 2012 | 7:00 pmAt the weekend retreat, an elder of Clarkston Church drew me aside. "We've decided to call for Pastor Gordon's removal. This weekend has been one long sales job. He's trying to get us to buy his …Read more... -
Five warning signs of declining church health
9 May 2012 | 7:00 pmDecember 17, 2004, should have been a day of celebration. Nellie Jo and I had been married 27 years on that date. We were in Naples, Florida, enjoying the sunshine and each other. Then the phone …Read more...
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ChurchCrunch
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Funny & Scary: The Impossible Texting & Driving Test [Video]
16 May 2012 | 1:00 pmServing in a youth ministry, I have the responsibility to respond to several different kinds of crisis moments. From things as small as a girl getting dumped by a boy to the much larger issues like parents getting a divorce, I have seen it all. My heart breaks for them when tragedy strikes. So hot topic issues like texting while driving bring my blood to a boil. Teens think they are invincible and it is okay to try to do both, but that is just not the case. More and more traffic accidents are due to texting. If we want to reduce the 1.2 million traffic victims worldwide each year, we have to… -
Disqus Gets Some New Goodies!
16 May 2012 | 10:00 amI am a big fan of the Disqus commenting system and have completely bought into it for my own personal blog. While the free package is everything that I could need, they do have a paid version that has a lot of fun additions to it that I would love to have a hold of and have been jealous that I could not get to use yet. To my joy, Disqus is now rolling out a 2012 package for free that includes several new goodies! The focus is to offer a commenting system that promotes community, discussion, and furthering of the content written. Disqus 2012 Commenting System Here is a quick overview from… -
FREE eBook – Podcasting Church – Today Only!
16 May 2012 | 9:00 amI love Churchm.ag. It’s part of my daily “beat check” of technology blogs. The varied content here is a lot like Lifehacker, but the stories have a decidedly Christian spin. That’s why I was happy when Eric allowed me to write for it. A couple of weeks ago, with Eric’s permission, I posted a link to my newsletter in the weekly Saturday/Sunday share post. I was honored when he subscribed. This week I mentioned to my subscribers that I’d be giving away my first book Podcasting Church for free on Kindle today, Wednesday, May 16, 2012 between 3:00 am eastern… -
Easily Add Beautiful Timelines to Your Website
16 May 2012 | 7:00 amThis is the most beautiful timeline I’ve seen in a very long time. It not only boasts some ridiculously awesome features, but’s it’s easy to use, too! Have a WordPress site? They’ve got a plugin, too! Timeline This takes timelines to a whole new level as the added elements are completely interactive: Twitter YouTube Flickr Vimeo Google Maps SoundCloud More to come! So, if you add a Google Map, the user can zoom-in and out. Adding a YouTube video or SoundCloud file? The scrub will respond just the same. And when you’re filling in you timeline, you can do it one… -
N.T. Wright Sings the Beatles
15 May 2012 | 7:00 pmCan't see the video in your RSS reader or email? Click Here! But wait, there’s more! Here are some more videos of N.T. Wright preforming: Dylan’s “When the Ship Comes In” and Sydney Carter’s “Friday Morning.” [via The Rabbit Room] You just finished reading "N.T. Wright Sings the Beatles" on ChurchMag! Feel free to comment on it! We use the Standard Theme for our blog platform!
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Brian Barela's Blog: Catalyze Change
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Real Innovation Disrupts the Status Quo
14 May 2012 | 11:23 am“How much a company spends on innovation doesn’t matter, because what’s important is what the company spends on real breakthroughs rather than sustaining ideas.”–Better, Faster, Cheaper is Not Innovation This quote referenced Kodak’s (and many other companies) investment in R&D that improves existing technology, rather than disruptive technology. It also applies to why many efforts of ministries and non-profits to “innovate” on social or digital media fall flat. I’ve seen upwards of 100 iPhone apps designed by ministries or non-profits… -
The Value of Moving Away from the Top Down Mindset
11 May 2012 | 8:54 am“Make them love the kingdom, not the king. The best $$ I ever made was when other people thought it was their idea.” @chrisbrogan #MRUshift — Alexandra Rutley (@AlexandraRutley) May 10, 2012 I discovered this tweet yesterday and it resonated with a key shift that many ministries need to make. Many ministries have a top down structure, and communicate from a “me first, you second” position. The King is the starting and ending point, and communications seek to make him stand out amongst the rest. I’ve noticed that the most innovative and powerful… -
Overwhelmed Trying to Keep Up on Social Media for Your Ministry? The Non-Profit Life Raft is Here!
10 May 2012 | 1:03 pm“Overwhelmed…” …is the word I hear most when talking to ministry leaders about social media. Many ministries and non-profits have less than one full-time person assigned to leading their social media efforts (by that I mean most do something else besides social media). Or if there is a full-time position, that person often reports to multiple people, making it difficult to see significant progress in any area. The Non-Profit Life Raft is a weekly email to help you keep your head above water. It’s not everything that’s going on, but the key trends, reports,… -
Do Your Volunteers and Staff Have Permission to Engage?
8 May 2012 | 8:38 pm“Successful social business leaders recognize that engagement at scale is only realized when the company is able to move beyond mere fan acquisition tactics and actually cultivate a core community of advocates.”–Advocacy, Dachis Group A social media specialist or community manager are critical to a ministry’s social media strategy, but unleashing staff and volunteers to engage on social media on behalf of your ministry or non-profit will achieve greater results. Strategy and tactics to capture fans and followers often come before training and educating staff. Sandy… -
5 Tips to Improve or Help You Blog More Often
8 May 2012 | 1:57 pmYou want 5 quick things to make your blogging better? Brevity. Cut posts to sub-500 words. Structure. Write something others can USE. Simplicity. Big words are pretty. Help people understand the point, instead. Positivity. Writing angrily only works if you want to attract angry people. Outward-facing. Write more about others than you ever do about yourself. –via Chris Brogan
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Zak White
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How to Bless Your Pastor
15 May 2012 | 8:26 amBefore you read this, please understand something. This blog isn’t about me personally. Yes, I am a pastor. But I am writing this to help anyone who wants to genuinely bless their pastor. I am not writing to complain about my own experience. That said… We are having a baby girl in about two months. I am blown away at how generous the people are at Revolution Church. They have already brought us gifts and are making plans to bring us meals after the baby arrives. All of this is what got me (and Amber) thinking and ultimately led me to blog this. How can you best bless your pastor? -
Shhh Mind Dump
14 May 2012 | 8:19 amI still can’t believe that I preached an entire 30 minute message without speaking a word yesterday! If you missed it, the video will be up Monday on our Revolution Church APP or you can watch it here starting Tuesday. I shared a message called “Shhh” all about being still. To preach, I used printed signs, slides, live typing and live writing during the service. We for the “un-scripted” parts of the sermon we utilized an apple TV and an ipad. You could hear a pin drop during the service. It was funny while we were planning this message out…every single… -
The Most Quiet Place on Earth
10 May 2012 | 4:46 pmI read this week that there is a lab in Minneapolis that is 99.99% sound proof. It holds the Guinness World’s Record for being the quietest place on Earth. It is made out of 3-foot thick fiberglass acoustic wedges, double walls of insulated steel and concrete that’s over a foot thick. NASA rents out the room to train astronauts. Whirlpool has used it to test washing machines. The Harley Davidson Company used it to make their motorcycles more quiet. Steven Orfield, the President of the Company that created the sound proof lab, said that when he goes inside, he can hear the artificial valve… -
Dazzle
7 May 2012 | 1:40 amVia Amber: Dear Ladies, I hope that you will join us for our first ever DAZZLE this Friday from 6:15-8:00pm. You can register now by going here. All women from age 13 to age 130 are invited!!! Every day you give of yourselves to others, and meet needs until your head hits the pillow at night. Dazzle is how we cheer each other on and encourage each other. We need other women to help refresh us, challenge us, and love on us. That is exactly why DAZZLE exists. I pray that DAZZLE will be the beginning of a spiritual revolution in your life. See ya Friday! Starting a Revolution, Amber White -
The CandyMan
2 May 2012 | 8:18 amThe Guardians of the Children call him the CandyMan. Tyler Sparks is a 17 year old young man that is serious about generosity. We had him on stage sharing about how he recently raised $15,000 for the Judson High School Special Olympics team so that they could go to state. I won’t tell the whole story…just watch the Fox News video below and my interview with Tyler. The story speaks for itself. The best part is that he isn’t stopping with this…listen to his plans for the future. Greater things! I think Tyler is a great role model to us all. Imagine a world where the…
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Business as Mission Network
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Amy Sherman Speaks on Participating in God's Work
10 May 2012 | 5:55 am -
Kingdom Calling: Vocational Stewardship for the Common Good
26 Apr 2012 | 5:55 amImagine the scenarios: a CEO successfully negotiates a corporate merger, avoiding hundreds of layoffs in the process an artist completes a mosaic for public display at a bank, showcasing neighborhood heroes a contractor creates a work-release program in cooperation with a local prison, growing the business and seeing countless former inmates turn their lives around a high-school principal -
Hiring ex-cons is more than a mission of mercy. It can be smart business.
24 Apr 2012 | 5:55 amJames Reiner, our good friend from Colorado has been up to some great things combining business and ministry. For James, hiring ex-cons to be a part of his business has been more than just a mission of mercy. It's been smart business. Christianity Today paid James a visit and wrote this article in their tour across several cities for their "This is Our City" series. Recidivism is an ungainly -
More on the Launch of a Major New Business as Mission Initiative
19 Apr 2012 | 5:55 amGuest Post by Josie Plummer and Mats Tunehag - Every movement that wants to continue to grow needs to have a habit of evaluation and innovation. The 2ndGlobal Think Tank on Business as Mission is designed to catalyze this kind of practice-focused development. The aim of this new Think Tank is to invigorate the global business as mission movement.Between 2003 and 2004 a group of almost 100 -
Gabe Lyons Calls the Church to Integrate Faith and Work
17 Apr 2012 | 9:30 pmEditors' Note: The Gospel Coalition's Theological Vision for Ministry advocates for the integration of faith and work, because, "The good news of the Bible is not only individual forgiveness but the renewal of the whole creation. . . . Therefore Christians glorify God not only through the ministry of the Word, but also through their vocations of agriculture, art, business, government,
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CJ Alvarado
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Finding Talented People For Your Organization
10 May 2012 | 1:34 pmErnest Sheckleton was an extreme adventurer. In 1914 he turned his attention to the one remaining great object of Antarctic journeying—the crossing of the continent from sea to sea, via the pole. To this end he made preparations for what became the Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition. He assembled a team, raised the capital he needed and set out on a 1700 miles expedition across one of the most fierce environments on the planet. -
We Stopped Dreaming About Tomorrow
13 Mar 2012 | 1:50 pmIt amazes me what human beings can accomplished when they’re united by a shared vision. Sometimes we need an external motivation to accomplish the impossible. Some of the greatest achievements have occurred as a result and the video below questions whether we are moving away from such great innovations. What do you think? Художник -
Don’t Think Different, Think About Different Things
5 Mar 2012 | 6:17 pmWe want everyone in our organization to “think different.” But what does that mean? Does it mean that we want them to think creatively? Out of the box? What happens when all that creative thinking is focused on the wrong problem? I read an interesting article in HBR, one that challenges the way we problem... -
Starting A New Chapter
1 Mar 2012 | 11:03 pmLaunching out into something new is hard. It can be a little unnerving but at the end of the day the choices are simple: make a change or stay where you are. While the options may seem clear and simple, there are usually all kinds of variables that complicate the decision making process such as financial security, stability,... -
Video: A Networked Society
20 Feb 2012 | 6:32 pmVery interesting video about urbanization and the role technology is playing in cities around the world. A must watch.
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Revitalize Your Church
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Killkenny Cats and the Home Squabble
16 May 2012 | 6:00 am“The wise woman builds her house, but with her own hands, the foolish one tears hers down.” Proverbs 14:1 I used this verse in my sermon last Sunday, reminding the mothers to build up the house. Of course, this doesn’t apply to mothers. Anybody who lives in a house is responsible for the upbuilding. Wisdom builds the house. Foolishness tears it down. When we fail to think before we speak and act, we’re likely to tear the house down. We’ve been given two ears and one mouth, and they should be used in that proportion. Sometimes, in a passion to say right… -
A Breaking Beyond Words
15 May 2012 | 6:54 am"I, who live by words, am wordless when I try my words in prayer. All language turns to silence. Prayer will take my words and then reveal their emptiness. . . in this strange patterend time of contemplation that, in time, breaks time, breaks words, breaks me, and then in silence, leaves me healed and mended." -- Madeline L'Engle -
Bad Company
15 May 2012 | 6:38 amOne day Pastor Tim was at the Co-op Convenience Store, and ran into Budd, who was gathering supplies with a couple for a hunting trip out west. "Budd, " Tim kidded, "Haven't I warned you to be careful about the kind of company you keep?" "Yep," said Budd, " that's why we're going and you're not!" -
Momma Says Come to Church
12 May 2012 | 8:03 amMy Wesleyan pastor friend from Nashville, David Gould, was quoted in this USA Today article: Mother's Day Packs Churches Behind Christmas, Easter. -
N. T. Wright on What Is a Church
11 May 2012 | 6:00 am“It’s a place of welcome and laughter, of healing and hope, of friends and family and justice and new life. It’s where the homeless drop in for a bowl of soup and the elderly stop by for a chat. It’s where one group is working to help drug addicts and another is campaigning for social justice. It’s where you’ll find people learning to pray, coming to faith, struggling with temptation, finding new purpose, and getting in touch with a new power to carry that purpose out….No church is like that all the time. But a remarkable number of churches are partly like that for quite a lot…
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Challies Dot Com - Informing the Reforming
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Love Covers a Multitude of Sins
16 May 2012 | 8:20 amIn wisdom and love God does not leave his people to live this life alone, but rather calls us into community. One of the sad inevitabilities of living in community is that we will sin against one another. The invitation to Christian community is an invitation to be tested by other people’s sin and weakness.There are many ways to react badly when sinned against by another Christian. Some of us tend to react with sulking and feeling sorry for ourselves. Some go big and blow up while others give in to the slow, brooding kind of anger. Some just walk away. There are as many ways to… -
A La Carte (5/16)
16 May 2012 | 5:59 amGoogle in Africa - One of Google’s growing successes is bringing Africa online. “This burgeoning connectivity is making Africa faster, cleverer and more transparent in almost everything that it does.” The implications of this are almost difficult to overstate.Share the Gospel with Muslims - This article outlines some ways you can share the gospel with Muslims.Reality TV and Baby Names - Religion and reality TV are apparently the top sources of baby names today.Time-Lapse of Europe - Here is a time-lapse video from ca 1000 AD until 2003 that shows… -
4 Reasons People Backslide
15 May 2012 | 12:59 pmOne of the more interesting sections of dialog in John Bunyan’s The Pilgrim’s Progress has Christian and Hopeful discussing the danger of backsliding, of falling away from what had the appearance of spiritual life and growth. That dialog, drawn from the tenth stage of Christian’s journey, is important and instructive. Bunyan presupposes that such people have been awakened to their need for salvation by some combination of the fear of God and the danger of hell, but eventually fall back or fall away. Here are four reasons that people backslide:The conscience is… -
Wednesdays Were Pretty Normal
15 May 2012 | 6:59 amSome of the best writing, the writing that is most heartfelt and true, finds it source in life’s deepest valleys. This is exactly the case with Michael Kelley’s Wednesdays Were Pretty Normal.Wednesdays were normal days for the Kelley family until they received the shocking news that their son Joshua, just two years old, had been diagnosed with leukemia. The normal life of this normal family was suddenly turned all around and upside down as their little boy battled for his life. The happy ending is that he won that battle and today is a healthy and growing boy. The journey,… -
A La Carte (5/15)
15 May 2012 | 5:16 amAre You For Your Husband? - Rick Thomas lets women into a secret: “Men are needy. Your husband is not as independent and self-reliant as he may want you or others to think. If he can get over himself and this macho image thing he is wrapped up in, he will tell you how much he needs you-how much he desires your affection.”Systematic Theology - “With the generous permission of Dr. Wayne Grudem, Monergism Books is giving away for free his complete class on systematic theology, a total of 119 class lectures.” All they ask is that you pitch in for the shipping. While…
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Desiring God Blog
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Josh Hamilton, Relapse, and the Means of Grace
16 May 2012 | 11:45 amIn case you missed it, Texas Ranger Josh Hamilton hit four home runs in one game last week. In case you don't know baseball, that's a big deal. Only 15 other players in Major League history have accomplished the feat. But what's impressive about Hamilton is that it's not just one good game. It's now several outstanding seasons, and an unusual career. An unashamed evangelical, Hamilton is one of the more amazing sports stories of our time as he has recovered from drug addition and alcoholism, with God's help, to become one of the game's elite players. Not only is he a four-time All-Star, and… -
The Avenger
16 May 2012 | 4:00 amFour superheroes unite in "The Avengers Initiative" — Thor, The Incredible Hulk, Captain America, and the Iron Man — a collaborative of the world's greatest powers, called together when cosmic evil threatens the planet. This is the storyline behind the The Avengers (2012), a movie that brought together these superheroes into one allegiance. And audiences have responded. In its first three days in U.S. theaters, the movie earned a record-smashing $200.3 million in box office revenue. We are attracted to this team of superheroes because they are a response team called on to… -
Standing Against a Vicious "Gospel"
15 May 2012 | 7:00 pmI recently had the pleasure of joining a group of people that included a Christian man from Ghana. He loves Jesus and holds tightly to the promises of God in ways that are beautiful and humbling. He has been evangelizing, mentoring, and teaching for years in Western Africa, including some very dangerous places. Last year he lost his daughter to an illness. She was a beautiful 21-year-old young woman about to finish college. He and his wife have suffered greatly. The response from some of the Christian "leaders" he knows made me sick. Confess your sins, they told him. "If you… -
God Made the Maternal Instinct to Magnify Himself
15 May 2012 | 11:30 am“She’s eating her baby!” my 5-year-old shrieked as we were watching an episode on Animal Planet. The narrator coolly explained that when threatened, the mothers in this species of the animal kingdom eat their young. I comforted my daughter. “Don’t worry, Sweet Pea. I would never eat you. If I felt threatened then I would turn to Jesus instead of chewing on you. Even though your little toes look just so tasty . . .” More shrieking ensued as I pretended to eat her toes. You may have felt like a “mother bear” at times when protecting or defending your children, but your… -
The Book of 1 Corinthians in 40 Tweets
15 May 2012 | 4:00 amCrosses were dark in First Century Rome. Crucifixion was a horrific execution method reserved for the lowliest criminals. And yet, Paul writes his letter to the church in Corinth and organizes his theology and entire ministry around this object of shame. In God's wisdom the cross has become the place, as D. A. Carson explains, where "God has supremely destroyed all human arrogance and pretension." (The Cross and Christian Ministry, 15). Indeed, this message is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who believe, the cross is the power of God. 1 Corinthians is a book about…
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ToddRhoades.com
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Before Don Rickles, There was Martin Luther
16 May 2012 | 7:07 amDon’t believe me? There is a new website that will prove it to you. It will hand-feed you a Martin Luther insult from one of his many writings. It’s a great way to get that little pick-me-up that you need for your day. Try it now! Thank me later. Todd PS – What’s the biggest insult anyone has had the courage to tell you in ministry? (I find that people will say things inside the four walls of the church that they would NEVER EVER consider saying ‘in real life’.) I’d love to hear yours… -
Is Facebook a Passing Fad?
15 May 2012 | 1:02 pmNearly half of Americans think so. According to Mashable: A poll conducted by the Associated Press and CNBC found that 46% of respondents think Facebook will fade away as new platforms come along in the future. However, about 43% believe the site will likely be successful for the long haul. So… what do YOU think? My guess is that it will fade just like most things do. So will Twitter. It will be like a cassette tape. Or a CD (for that matter). We’ll still be connecting online, but with something newer and shinier than Facebook. Using facebook in 2015 may be like sending a fax… -
Thank you, Ed.
11 May 2012 | 10:15 amI was just thinking the other day. How can I tie a better looking tie knot? Who in the world (I asked myself), could help me with this conundrum? Then I found this video by Ed: (In full disclosure, I have not worn a tie in years, but this may prove helpful some day). Todd -
Does God Forgive Easier than We Do?
2 May 2012 | 1:03 pmRead this quote from Texas Governor Rick Perry: “Every one of us has ‘oops moments’ every day. America may not forgive you for it. But God will.” That got me thinking. The Guv is probably correct. Many times when people have their ‘oops’ moments, it’s hard for us to forgive them. And I wonder if we have a harder time forgiving than God does. And really… it’s God’s forgiveness that counts. Not ours. Why do we have such a hard time with forgiveness? Possibly because of a lack of trust. We’re afraid the person will do the… -
Bad Marketing Idea #413
2 May 2012 | 11:42 amHow NOT to tell the world about your next online conference for pastors and church leaders. I’m excited about our next Leadership Network online conference. It’s called ENCORE and happens on your computer on June 6. I had fun putting together a series of videos for the conference that I hope you’ll enjoy… starting with this one entitled “Screamer Guy”…
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Pastor Steven Furtick
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The Orange Initiative
15 May 2012 | 8:00 amLast year, under Pastor Steven’s leadership, Elevation Church set an audacious goal of service for our city and solidified our commitment with what we called The Orange Initiative. We vowed to serve 100,000 hours of community service and donate $750,000 to outreach partners working to feed, house, clothe, and care for our neighbors. We wanted to make an impact this city has never seen. Watch this video to see the results of a year’s worth of effort. -
Are You A Frustrated Fixer?
14 May 2012 | 11:13 amThis weekend we celebrated Mother’s Day with a special message from Pastor Steven entitled, “Frustrations of a Fixer.” This message was challenging, uplifting and taught us how to release ourselves from some of the frustrations we encounter in life. If you missed it, read some of our favorite moments below or watch the entire message here. In 1 Samuel 1:1-11, we read the story of Elkanah and Hannah. Elkanah, a wealthy man, had two wives, Peninnah and Hannah. Peninnah had children, but Hannah had none. Hannah was often taunted and tormented by her rival over this fact. Meanwhile,… -
Frustrations of a Fixer
12 May 2012 | 11:00 amElevation Church loves celebrating the women and mothers in our lives. We have a very special worship experience planned for Mother’s Day weekend with a message from Pastor Steven and a special gift for every mom. -
How to Suspend Your Disbelief
10 May 2012 | 9:30 amOne of the greatest skills you can ever learn in your walk with Jesus Christ is to have a willing suspension of disbelief concerning anything that contradicts His promises for your life. -
You’re Part of a Bigger Story
8 May 2012 | 2:15 pmYour story, your marriage, your singleness is a part of a bigger story that God is writing. He’s a master author who knows what He’s doing and He knows the end from the beginning. If you’d like to learn more about God’s plan for your relationships, watch the entire Mr. & Mrs. Betterhalf series. For 24/7 inspirational content from Pastor Steven and Elevation Church, visit the Elevation Network.
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adrianwarnock.com
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Introducing George the Big Little Drummer
13 May 2012 | 9:44 amWhen I first started this blog it was very much for my kids and family. These days I think I don’t talk about them on here often enough. But I reckon you lot will love these couple of videos, which I suspect demonstrates well which of his parents my son takes after. Well, actually perhaps [...] The rest of this article is available by following the link above -
“One in ten single men prefer iPads to women”
23 Apr 2012 | 6:27 pmReported online is a poll that headlines One in ten single men men prefer iPads to women. The poll results showed that some 11% of single guys when given the choice of getting a new iPad would choose that rather than a new girlfriend. Clearly this tells us one thing: those who worry that Apple [...] The rest of this article is available by following the link above -
Video invitation to this years Unbelievable? Reasons to believe conference.
19 Apr 2012 | 12:20 pmThe above video says it all. I am sure this will be a great conference, and if you are in the UK you may well want to consider going. More information is available from Premier. The rest of this article is available by following the link above -
300 Leaders: Bob Roberts on becoming engaged in God’s world on God’s mission
13 Apr 2012 | 12:49 pmYou can watch the video of this talk from 300 leaders here and read my notes below: The whole world is connecting. Bob spoke of his joy at being in Jubilee Church and meeting Tope Koleoso, a leader of a multicultural church. Such connections help us learn. For example, Bob has found interacting with Muslims [...] The rest of this article is available by following the link above -
Every Martyn Lloyd-Jones sermon available for free all over the world
12 Apr 2012 | 1:35 pmI would argue that the greatest preacher-teacher of the English speaking world throughout history was almost certainly Martyn Lloyd-Jones. Today to celebrate 30 years of ministry, the trust set up to distribute originally his tapes, then CDs then finally MP3s have taken a bold radical step. Every one of his sermons is now available to [...] The rest of this article is available by following the link above
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Reformissionary
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American Gospel: Tall Tales Vol. 1
14 May 2012 | 12:05 pmI made a discovery today. Streaming free today is an album by a band (dude) I've never heard of. Gregg DellaRocca is American Gospel. Tomorrow American Gospel's album, Tall Tales Volume 1, is out. I'm guessing very few of my readers have heard of this album and I hope you'll check it out. Gregg is the vocalist/singer for The Republic of Wolves. The album is DellaRocca on nearly every instrument and vocals. Gregg writes... Tall Tales Vol.1 combines story telling and personal experiences to deliver a fun, compelling, and sometimes dark, multi-genre musical experience. From… -
Music Monday 5.14.12
14 May 2012 | 11:36 amSTREAMING FREE Mount Eerie: Clear Moon Beach House: Bloom Best Coast: The Only Place CHEAP Tuneyards: W H O K I L L ($4.99) Damien Jurado: Maraqopa ($4.99) Patrick Watson: Adventures In Your Own Backyard ($5) Of Monsters And Men: My Head Is An Animal ($4.99) Alabama Shakes: Boys & Girls ($5) Spiritualized: Sweet Heart Sweet Light ($4.99) May $5 Albums BURNING UP MY iPOD Silversun Pickups: Neck of the Woods ($4.99!) Jack White: Blunderbuss -
Music Monday 5.7.12
7 May 2012 | 3:30 pmSTREAMING FREE Best Coast: The Only Place Beach House: Bloom Silversun Pickups: Neck of the Woods CHEAP Damien Jurado: Maraqopa ($4.99) Patrick Watson: Adventures In Your Own Backyard ($5) Of Monsters And Men: My Head Is An Animal ($5) Alabama Shakes: Boys & Girls ($5) Spiritualized: Sweet Heart Sweet Light ($5) M. Ward: A Wasteland Companion ($5) Coldplay: Live 2003 ($3.99) The Followers: Wounded Healer (donation or free) May $5 Albums (Shearwater, Dawes, Caribout & many more) BURNING UP MY iPOD Jack… -
Kindle | Note to Self & Gospel Wakefulness
1 May 2012 | 12:57 pmI often list cheap Kindle books for you. Today I want to add two you need to own: Note To Self by Joe Thorn & Gospel Wakefulness by Jared Wilson. -
$5 Albums | May 2012
1 May 2012 | 12:28 pmEnjoy a new list of $5 albums from Amazon! Here are ones I recommend you check out... Anais Mitchell: Young Man In America Shearwater: Animal Joy The Lumineers: The Lumineers Dawes: Nothing Is Wrong Trampled By Turtles: Stars & Satellites Caribou: Swim Plants and Animals: The End Of That Beach House: Teen Dream Kurt Vile: Smoke Ring For My Halo Amos Lee: Last Days At The Lodge Lambchop: Mr. M Horse Feathers: Thistled Spring The Tallest Man On Earth: Shallow Grave Dr. Dog: We All Belong My Morning Jacket: Circuital The Black Angels: Phosphene Dream M. Ward: Tranfiguration of Vincent…
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Worship Matters
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One More Reason We Make Kids’ Albums
11 May 2012 | 10:05 amEvery so often I’ll run into someone who reminds me that long after we record an album, God continues to use it in people’s lives. In late January, I was in Orange County, CA for a Gathering event. On Sunday morning I spoke at the Sovereign Grace Church of Orange County, led by Eric Turbedsky. It was there I met David and Laura. They shared their story with me and I was so affected that I asked them to send it to me. Here’s what they wrote: We have been blessed with not only a daughter, but God in the last two and a half years has blessed us with four more little ones. These… -
Looking Forward to NEXT 2012:You and Your Church
9 May 2012 | 1:58 pmIn just a couple weeks I’ll be down in Orlando, FL helping to lead corporate worship at the very last NEXT. The theme of this year’s conference is You and Your Church. I’ve been involved with the music at NEXT ever since Josh Harris started the conference back in 1999, although then it was called New Attitude. I continued to lead when Eric Simmons took over a few years ago and changed the name to NEXT. It’s a fantastic conference that I’ve been hugely privileged to be involved with. But each year I’ve expected to be told that I wouldn’t be needed any… -
New From Sovereign Grace Music – From Age to Age
10 Apr 2012 | 7:48 amAfter hundreds of hours of preparation, our newest album, From Age to Age, is finally available. It’s a collection of 14 songs (15 if you count the instrumental prelude), that were inspired by or drawn from the great hymn writers of the past. Here’s how we described the album in the liner notes: How does one define a hymn? It’s hard to say, but most hymns are characterized by theologically rich lyrics, symmetrical rhythmic patterns in the verse lyrics, and a tune that congregations find easy to sing. At the heart of hymn-writing is a desire to create a song that will endure for… -
Sovereign Grace Music Has a New Website
3 Apr 2012 | 11:09 amYesterday we launched the new Sovereign Grace Music website. And boy, am I excited about it. My good friend Bo Lotinsky was the one who had the foresight to launch the first Sovereign Grace Music, which has served us for a number of years. But as Sovereign Grace Music has grown so has our desire to serve the people who use our music. The new website is a huge step in that direction. Cabedge did a brilliant job designing the site and were very responsive to our wishes and desires. The back end (under the hood) was put together in-house by our master IT wizard, Dave Mays. Without him we’d… -
Glorious Christ – New Song from a New Album
29 Mar 2012 | 3:11 pmOn April 10 we’ll be releasing our next album, From Age to Age, a collection of 14 new hymns for the church. We call them “hymns” because either they were based on or inspired by hymns of the past, or because the lyrics adhere to a metrical pattern in the verses. The songs also contain a theological richness that characterize most hymns. One song I wrote for the album is called Glorious Christ. I unashamedly got the idea for the song from Chris Tomlin’s How Great is Our God, which seems to be sung throughout the world. I love how Chris’ song focuses on…
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Deep Thoughts by Gman
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Lord, Change my Attitude - Study on Wednesdays.
15 May 2012 | 3:58 pmhttp://feeds.feedburner.com/blogspot/ZioO -
Winner vs. Loser
15 May 2012 | 2:38 pmWinner vs Loser by: Author Unknown, Source Unknown The Winner is always part of the answer; The Loser is always part of the problem. The Winner is always has a program; The Loser always has an excuse. The Winner says,"Let me do it for you; The Loser says;" That is not my job." The Winner sees an answer for every problem; The Loser sees a problem for every answer. The Winner says," It may be difficult but it is possible"; The Loser says,"It may be possible but it is too difficult." When a Winner makes a mistake, he says," I was wrong"; When a Loser makes a mistake, he says," It wasn't my… -
In a Second ....
15 May 2012 | 2:30 pmA man goes to church and starts talking to God. He says: "God, what is a million dollars to you?" and God says: "A penny", then the man says: "God, what is a million years to you?" and God says: "a second". then the man says: "God, can I have a penny?" and God says "In a second."http://feeds.feedburner.com/blogspot/ZioO -
Why She gets a Day - Happy Mother's Day!
13 May 2012 | 12:00 amhttp://feeds.feedburner.com/blogspot/ZioO -
He Chose the Nails. - A Review.
12 May 2012 | 3:49 pmI read "He Chose the Nails" a few years ago. I re-read it again this year - after being given a free copy to review. (I had regretfully given alot of my Lucado books away in a past ministry and wish to reclaim and rebuild my personal library for study.) Max Lucado makes it so clear and understandable for what God did to win our hearts. Christ did it for us. The tools of toture tell their own story. One of the biggest things to this book (and wasn't there when it first came out) includes now a study guide where you can use this book as a discussion guide for your small groups. (Well worth the…
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Church IT Network
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Join The New Church IT Community Platform!
11 May 2012 | 6:09 amIf you missed the news, we unveiled our new Church IT community platform at the recent Church IT Roundtable in Dallas. This is now THE online hub for connecting with your church IT peers. Ask questions, join in discussions, post job openings, list gear you're selling, stay on top of the lastest Church IT Network news and more! Go signup, add a headshot pic so people can put a face with a name, then you'll need to subscribe to the IT Discussions and Web/Dev Discussions groups .. oh and the marketplace too! Select the Daily Digest email option if you like to keep your inbox tidy and you'll… -
Small Group Mapping…From MinistryPlatform Of Course
8 May 2012 | 1:00 pmI just wanted to take few minutes and quickly share a project I am just now wrapping up. A MinistryPlatform church approached me with the idea of creating a map based search of all their small groups. This system would extract the current small group data from MinistryPlatform via the API and then turn chat all of the data on a Google Map. The data would then be filterable based on the following: 1. City 2. Group Type or Life Stage 3. Day of the week the group met 4. Time of Day Data In addition to this, the church wanted a details page with more information than the… -
Wowza Streaming Part 1–DIY Encoder Rig
7 May 2012 | 4:00 pmAfter the Last CITRT event, I promised to start talking about streaming using home grown encoders / Wowza for streaming to the Internet and as a “low budget” solution for multi-site church. Here is part 1: DIY Encoder Rig. Goal: Build a DIY high end computer capable of delivering Live Streamed Video to multiple target platforms including Web / Roku / Set Top / Etc at multiple bitrates. The computer will need to be able to ingest video and do high quality realtime encoding / compression and transmission. First things first. I am going to post 2 system… -
KidPanel…Coming soon…To MP Near You
6 May 2012 | 2:52 pmSo for the last several weeks I have been busy building a new tool to use with Ministry Platform. This new tool was inspired by our Children’s Pastor getting an iPad and wanting to monitor the number of children checked in each service. Ministry Platform has all the data, but I wanted something more elegant and iPad friendly. The next series of screenshots will give you an overview of tool and a “taste” of what is coming. I will be making this tool available just like MPMobile in the coming weeks. I thought this would get you excited in the meantime. … -
How a Roundtable Event Works….
31 Mar 2012 | 5:56 pmIn a few weeks Church IT professionals and web and application developers will be converging on Watermark Community Church in Dallas for the annual Church IT Roundtable event. This is event is not a conference, but more of a conversations where participants set the agenda. Some years ago, a formal definition of the roundtable format was crafted and posted by Jason Powell. Here is a abbreviated version of his post to explain what you might expect at this year’s gathering. Definition of a Roundtable A roundtable is a peer-learning event where the participants are both teachers and…
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markartrip.wordpress.com
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ARTRIP WORLD TOUR MIND DUMP
28 Apr 2012 | 4:52 pmWe are not actually on tour, but it feels like it. In the last week we dropped our kids off in Mansfield (met the rents halfway), went to the Exponential church planting conference in Orlando, Florida, went to a fundraising thing in Cleveland, Ohio, DJed a wedding in Cincinnati, and tomorrow I will preach in Rittman Ohio at my home church. Exponential was great. I have never been to a conference that just seemed to scratch the itch of where I was in that season of life. I have been to leadership conferences, creativity conferences, and student ministry conferences, but this one was just… -
MOVEMENT CHURCH/ARTRIP LIFE UPDATE
27 Mar 2012 | 5:27 pmA couple months ago the Artrip’s announced we were transitioning from staff at Grace Church this summer and moving to Hilliard to plant a church. Since January lots of stuff has happened and some details are coming together. I thought I would give a little Movement Church/Artrip family update for those who care… People always ask me what is going on with Movement Church. In time there will be plenty, but for now day to day there isn’t much…and that is for a reason. I am still on staff on Grace Church and staying fully engaged there. In the past months since the… -
HSM STORYTELLERS OUTREACH AFTER-THOUGHTS
16 Mar 2012 | 12:06 amThis will be a weird post in that I want to share an idea that we recently did for an outreach, but I will also share how it didn’t go off as I hoped. The reason I am sharing it is because the moment this idea was shared with me I loved the concept and I still love the idea and believe in the heart of it. I didn’t think of it so I will just go ahead and say it is my favorite student ministry outreach idea out right now…hands down. I have a friend Alyssa Corrova, who grew up in our ministry and is now on staff with Cru at Miami (Ohio) University. She is a top-level leader and Kristin and… -
MOVEMENT CHURCH PRAYER PARTNERS WANTED
15 Mar 2012 | 1:12 pmMovement Church is looking for prayer partners as we ramp up in the next year. We want people who will commit to consistently pray for our team, our people, our town, and everything else that is going on. If that is you follow this link to be added to the prayer list… http://www.signupgenius.com/go/30E0C44ABAA28A75-movement -
ADOPTION UPDATE: WHERE IS THIS BABY?
15 Feb 2012 | 4:16 pmWell this has been an exciting year so far for the Artrip family. We announced a few weeks ago that we are transitioning this summer to plant a church in Hilliard,Ohio. Hilliard is a west side suburb of Columbus. We are looking forward to all that this year will bring on the ministry front! Last fall we did a “Facebook Fundraiser” for our adoption, and God answered our prayers and our goal was met! We are so thankful to all our friends and family from all around the world would gave in support. So now people are asking “Where’s the baby”? Or “Do you know when it will happen”?
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Marketing Integrity
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What Position Should Your Church Take?
30 Apr 2012 | 9:47 amIn Episode #23 of the Ministry Story Podcast I talked with Mark MacDonald and we discussed what brand postioning is and how important it is to your church’s communications strategy and effectiveness., Listen to How to Position Your Church -
Tips to Promote Your Church Event
27 Mar 2012 | 9:22 amIn Episode #22 of the Ministry Story Podcast I talked with Adam Fry and we discussed some strategies and tools you can use to promote your next church event. Listen to How To Effectively Promote Your Christian Event -
My Story: Integrity Magazine
23 Feb 2012 | 8:08 amIf you don’t already know my story (the spiritual and the business stories) then I invite you to read the Winter 2012 edition of Integrity Magazine…it will tell you all you need to know! I welcome your feedback and comments. If you or anyone you know would like a copy of the print version send me your mailing address (via email @ David@DavidTonen.com) and I will gladly mail you a free copy. You may read the digital magazine embedded below or via this link. Open publication – Free publishing – More business -
You’re Still Here?
2 Feb 2012 | 9:49 pmDon’t you have anything better to do? Go on…get going! Go. Honda’s extended 2012 Superbowl ad that plays off a classic movie from our past… If you cannot see the video, please click here… -
Church Leaders Should Be Networking
20 Jan 2012 | 9:16 amIn Episode #21 of the Ministry Story Podcast I talk with Matt Whitman and he shares some practical ways that church leaders can be networking in their communitues to have greater influence and impact representing Jesus. Listen to Are You are Card-Carrying Reverse-Networking Leader?
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Elemental Children's Ministry
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CMBrainTrust.com has Landed!
14 May 2012 | 5:38 pmI am so excited to let you know about a new project a friend of mine, Randy Triplett has been working on, that has gone live today! Check out CHILDREN’S MINISTRY BRAIN TRUST the newest Children’s Ministry Website. CMBT provides a singular location for all knowledge and wisdom relating to Children’s Ministry. Everything they do within the Children’s Ministry Brain Trust is created with the specific purpose of assisting you in being the best Children’s Ministry Professional you can be. CMBT can be defined as follows: “A collective of children’s… -
Orange 12: 5th and 6th Grade Transitions
27 Apr 2012 | 1:43 pmThis past August, I became the 4th/5th Grade Director at Menlo Park Presbyterian Church. Prior to that I had overseen everything in children’s ministry at my previous churches. It was an amazing thing to be able to spend time on a more focused age span. One of the biggest things that sprang up working with the 4th and 5th grade was how to transition kids from 5th grade (children’s ministry) to 6th grade (middle school ministry). If we don’t successfully hand off the kids and their parents, we run the inevitability of losing those kids in a few short months. I was excited to… -
Orange 12: Jon Acuff
27 Apr 2012 | 9:34 amReggie: Why do you think social media is important? Jon: If you care about people then it matters. The church is behind. Reggie: What can we do to catch up? Jon: Don’t be afraid to say, “I don’t know.” Go where your community is. You don’t have to be everywhere in social media. Just go where your people are. Don’t establish an “online personality.” Be one person. Then ask, “What kinds of problems can you solve?” Hope is infectious. Hope goes viral. Reggie: How did social media change your life? Jon: started StuffChristiansLike.com as… -
Orange 12: Andy Stanley
27 Apr 2012 | 9:08 amAndy Stanley shared about the one thing that drives healthy staff culture. Mark 10:34-45 BE A SERVANT Healthy and productive staff cultures are characterized by mutual submission. The purpose of the leader is to lift everyone else up. Everyone is essential in an organization. There are no non-essential people. The question mutual submission asks: “How can I help you?” The problem: A view of the “Old Testament” priest of someone with a “special” anointing. It’s just not true! We all are anointed. Until everyone understands that, you won’t have a… -
‘Tis the Season to Be Orange!
27 Apr 2012 | 8:47 amOrange kicked off on Wednesday night with a bang! The evening began with a challenge on stage of who at church was famous. What followed was a series of great parodies! Ever wondered what it would be like if Steve Tyler of Aerosmith worked in the church nursery? How about Lionel Ritchie as a greeter? One of my personal favorites… Emminem as a Middle School Pastor Adele as a Children’s Pastor was priceless. Not to be outdone, Lanny Donoho shared his rendition of The Righteous Brothers as Senior Pastors We, then, were treated to Bonnie Tyler as a church parking attendant Finally,…
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Blog
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How to Plan for Replacing Pastors
16 May 2012 | 10:46 amIn September, news of Rob Bell surprised the world once again when he announced plans to leave his church in Grand Rapids and move to Los Angeles to pursue broader interests—one of those being the development of a script for an ABC television show loosely based on his life. He also plans to continue touring and speaking; he is working now on his “Fit to Smash Ice” tour. -
Question of the Week
15 May 2012 | 7:00 pmEach week, Neue asks a question that is meant to challenge, inspire and encourage today's ministry leaders. Feel free to respond and discuss in the comment section. This week, we want to know: Has your church ever had to replace a pastor? What was that process like? -
Does Suburbia Hurt Christianity?
9 May 2012 | 10:03 amIf you’ve been to a hip evangelical church in the last decade, you’ve probably heard the phrase “doing life together.” It’s the solution for twentysomethings’ need for a spiritual support system and community. It usually takes the form of a group of people who meet regularly to study the Bible and socialize. -
Question of the Week
8 May 2012 | 7:00 pmEach week, Neue asks a question that is meant to challenge, inspire and encourage today's ministry leaders. Feel free to respond and discuss in the comment section. This week, we want to know: How does your church live in community outside of services and programs? -
Leading Small Groups Out of a Rut, Part 3
2 May 2012 | 10:11 amThe most challenging small group is the stuck-in-a-rut group. It is not growing, and it is not dying. You can feel it at the meetings, observe it in the relationships and sense it in the leader. There’s some Bible reading and discussion, some sharing and socializing. But one week leads to another and nothing changes. There are no emotional highs and few depressing lows. It feels flat.
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Thinking Out Loud
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Wednesday Link List
16 May 2012 | 5:17 amIf you missed the bonus edition of the link list this week, be sure to click over to Monday. Quotation of the day, from Arminius, after whom Arminianism is named: ““Next to the study of the Scriptures which I earnestly inculcate, I exhort my pupils to peruse Calvin’s Commentaries…” (appropriately, as quoted on an Arminian blog.) Canadian author, apologist and television host Grant Jeffrey passed away on the weekend. His independent publishing catalog was purchased years ago by Random House subsidiary Waterbrook Press, with Wikipedia listing 34 titles including one… -
Book Review: Love Works
15 May 2012 | 5:47 amLove Wins. Love Does. Love Works. Lots of books right now on the market with titles that will inevitably confuse some. I’m considering writing a set of four: Love Hurts. Love Scars. Love Wounds. Love Mars. But I am digressing big time. Love Works (subtitle: Seven Timeless Principles for Effective Leaders) is most appropriately titled however, because this is a book about going to work, or better yet, taking principles with you to work. The principles are based on the “Love Chapter” in the first few verses of I Corinthians 13. Author Joel Manby knows these principles can… -
Monday Link List
14 May 2012 | 5:30 amRejected from the position of Wednesday List Lynx, this one wants to know if a mascot position for a Monday List Lynx is opening up. Monday? Because (a) there’s no law against it, and (b) some of these just couldn’t wait! That’s Dr. Gloria Gaither to you, as the southern gospel songstress receives an honorary doctorate in music from Nyack College, a Christian and Missionary Alliance school in New York. Okay, we just lost our younger demographic. So, in the interest of equal time, Hawk Nelson now has a new lead singer. In other music news, here’s 15 Tips for Bloggers… -
Classic Christian Music Song
13 May 2012 | 6:52 amWhile assembling things for my own little YouTube upload project, we discovered one of the songs I most wanted to include was already online, and we’d determined only to do songs that didn’t exist anywhere else. I might still make an exception for this one, but I wanted to share it with you today in this tribute video form. The band is Scarlet Red; the song is simply titled Why. It wasn’t long before I saw the painful truth before my eyes All my sin had brought a price to pay, and I knew it was for me that Jesus died. I truly love this song, and I hope you enjoy… -
The Bible: Still Both the All-Time and Current Bestseller
13 May 2012 | 6:49 amThis is from Jared Fanning; found at Blogging Theologically and originally sourced at Justin Taylor whose version allows you to zoom in on the stats.
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Ministry-To-Children.com
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What Do Kids Really Think About Your Ministry?
16 May 2012 | 7:27 amA few years ago, I was asked a question that radically changed the way I operated my children’s ministry. (Nothing like a change of perspective to adjust your viewpoint, just look at Ezekiel; I’m thankful that at least, God didn’t have to tug me by the hair to get my attention.) A kids’ ministry conference speaker asked the gathered teachers a question: “What do kids think about your children’s ministry?” Some of us laughed nervously, others looked puzzled. The question seemed simple but I honestly didn’t know. I promised myself to find out. I knew what I wanted kids to think… -
Lesson: Paul’s Life Well Lived (Acts 18-28)
16 May 2012 | 7:12 amThe following lesson is a review of Paul’s ministry from Acts 18-28. The students will have an opportunity to remember the many ways Paul, empowered by the Holy Spirit, faithfully served Jesus in each circumstance he faced as he shared the Good News. The lesson was prepared for older students and can be adapted. The following is only a suggested guide to help your class review Acts 18-28. Click here to see all the lessons in this curriculum series. Bible Story: Paul’s Life Well Lived Scripture: Acts 18-28 Target Age Group: Age 9 – 11 (U.S. 3rd – 5th Grade) Learning… -
Kindness Bible Lesson (Fruit of the Spirit)
11 May 2012 | 9:18 amThis is the fifth Bible lesson in our series based on the Fruit of the Spirit in Galatians 5. Each particular lesson plan explains a specific character quality that God creates in us through his Spirit. These lessons are designed to accompany the printable Fruit of the Spirit coloring book from our website. Be sure to scroll down to see the Kindness Necklace craft directions. Kindness Coloring Pages Suggested Age Group: 1rst-3rd Grades Scripture: Galatians 5:22-23, Proverbs 3:3, Micah 6:8Ephesians 4:32, Titus 3:3-5a Exegetical Idea: Kindness is a fruit of the Spirit, available to all… -
When Children Leave Your Ministry
11 May 2012 | 7:35 amChildren love freely with complete abandon and without thought for tomorrow – so do many children’s ministers. How can you avoid caring for the ones God cares for? Watching children grow in God, seeing the light come on during a lesson; these things make us love our kids even more. I know how it feels; pouring your heart into a young life, helping him become the giant God intended him to be, just to see him leave. When children leave your ministry, you’ll feel angry, sad and even discouraged, especially if the child leaves unexpectedly. Don’t be hard on yourself for these feelings. -
The Bible Bee Program for Families
10 May 2012 | 9:08 am**This guest post was written by Heather Easterday How much time do you as get to spend with the kids of your church each week? One hour? Two hours? Maybe three hours? It’s overwhelming as a ministry leader when parents count on you to be the one discipling their children. You need parents leading discipleship at home. Sure, it can feel intimidating to think about providing Biblical learning at home. Parents feel unqualified, too busy, or that the kids won’t listen. But, they miss the greatest gift as parents if they don’t disciple their kids. The Bible Bee…
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MatthewStarner.com
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How We Pick Worship Music
15 May 2012 | 11:30 amAs a follow-up to the last post about worship styles, I though I would share about the process I use at Journey for selecting music for worship. I’m sure a lot of people think that it’s as simple as me sitting in my office picking my favorite songs. (If only it was that easy!) When it comes to traditional music, the job of picking worship music can be pretty easy. For churches that follow the lectionary (the series of prescribed readings for each Sunday), you can often find accompanying lists of hymns that fit with the various readings, giving you plenty to choose from. Many… -
Sunday Setlist: May 6, 2012
6 May 2012 | 4:58 pmWe’re not in a series for the month of May, which always makes things a challenge because there are so many directions you can go on any given week. This week, so focused on a series of passages throughout scripture about God’s love for us – that unconditional love that will never fail. Every once in a while, we need a reminder of that love that surrounds us throughout all the ups and downs of life. Today’s Worship Glory to God Forever by Steve Fee Sing Along by Sixteen Cities From the Inside Out by Joel Houston The Message Enough by Chris Tomlin Offerings and Prayers… -
Things I Starred This Week – May 4
4 May 2012 | 7:44 amI read blogs. Lots and lots of blogs! Google Reader is my blog reader of choice and I was recently looking at my blog reading stats. I’m always adding new blogs and removing older ones that have been abandoned or otherwise stopped being helpful, so the total count changes, but right now there are 169 blogs that I’m following. Most are related to things like church, worship, leadership, and technology – but some are just for fun. One of the things I use a lot in Google Reader is the ability to star posts to save for later. Since I have such a large volume of… -
Who are you?
3 May 2012 | 7:50 amI’ve had this blog for over 5 years and it’s gone pretty much unnoticed for most of that time. But in the last month or so I’ve been inundated with more visits than I’ve ever had before. Thanks to getting some articles of mine republished on TheWorshipCommunity.com, ChurchLeaders.com, WorshipIdeas.com and Musicademy.com, my readership has grown tremendously in the past few weeks. It’s both exciting and humbling at the same time to realize that my audience is growing. But what I really want to know is who are you? There are way more readers of my blog than… -
Spring Cleaning at Church Part 5: Equipment
2 May 2012 | 10:36 amThere’s one last place I think we should look as I wrap up this Spring Cleaning at Church series and that’s our equipment. We’ve already taken a look at our buildings, our style, our digital spaces and our music. Now, let’s take a look at all the equipment that keeps things going and make sure it’s ready to take on the rest of the year. As the church continues to become more and more reliant on equipment and technology, the need to keep it running smoothly grows! The obvious things to check not just in springtime but throughout the year are important things like…
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Man of Depravity
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Welcoming the Mystery of Depression
14 May 2012 | 8:45 amI’ve written before about how the struggles many have with depression really hits home for me. It’s something that several people close to me struggle with off and on, to the point of needing medical help to combat the recurring issues. Studies show that around 25% of the US population has struggled with depression for a significant period of time. Depression can stem from relationships, situations, medical issues, chemical imbalances, and plenty of other issues. Generally speaking I think Christians have done a fairly poor job of engaging the conversation surrounding depression. -
Copying and Maligning the Creator
10 May 2012 | 8:45 amThe lure of significance and influence on the internet and in life often turns us into copiers rather than creators. We see something that others are latching onto en masse and rather than do the difficult work of creating something that might connect with people, we choose to copy what has already been done, tweak it, and then package it as our own. Copying is often said to be the highest form of flattery possible, but I think it goes a step beyond this. Copying maligns the Creator God who has created us in His image with His creative imprint. The same power that raised Christ from the grave… -
How My Pastor Saved My Faith Without Even Trying
8 May 2012 | 8:44 amToday’s post comes from a great writer and author, Ed Cyzewski. If you’re interested in guest posting on this blog, head here for more information. The last thing my pastor told me before I left for seminary saved my faith. I think he was just trying to save me from having a rough time in my first New Testament class or from getting frustrated with my professors. As it turned out, he shared something that I have clung to over the past eleven years. Settling into our breakfast at a Bob Evans where you could hear the roar of the New Jersey Turnpike a few hundred feet away, he told… -
The Three
4 May 2012 | 8:45 am1. Margaret Feinberg wrote on the Catalyst blog about various techniques that have been used by pastors for many years to help overcome burning out. I found the post to be a great encouragement and reminder that avoiding burnout is my responsibility and it takes establishing a well thought out system of disciplines that keep me in check and keep me rooted in relationship with God. No. 2: Develop a mentoring relationship. Sometimes dips in our own ministry are a result of pouring out into a meaningful relationship. Prayerfully consider whose life God may be calling you to invest in and pour… -
Community Isn’t Easy
2 May 2012 | 8:45 amHaving written about the importance of community being the key to any church, I’ve been challenged to seek after community in my life, rather than ignoring it. This isn’t easy for me. As many of you know, I am an “INTJ” meaning that people often drain my energy, whereas they help energize my wife Rose. This is obviously a generality because I can be energized by people, but most often I come home from a great time with friends fairly exhausted and Rose is ready for more! Being in school, working full-time, and finding creative space to write consistently doesn’t…
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BubbaSmith.net
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Are People Depending On You?
16 May 2012 | 5:34 am“The world can get along without you. Part of life is understanding that you don’t want people to be dependent on you.” -Rick Warren This is a huge lesson I am learning. The older I get and the more I grow, the less I want people dependent on me and the more dependent I want people to be on God. Photo Credit: CCWM.Net Being a young leader, it’s easy for me to want people to be dependent on me. I want to pray with everyone, counsel everyone, and for everyone to think I have all the answers. The reality is, I don’t have all the answers, I can’t counsel… -
Are You Worth Investing In?
15 May 2012 | 5:41 amRecently I was interviewing CEO of a very successful company. He started the company when he was in college. Over the years, he has had a lot of successful people invest in his company. Some investors have invested over $1 million in his company. That is pretty amazing for someone in their twenties who started their company on a college campus. As we were talking about this, he said that as he built relationships with his investors, he started asking them why they invested in his company. He said they all had the same answer, “It’s not the company we’re investing in. -
If You’re Interested
14 May 2012 | 5:13 amIf you are willing and obedient, you will eat the best from the land. Isaiah 1:19 So many of life’s blessings are dependent on one word: If. If implies that something is available to us, but there is a choice involved that will affect whether or not we get what’s available. Today I want to encourage you that there is a world of opportunities that lies before you, if you’re interested. Photo Credit: TheBeautifulDue You can get into the best shape of your life . . . if you’re interested! You can turn your life around . . . if you’re interested. You can choose to… -
Quitter by Jon Acuff
11 May 2012 | 5:10 amThis was one of the best books I’ve read over the past few years! The tagline of the book really explains what the book is all about: Quitter: Closing the Gap Between Your Day Job and Your Dream Job. The book is Jon Acuff telling the story of his journey from working his day job to being able to work his dream job full-time and the lessons he learned in between. For me, the big takeaway was valuing your day job while you’re on your way to your dream job. For me, too often, I focus on my dream job rather than my day job. I was cheating my employer and cheating myself from getting… -
The Power of Habits
10 May 2012 | 5:06 am“The second half of a man’s life is made up of nothing but the habits he has acquired during the first half.” -Dostoevsky One of the main things that separates a successful person from an unsuccessful person are the habits they have developed. Successful people have developed the habits of hard work, discipline, and excellence. Unsuccessful people have developed the habit of laziness, doing the bare minimum, letting life happen to them, and making excuses. Whether you succeed or fail in life will be largely determined by the habits you develop! Below is a poem I heard…
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Cory Center for Children's Ministry
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Teaching Digitals: Animated Video
15 May 2012 | 7:57 amThere’s tons of items online and even here at Cory Center about working with and teaching digital natives. The children in our classrooms don’t know what it is like not to be bombarded with information, images, and messages. They interact differently with technology than their teachers. Rather than fight to get them to be more like you – which will never happen – be creative, see how you can leverage the world that they live in to help pass along the message you have. One idea, inspired by the RSA Illustrate people is to augment your talk with… -
Children’s Ministry Ideas: 4 Nonlinear Presentation Tools for Churches
14 May 2012 | 8:47 amToday’s kids prefer to process images before text. As leaders and storytellers present the truth of God’s Word, it is vital to incorporate visual elements into the teaching and today’s nonlinear presentation tools resources are the right tools for the job. Why use a nonlinear tool? Visuals can be accessed in any order Increased interactivity Unique point of view – presenter can pan and zoom on the visuals Greater flexibility with multimedia and social media Here are 4 nonlinear presentation tools to help display those visual elements and empower your storytelling:… -
Pinterest
11 May 2012 | 8:00 amI’m not afraid to admit it. I’m a big fan of Pinterest. I wouldn’t say I’m addicted like others I know (my wife), but it has definitely made it into my list of favorite sites for creativity and collaboration. For me Pinterest is a powerful tool in my creative workflow. My gift is not in coming up with ideas, it’s in making good ideas better, or taking an idea and making it fit for a particular context. If you’re like me then Pinterest can be a huge time saver when it comes to the creative process. Pinterest is all the best ideas of the web in one place. It’s… -
Summer Outreach Ideas
10 May 2012 | 3:46 pmHard working moms and dads all over the world are preparing for summer. Where will the kids go? What experiences will be planned for them? How will they grow as a response to the summer activities? Many families plan a wide variety of experiences for their family over the summer. Parents want opportunities to serve, feel the emotion of compassion, and experience spiritual revelation and depth through camps and VBS. It’s important to have family bonding times as well. Contrary to what the kids want, it’s also important for parents that kids retain what was learned over the… -
What to Do About Mother’s Day
8 May 2012 | 7:56 amThis Sunday is Mother’s day…but you already knew that. We’d love to hear you ideas for Mother’s Day – this year my church will be giving hugs and kisses to all the women in our congregation. Maybe I should clarify two points – it’s Hershey’s Hugs and Hershey’s Kisses and yes, all women. Sometimes it is obvious who the moms are – the ones with kids. But Mother’s day isn’t just about the joyful reminder of your great kids, it’s also a reminder, a painful reminder for all the women who have lost children (and for those…
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STEVANSHEETS.COM
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Praying for Balloons
8 May 2012 | 8:59 amJust this morning I came across a new ministry out of South Korea called “Seoul USA” The vision of Seoul USA: The vision of Seoul USA is that the North Korean church become the catalyst for spiritual examination, repentance, and renewal in Asian and Western Christianity, with North Korean defectors serving among the leadership pillars of the church around the world. Their pursuit to evangelize North Korea in a unique fashion is what caught my attention this morning. They do “balloon launches” Watch this video for information on this unique initiative: I love this idea… -
David Crowder Band still making great music w/o David Crowder
2 May 2012 | 1:41 pmSince the “David Crowder Band” disbanded after their last show at Passion 2012, many of us who have enjoyed their music and ministry the years have wondered if/when we would know the answer to the question, “What’s next?” Now we know… Check out the new band formed by previous members (minus David Crowder): The Digital Age. I am already blessed by what they’re coming up with and I think you will be too: “All The Poor & Powerless” – “How Great Thou Art” – -
“Earth Day won’t be very good if there is trash everywhere”
25 Apr 2012 | 11:17 amWise words from our daughter Ella in a video shot by my mother-in-law while Jess and I were away out our retreat this past weekend: I love how Ezra is so tech-savvy that he thinks whatever device Grandma is recording with should automatically connect him to his parents! -
MOVIE REVIEW: “To End All Wars” (R)
24 Apr 2012 | 11:49 amI’m still not quite sure how this movie flew under my personal radar for the last 10-years. I saw it become available on Netflix and read the quick description: Inspired by real-life events, this drama explores the experiences of Capt. Ernest Gordon and other Japanese prisoners of war enlisted to build the Railroad of Death. As the men struggle to maintain their sanity and will, they begin to drift apart. Reading the short-description and seeing that Kiefer Sutherland was one of the main actors it was a no-brainer and I added it to my instant-queue. It wasn’t until just this past… -
Ella’s 6th Birthday
24 Apr 2012 | 8:57 amI know it’s cliche to say it, but I have to: I can’t believe I have a 6 year old! Ella turned 6 just yesterday, April 23rd. She asked weeks ago that we have a family meal at Olive Garden for her birthday, so we made plans to do just that. We picked her up from school and drove up to Mechanicsburg. My in-laws were able to join us before they hit the road back to Indiana. We had a great time! Here’s my poorly-captured and poorly-sync’d video from my phone: Some photos from the night:
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Church For Family
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CHURCH: AM
15 May 2012 | 7:30 pmWe AM the CHURCH. Though that may not seem grammatically correct, it is Biblically correct. We as individual parts are place in Christ’s Body, His Church. God has placed you into His body and given you a unique way to live as part of it. -
Breaking 125 – Lead Team Audio
15 May 2012 | 3:20 pmLead Team Audio for 5-19-12. Breaking the 125 Barrier to Growth. -
CHURCH: IS
6 May 2012 | 9:40 pmThe one thing in this world Jesus was willing to die for is the same thing He wants us to be intimately involved in. In this talk, Pastor Paul takes us on a discovery into what the CHURCH actually is. -
JOY, Part Four: Real JOY!
30 Apr 2012 | 6:18 pmReal! JOY A lifestyle of JOY is a choice. You can settle for the junk in your life or you can obey God and experience His peace and joy. -
JOY, Part Three: Let! JOY
24 Apr 2012 | 12:32 pmLet! JOY A lifestyle of JOY is hard work. JOY is not passive, it is active. (Right click on pdf link below to download sermon chart.)
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REyouthpastor.com | Home
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Ways To Connect With Parents of Students
16 May 2012 | 9:59 amAt The Orange Conference 2012, I led a breakout centered around this idea of: How does a youth pastor connect with parents of students? Over the course 2011-2012, I have been really trying hard to find practical ways for youth pastors to connect with parents since it is so difficult and many youth pastors are intimated to try it out. So after many conversations with many different youth pastors, I compiled a list of practical ways to reach out to parents. I argued that connecting with parents is not about taking one big step. It’s about taking many small, intentional, and… -
Losing Empathy In Youth Ministry: Can Youth Pastors Eventually Stop Caring?
9 May 2012 | 8:12 amReal world youth ministry is messy, raw and sometimes very heartbreaking to see the pain of today’s teen. Youth ministry can be really painful if you truly empathize with hurting students. Youth pastors that open their own humanity to student are making the students’ suffering their suffering. The Problem: There is a tendency that the longer youth pastors are in youth ministry, the less emphatic they become towards today’s teens. Recent studies show that medical students score progressively lower on empathy tests the further they get into their training and medical… -
Let The Orange Conference 2012 Party Begin
24 Apr 2012 | 9:25 amThe greatest thing for me at The Orange Conference is connecting with old friends and making new ones. It fires me up connecting with youth workers/youth pastors that understand: - parents are the primary influence of a student’s life - students also need more non-parental committed adults who care, love and cheer them on in this complicated thing called: life - how to reach this unchurch next generation of mid to late adolescents This year’s Orange Conference theme is game changers. So the conference will be filled with content and stories about defining moments that… -
The “Informal” Education of Youth Pastors
18 Apr 2012 | 6:50 am(classroom pic brought to you by Public Record Office Victoria) As of late, I have been asked: “if I want to become a youth pastor, where/how should I get my youth ministry education?” My answer: Excellent question. There are formal and informal routes. The formal routes are Bible college, youth ministry certificate programs and/or seminary, which are great routes—but in this post I am not going to deal with these formal routes. Rather, I am going to speak more to the “hands on” education. My goal is to unlock the youth ministry education available… -
Q & A With Youth Ministry UK Professor Dr. Pete Ward
4 Apr 2012 | 7:03 amAt Fuller Seminary, during the summer of 2006, I was able to take one of my favorite seminary classes with Dr. Pete Ward called: Church, Culture and Youth Ministry. It was a summer intensive so we spent 10 days (6 hours per day) talking about three of my favorite things (youth ministry, church and culture). In addition, Dr. Pete Ward was from the UK and for some odd reason, I am really fascinated by the UK culture in relation to youth ministry, so I was eager to learn from Pete in how youth work works in the United Kingdom. Pete helped me: understand how to do youth…
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Kevin Campbell
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Becoming Wk 2: Unleashing God's Power
14 May 2012 | 1:43 pmHere are some thoughts from a GREAT Mother's day at Elevate Church: It was the second week of Becoming and we took a look at the third Beatitude - Meekness. Read over all eight of them throughout this series. Meditate on them. Live them. Matthew 5:3 - 12. You can listen to the message this week right here. Meekness is one of the most misunderstood attitudes. It has lost its meaning in this day and age. Meekness is not weakness. There were only two people in the Bible called meek and neither were weak - Moses and Jesus. We defined meekness as power clothed in humility. -
Mother's Day At Elevate!
11 May 2012 | 3:30 pmI am excited about this Sunday at Elevate Church! Last week was an incredible kick off to our BECOMING series. People were saved and lives were changed! Go here to listen to the first message - Turning My Misery Into A Miracle. I believe week two of BECOMING will be incredible too! Mother's Day on Sunday will make it an extra incredible day! Here are some great things we have planned for Sunday: Baby Dedications We will have Baby dedications on Mother's Day! If you are interested, email Lesley, our Children's Director. It will be a special day for all… -
The Elevate Way - Part Two
10 May 2012 | 12:30 pmYesterday I shared the first five Elevate Way statements. All ten of these statements define the WAY we go about what we do and HOW we strive to do it. Below are the remaining five statements: 6) We refuse to take this for granted. We will take time to celebrate. We will be grateful! Develop an attitude of gratitude. Philippians 4:4: Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice! 1 Thessalonians 5:18: Give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you who belong to Christ Jesus. 7) We believe the best is yet to come. We anticipate even “greater… -
The Elevate Way - Part One
9 May 2012 | 12:30 pmWe started Elevate Church a couple of years agoand our vision has always been the same - raising up passionate followers of Christ! Over this time there has been certain language and actions that have become a part of our culture. A few months ago we went through the hard work of clarifying - what is that language? What is the WAY we go about what we do? Our number one priority - we wanted to clearly identify what were the values God has placed within us. Then, let's make sure everything we do measures up against those values. Here are some guiding statements that helped us… -
Six Books You Should Read
8 May 2012 | 5:21 pmHere are six books I read recently that you should definitely put on your reading list: 1) Principle Of The Path: A great book with the premise being - "Your direction not your intention determines your destination." It sounds so simple but this is so eye opening. This book will help you get on the right path to genuinely go toward the direction you want to go! 2) Enemies of The Heart: One of THE best books I have read in months! Every pastor, leader, spouse, and parent should read. Actually, everyone who is breathing should read it! :-) It really is that…
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Digital Evangelism Issues
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Engaging with your nation’s soul
16 May 2012 | 8:30 am[Please share] When people are seeking spiritual answers, why would we not try to listen to them and start engaging in the terms and language they are using, rather than defaulting to some standardizedformulaic gospel presentation? Listening to the society around us is not optional. John Stott called it ‘double listening’. Tony Watkins has written on double listening in relation to popular culture. Below, Sheridan Voysey explains some vital issues in understanding a country’s soul. This is one of a series of key video clips; please take time to follow the others on his blog. -
How people use Twitter: infographics
14 May 2012 | 9:00 am[Please click 'Share'] Twitter continues to grow in usage and influence. • New to Twitter? Couchable offers a particularly clear guide to using it. • Tweeting Church: Good News in only 140 characters by Paul Clifford is a free ebook download on our book page. • Twitter can be a key part of a church social networking strategy. Two infographics The first infographic displays remarkable stats and demographics. Incidentally, and amazingly, it shows that the item generating the most tweets per minute ever, was not some sporting event or national disaster, but a showing of the… -
Study shows Christians using Facebook but need help
11 May 2012 | 8:30 am[Please Share] A questionnaire-based research study into social media evangelism by Christian Vision has just been published. CV’s Andrew Flynn comments, “It basically confirms that Christians are aware of the opportunity to evangelize online but need help in how to – but that they are already a lot more engaged relationally than perhaps we sometimes give credit for.” View the results including a summary infographic. This study highlights the need for training sessions – either as regional training days, or as church-based seminars. In UK, regional training days… -
Cardboard testimonies communicate
10 May 2012 | 8:00 am[Please Share] Cardboard testimonies are a highly visual, often moving, way of briefly sharing the story of God’s hand in people’s life stories. They are relatively easy to plan and film. It’s another way of creating video shorts that can be shared in Facebook, Twitter, on a church web site, etc. Of course, just as in writing out a longer testimony for outsiders, avoid jargon and exaggeration or overclaim: read more. Watch on YouTube: Watch more YouTube cardboard testimonies Sharing faith on Facebook How churches can use social media See our other recent posts about social… -
Psychology of color in design
8 May 2012 | 9:00 am[Please Share] All colors are not the same! Use colors that match your message. This is second nature to graphic designers, but not necessarily for the rest of us. And in some cultures, colors may have a special meaning that we are unaware of. The Psychology of Color by Tech King Read more about color theory and design.
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Brad Lomenick
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8 Tips for the Free Agents and Consultants
14 May 2012 | 9:32 amThis post is for those who are TRANSITIONING or have already TRANSITIONED from an organizational environment to being a lone ranger, an entrepreneur, “consultant” or “free agent” - whether you are starting your own business, beginning a new season as a “free agent” or “consultant,” or just continuing to live life as a true entrepreneur. I have lots and lots of friends who are in this season of life. More and more leaders I know are ending up in this space, because the opportunity is available like never before to be your own boss. They’ve… -
A Few tips for Catalyst Dallas week
8 May 2012 | 10:04 pmCatalyst Dallas is here! Starting today (Wednesday) through Friday. We’re excited to be in Dallas for the 2nd year! A few tips for those of you attending Catalyst Dallas for the first time this year, or maybe it’s your 2nd time. Hopefully these are helpful and allow your Catalyst Dallas experience to be the best ever! 1. Arrive early. Especially on Thursday morning. The pre-show starts up at 7 am, so we’ll try our best to entertain you while you wait for the doors to open around 8 am. 2. Attend LABS. LAB sessions occur on Wednesday, May 9, and are a great way to dive… -
A few gadgets every leader needs
7 May 2012 | 8:53 pmWe’re not necessarily talking know-how, or values, or character traits on this post. This is more about things that are tangible, and help you make ideas happen, and get things done, and manage the chaos and tension of being a leader. So here you go, a few things all leaders should have: 1. a moleskine notebook (or other types, but some type of notebook) to write down your thoughts 2. a Google Reader account that lets you track/read tons of blogs and content feeds 3. Subscriptions to magazines, industry newsletters, newspapers, etc. Fast Company, Neue, Relevant, Leadership, GOOD and… -
Are you a LEADER or a FOLLOWER?
4 May 2012 | 6:19 amLeaders are initiators. Followers are responders. Leaders are willing to step up and take on the task of driving a project. Followers have to be forced to drive a project by their boss. They wait on someone to give them direction. Leaders are intuitive, and once they have a general direction for a project, don’t have to be told what to do every step of the way. Followers want direction on a constant basis, so they make sure approval has been given and therefore cover their tracks if something goes wrong. Leaders push for action, and are not content with simply sitting still. Followers… -
Faithful to the small things
2 May 2012 | 8:59 amAs Leaders, we live for the moment. The Big moments that are memory makers. The home runs. The winning “touchdown.” The deal that launches our organizations or business to the next level. The significant benchmarks in life that define us and shape us. The times that people will talk about for years to come. When the adrenaline is dialed up and we step in. But ultimately, faithfulness looks most like being disciplined and faithful to the small things in life and leadership. The making of a leader takes time, and I believe is revealed and refined through the continual steadfastness…
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MOVING FORWARD - pastor mike landry
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Spiritual Growth Journey in the Holy Lands – Day 9
24 Apr 2012 | 9:51 amThis is our last day in Israel. We depart about midnight tonight from Tel Aviv. I can’t believe we’ve been gone 9 days already. We got up early this morning and quickly departed from the hotel to see a few more significant sites before heading back. These sites were emotionally charged and everyone was moved. We started by going to the Upper Room where Jesus had the Last Supper with His disciples. Just… -
Spiritual Growth Journey in the Holy Lands – Day 8
23 Apr 2012 | 3:02 pmToday’s journey started off a little late because the hotel had some problem with the wake up calls. But it didn’t matter because God’s has His perfect timing. Everyone was so flexible and we finally hopped on our bus and headed down, down, down, from Jerusalem to the Dead Sea. In about an hour we arrived at Masada. Masada is the Israel’s equivalent of our Alamo. After the Romans destroyed Jerusalem in 70 AD they proceeded to Masada to capture or… -
Spiritual Growth Journey in the Holy Lands – Day 7
22 Apr 2012 | 2:39 pmThe journey continues with a visit to the Temple Mount in Jerusalem. This is the site where the Jewish Temple was located before it was destroyed by Rome in 70 AD. It currently has a Muslem gold-domed shrine on top called the Dome of the Rock. We waited in line for about an hour to get there and it was well worth the visit. Many scholars believe the old Temple was not where the mosque was but rather a little further north. We spent some time at the site that many believe marks the former Holy of… -
Spiritual Growth Journey in the Holy Lands – Day 6
21 Apr 2012 | 2:16 pmJerusalem! That’s where we are…and loving it. We’ve got a lot of happy campers as you can see in our picture at the top of the Mount of Olives. It’s hard to believe we’re actually here. After reading so much in the Scriptures about Jerusalem, when you finally see it, it really gets to you. A number of our folks said that when we arrived here and saw it for the first time tears were shed. It was a very moving moment. … -
Spiritual Growth Journey in the Holy Lands – Day 5
20 Apr 2012 | 3:40 pmToday was the best yet. After eating breakfast and checking out of our hotel we headed to the top of the mountain where Jesus preached His famous Sermon on the Mount found in Matthew 5-7. The bus dropped us off and we hiked down the mountain to the most probable spot. As the Scriptures were read while overlooking the Sea of Galilee we got a taste of what all the people hearing Jesus must have experienced. It was a “WOW” moment. You’ll be interested to know that the mountain is shaped in a way where the…
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Glocalnet Blog
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PALESTINIANS - KURDS - PASHTO - HAZARA - THERE HAS TO BE A BETTER WAY!
11 May 2012 | 12:08 pmHow do you determine nation-states and land disputes among tribes and nations? I wonder how many times the lines have been drawn globally to make nations, only for one nation to create itself within another nation (like the United States with Native American Indians). No conflict on earth reflects this like the Palestinian-Israeli crisis. But they are not alone - the Kurds of northern Iraq, Turkey, & Iran, the Pashto that are in Pakistan and Afghanistan. Many of these modern conflicts were created by the maps drawn by exiting colonial powers - particularly the… -
WHAT IRAQI’S WANT - OBERSERVATIONS
8 May 2012 | 3:30 amIf you’re interested – you can follow me on twitter @bobrobertsjr and see some pictures and tweet while I was in Iraq – but I’m at Heathrow in London and have some time and thought I’d blog a little bit about what I saw and what I experienced. Having been in war zones and devastated areas from natural disasters – it was nothing like I expected. There was a lot of hustle and bustle and commerce going on. It didn’t feel like a war torn region. Yes, you could see the bullet holes and other vestiges of war – but it felt like a place on the move. The… -
THE ABSENT YET SOON PRESENT CHURCH
30 Apr 2012 | 6:55 pmIn the present/past the church has been present in worship, politics, morality, religion . . . but absent in other conversations and contexts that have the ability to spread the good news of Jesus like never before, but that is changing . . . The church has done missions - but hasn’t done global. We get missiology - but so little of globalization. Without realizing it, and then in ignorance celebrating it - we are viewed by the rest of the world as religious colonialist that promote, expand, celebrate a “western religion” ignorant to cultures, tribes, and nuance. YET,… -
20 Years of Multiplying Churches
25 Apr 2012 | 5:44 am20 years worth of lessons on multiplying churches out of Northwood - It hit me this week while being here at Exponential – it’s been 20 years since we helped start our first church. It was Bear Valley Community Church and Sam Carmack was the pastor. I often pass the church in our community. It has grown and done well. There are a lot of things I’ve learned – and even changed in my thinking since then. Northwood has over 20 churches directly in its own target area – most are 2 to 4 miles from where our campus is, and we’ve started another 160 across the… -
CHURCH PLANTING DNA - YOU HAVE NO CONTROL OVER IT - OR DO YOU?
24 Apr 2012 | 9:30 amThere is NOTHING MORE IMPORTANT than having the right DNA for a new church plant. There is ABSOLUTELY NOTHING YOU CAN DO ABOUT IT EITHER! DNA doesn’t come from you, it comes from the parent – Jesus is the head of the Church and so he puts it within us. The challenge for us is not having the right DNA, but the challenge is how we see it encompassing and defining all that we do in the ministry. Hirsch in Forgotten Ways is as good as it gets with the Apostolic DNA – all of those 5 parts must be present. If those 5 (apostle, prophet, evangelist, pastor, teacher…
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TeamRCIA
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What do you ask of God’s church? The first question in the RCIA
15 May 2012 | 9:53 amThis question shapes the entire catechumenate process. Find out why. See also these related articles:What do you ask of God’s church? The first question in the RCIASix signs of readiness for the Rite of AcceptanceFive key questions to ask RCIA inquirersThree easy ways to evangelizeAre you overloading the RCIA “boat”?Don’t settle for a “pretty good” RCIA process -
The RCIA challenge of developing intimacy with Jesus—and my billion best friends
14 May 2012 | 12:08 amIn our RCIA groups, we often have people at very different levels of faith. The General Directory for Catechesis identifies three levels. The Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults is really concerned only about the first two levels: initial proclamation and initiatory catechesis. However, we often have very many people in our RCIA groups who are require the third level—ongoing or postbaptismal catechesis. No matter which level people are at, we all have a single purpose when it comes to catechesis: The definitive aim of catechesis is to put people not only in touch, but also in communion… -
Six signs of readiness for the Rite of Acceptance
8 May 2012 | 12:04 amHow do you know if your inquirers are ready to celebrate the Rite of Acceptance? The RCIA gives us some clear guidelines to help us discern. Discover what they are in this brief video. See also these related articles:What do you ask of God’s church? The first question in the RCIASix signs of readiness for the Rite of AcceptanceFive key questions to ask RCIA inquirersThree easy ways to evangelizeAre you overloading the RCIA “boat”?Don’t settle for a “pretty good” RCIA process -
Can an art docent help RCIA teams learn to catechize better?
6 May 2012 | 7:01 pmI recently saw a docent at the Art Institute in Chicago patiently explaining Georges Seurat’s masterpiece, Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte, to a grade school class. She obviously had a firm grasp of the facts about the painting—size, date painted, number of figures in the painting, number of years to complete—but the kids were bored. I know nothing about Seurat, other than that he painted this painting. But if I could ask him why he painted it, I’m going to bet he would not say so that children could learn how long it took him to paint it. I’m going to bet his goal… -
Five key questions to ask RCIA inquirers
1 May 2012 | 10:12 amHelp your RCIA inquires create a plan for their conversion with these five, simple questions. See also these related articles:What do you ask of God’s church? The first question in the RCIASix signs of readiness for the Rite of AcceptanceFive key questions to ask RCIA inquirersThree easy ways to evangelizeAre you overloading the RCIA “boat”?Don’t settle for a “pretty good” RCIA process
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Brandon A. Cox
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Metrics: Balancing Stats and Stories
25 Apr 2012 | 6:00 amMetrics: Balancing Stats and Stories is a post from Brandon A. Cox.Church metrics. That’s not a very pretty phrase. In fact, for many, it seems cold. If church becomes a numbers game, then people become “just a number,” and when people are just a number, we’ve failed to emulate the ministry of Jesus. But if we fail to count anybody, we allow people to slip through the cracks and therefore fail to emulate the ministry of Jesus. So how do you count people in a way that makes each person count? You balance the stats and the stories. In other words, who was there on… -
There Is More to Sunday Than Meets the Eye
24 Apr 2012 | 2:53 pmThere Is More to Sunday Than Meets the Eye is a post from Brandon A. Cox.Recently, our staff met and talked about what Sunday looks like at Grace Hills. We don’t want to be defined by Sundays, but we want to lead people to experience the presence of God in a life-changing way, which requires planning, prayer, and intentionality. As we walked through the average Sunday morning, we began to list out the various elements that are a part of an individual’s experience, from pulling into the parking lot to heading for lunch afterward. Here is the list we came up with… Preparing… -
3 Ministries of Every Church Staff Member
10 Apr 2012 | 9:08 am3 Ministries of Every Church Staff Member is a post from Brandon A. Cox.Some churches view the staff as hired workers. If that is the case in your church, respect your leaders and don’t blame any rebellious attitudes on what I am about to say about this. Other churches view the staff as interdependent creative thinkers and leaders. In the first case, the usual mentality is “anything you aren’t doing for the church should be done ‘off the clock’.” In the second case, the mentality is “everything you do as ministry and mission benefits us as long as… -
Our First Easter as Grace Hills Church
9 Apr 2012 | 10:36 pmOur First Easter as Grace Hills Church is a post from Brandon A. Cox.Was awesome. On Saturday, we hosted a community Easter egg hunt at Grace Hill Elementary School. About 75 volunteers, a third of which were teens, came and hid 5,000 eggs and served a hot grilled lunch to about 350 people. The school was gracious enough to allow us to invite all 500 of their students which allowed us to have some great conversations with people in the community. (Watch the highlight video.) On Sunday, we broke our previous attendance record (176, set on our launch Sunday) with 215! With a full band and a… -
Doing Discipleship Post-Resurrection Style
4 Apr 2012 | 3:03 pmDoing Discipleship Post-Resurrection Style is a post from Brandon A. Cox.I’ve heard plenty of talk about discipleship and multiplication recently, and it usually goes something like this… If you want to make disciples the way Jesus wants, you have to do it the way Jesus did it. And Jesus, in His earthly ministry, chose only a few people, weeded out those who weren’t true followers, and avoided letting crowds follow him. Therefore, discipleship is one-on-one, takes a year and a half, and doesn’t involve seeing masses of people come to know Him. If you’re arguing…
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Build the Church
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Build the Church 441 - Manafest
26 Apr 2012 | 1:43 pmToday we have an extra special podcast for all Build the Church listeners, today we feature the music of Juno nominee Manafest and songs from his album "The Chase." This is definitely a show you do not want to miss. Enjoy today's Build the Church. MP3 File - Click Here to Download Podcast Click here to find Manafest's album "The Chase". Click here and go to Manafest's website. Find Manafest in MySpace by clicking here. Be friends with Manafest in Facebook by going here. Get Manafest's music at ReverbNation right here. Follow Manafest on Twitter by clicking here. Find all the music and merch… -
Build the Church 440
27 Mar 2012 | 5:33 pmGet ready for some great artists on Build the Church. Hear the sounds of The Mark Dufrene Band. Tommee Profitt, Michael Gomez and Michael Sweet!Enjoy today's Build the Church. MP3 File - Click Here to Download PodcastClick here to find Tommee Profitt's album "Blameless".Get Tommee's music in iTunes by going here.Find Tommee Profitt in myspace by clicking here.Go to Tommee Profitt's website here.Hear Michael Gomez on the Podsafe Music Network.Find Michael Gomez in myspace by going here.Find the Mark Dufrene Band in myspace by going here.Go to Michael Sweet's website by clicking here.Find… -
Build the Church 439
21 Feb 2012 | 4:47 pmToday we have some of the best musicians in all Christian Indie music. Today hear the sounds of Shelley Moore Band, Eight Days Later, Awaken the Hero and Frank Hart.Enjoy today's Build the Church. MP3 File - Click Here to Download Podcast Click here to get all of the Shelley Moore Band's music.Click here to go to the Shelley Moore Band's website.Go here to find the Shelley Moore Bands in myspace.Click here to buy Eight Days Later album "Awake".Click here to go to Eight Days Later's website.Go here to find Eight Days Later in myspace.Click here to go to Frank Hart's website.Go here to find… -
Build the Church 438 - Sonia V
30 Jan 2012 | 2:00 pmToday we have a special Build the Church, today we feature the music of Sonia V. Along with some old favorites we throw in a brand new song off her album "Oh Sweet Tragedy."Enjoy the podcast! MP3 File - Click Here to Download Podcast Click here to go to Sonia V.'s website.Find Sonia V in myspace by clicking here.Make friends with Sonia on Facebook by going here.Send Sonia V a tweet on Twitter right here.Shout out to Sonia on Shoutlife by clicking here.Buy Sonia's music by clicking here. -
Build the Church 437 - A Sleeping at Last Christmas
24 Dec 2011 | 4:18 pmGet ready for another special Christmas music only edition of Build the Church featuring music from a favorite of ours, Sleeping at Last. All the music is from Sleeping at Last's Christmas album which you can get for free by following the links below.Enjoy this special Christmas edition of Build the Church. MP3 File - Click Here to Download Podcast Click here for the free Sleeping at Last's Christmas Album.Go to Sleeping at Last's website by clicking here.Go here to find Sleeping at Last in myspace.Download songs by Sleeping at Last on PureVolume.Buy Sleeping at Last's music on iTunes by…
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Biblical Preaching
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Insightful Incidentals – part 2
16 May 2012 | 12:23 amYesterday I suggested that some preaching points pursued from minor details in a text can be well off-target. But does this mean we are constrained to a rigid main point only approach? Generally this wouldn’t hurt most preachers, but let’s say for argument’s sake that you are very conscientious on preaching the main idea in a text . . . are there some guidelines for commenting on the less central details? 1. Make sure you’ve understood how the detail relates to the whole before you say anything else about it. Biblical narrative tends to be sparse in nature. -
Insightful Incidentals?
15 May 2012 | 12:23 amWhatever passage you are preaching, there will be opportunity to make passing comments about relatively minor details. Of course, all Scripture is God-breathed and there is no such thing as a non-essential word in the Bible. But a high commitment to verbal plenary inspiration (i.e. the words are inspired, all of them), does not mean every word can become a preaching point on a whim. So what sort of insightful incidental comments are best left unsaid altogether? Tomorrow I’ll address the potentially appropriate ones, but for now, just the baddies: 1. Distracting moralisms –… -
Saturday Short Thought: Seeker Sensitive Preaching
12 May 2012 | 1:28 amFor the past two weeks I have been blogging my way through what I think might be the ten biggest big ideas in the Bible. I’m sure there are others that should be included. And I’m sure there are some that shouldn’t. I’ve watched a discussion on a forum where people have been posting their own lists in response to my suggesting there might be eight to ten such macro thoughts. One or two suggestions have seemed to be off-track. My concern is not to wrangle over debates between one theological camp versus another. My concern is that the God of the Bible be… -
Biggest Big Ideas – 10. Christ
11 May 2012 | 12:14 amWe’ve covered a lot of ground in nine posts. A lot of threads weave through the canon. The resulting tapestry is stunning and breathtaking, but we can’t help ourselves, our gaze goes from the whole to the who…the one who reveals God to us, the Son. 10. The centerpiece of God’s great Word is His Word, His Son, our Lord, the Christ, the deliverer called Jesus, from Nazareth. The epic adventures of God’s chosen people take more than a few posts to tell. In various times, in different ways, God spoke to them. But in these last days He has spoken to us in a son! Can we ever get… -
Biggest Big Ideas – 9. Hope
10 May 2012 | 12:43 amI started this series last week with the note that Haddon Robinson had suggested that the Bible weaves together about ten bigger big ideas. I’m offering my list, feel encouraged to read the Scriptures and write your own. We’ve pondered our triune God, His creation, our fall into sin, His grace, our faith, His great work of redemption, resulting in our unity, the spreading giving goodness of God’s plan and now we have two left. The Bible is saturated with this theme: 9. A fallen world is a place of despair, yet sin cannot win against our great God, so His people always have hope.
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samluce.com
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Best Bible for Preschoolers!
15 May 2012 | 7:01 amI’ve written a few posts about what bible to buy for your kids. Here are a few of those posts. Helping kids love the bible: Stay one bible ahead Resources to help your kids love the bible. As a kids pastor my favorite bible has to be the Jesus Storybook Bible. I love because of the vocabulary it gives parents and kids to understand and explain the Gospel. The only problem for us with our youngest kids it didn’t hold their attention because they are to young for the stories. So knowing that our youngest love lift the flap books my wife has been on a quest because it so important to… -
Treasuring Christ
14 May 2012 | 8:01 amThis weekend at church my pastor spoke on Love out of 1 Corinthians 13. It was a powerful message talking about what love should look like. As as I sat there listening I began to think as a Child, Husband, father, leader do I treasure Christ? In all that we do as followers of Christ I think this is a question we do not ask enough. As I sat at my seat listening to my pastor preach I started to think that I treasure lots of things about Christ and I treasure the possibility of what Christ can bring to my life but do I truly treasure Christ. The answer I came to was no. If Christ could do… -
REdefining Maturity (Part 2)
8 May 2012 | 7:33 amThis is an article I did for K! magazine a few years ago. K! is a great magazine Ryan Frank and his team do an outstanding job of finding new voices. I also am a huge fan of the layout of the magazine love the artwork. If you are not getting K! magazine and are involved in ministering to kids you need to subscribe now. Here is the link to part 1. Here’s a few things you can do to ensure that you are maturing in your faith: Read Your Bible It’s not a textbook for ministry, but a guidebook for your personal life. It’s huge. Something that I find intimidating, if not down right… -
REdefining Maturity (Part 1)
7 May 2012 | 8:32 amThis is an article I did for K! magazine a few years ago. K! is a great magazine Ryan Frank and his team do an outstanding job of finding new voices. I also am a huge fan of the layout of the magazine love the artwork. If you are not getting K! magazine and are involved in ministering to kids you need to subscribe now. Keeping your faith fresh. I’m no green thumb but my wife by her own admission is even worse. Over the past ten years of married life she has successfully killed every houseplant we’ve brought into our home. She over waters, under waters, gives them her leftover espresso,… -
This Ends in 22 Hours
2 May 2012 | 2:29 pmThis Ends in 22 Hours If you’re looking for some great worship videos for your Children’s or Preteen Ministry, I really hope you can snag this super deal from Yancy. It ends Thursday at noon (like in a few hours). It’s $97 for $1,682 worth of her Children’s Ministry Worship resources. If you don’t know Yancy, she’s awesome. Her videos typically sell for $10-12 a piece, so this is a pretty sweet deal. Visit www.only144.com to check it out. Hope this helps stretch your budget a lot further. - Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone
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Godvertiser.com
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I’m Getting a Chance to Meet Jack Dorsey of Twitter in NJ This Week
15 May 2012 | 6:02 amLast week, I shared a video clip from an interview with @Jack, founder of Twitter — he shares an interesting perspective in that conversation that gives a clue to Twitter’s potential and original intention. Twitter has been a great platform for me over the last couple of years. I’m getting a chance to see Jack Dorsey in person later this week and it got me thinking about some of the great things that have come out of my Twitter experience to date. Here’s just a few benefits of Twitter: Access to people & new relationships -- This is by far one of the biggest… -
Read this Before You Send Another Email
14 May 2012 | 4:02 amIf you’re like most organizational leaders, a significant part of what you do on a daily basis is process emails. . . Responding to emails, initiating emails, filing, deleting and forward emails. We all do it. The problem with the clear majority (95%+!!!) of email is that when you sit down to process your email inbox, you are deciding to let other people’s agendas dictate how you spend your time IMHO. So figuring out how to tame that inbox is one of the most strategic things you can do for your own work. One of my colleagues is a master of killing that inbox every day. So I… -
Community Bible Experience // Books of the Bible NIV Book Clubs
11 May 2012 | 6:14 amI was fortunate to connect with Paul Caminiti, vice-president of church & bible engagement at Biblica at the Q conference in Washington D.C. this April. On a daily basis, 700 people quit reading the Bible. And that means not just taking a break or putting the book down for a couple of months, we’re talking *quit*. The latest project at Biblica (the copyright holders of the NIV), is an elegant approach to a seemingly ubiquitous circumstance. Distinctive features of Books of the Bible NIV – part of the Community Bible Experience They’ve taken the NIV bible and the… -
Seth Godin in NYC May 16
8 May 2012 | 8:01 pmThis spring has been an amazing sequence of events for me. The next one on the docket? Seth Godin Live in Tribeca, NYC on May 16 – yup an all day event with Seth Godin himself. So I’m ordering up a set of new custom business cards for the event and pulling out some of the good old Seth Godin books, etc. There’s a bunch of interesting people that are sure to be there, so it should be a great place to connect with some amazing new friends too — hopefully there will be some actual project collaboration, perhaps even before we leave the event. If you’ve… -
Social Media Looking Glass
5 May 2012 | 10:19 pmDo you spend time thinking about what’s going on in your city? Do you pay attention to what’s happening beyond the streets you normally traverse in your commute or daily/weekly routines? Do you ever go off the beaten path? Even within your own zip code? One of the interesting ways to look at social media is to see it as a listening post. A way to observe and feel the pulse of the city you live in, no matter how big or small it may be. Before you start spewing a whole slew of social media content to gain the tons of followers you think you can amass, one of the most basic…
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Children's Ministry Online
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Don’t raise well rounded, well educated and happy kids
3 May 2012 | 12:23 pmI’ve been working alongside parents now for fifteen years, but I’ve only done this from the perspective of actually being a parent for the last five. Having kids of your own certainly changes your perspective. We all have hopes and dreams for what our kids will grow up to be. Every time we host a child dedication class, we ask the question, “What does parenting success look like to you?” We also ask another question that hits the same issue from a different angle asking, “If you could pass only one thing to your child by the time they become an adult, what would… -
I’m not so comfortable with the mess
2 May 2012 | 12:17 pmOne of my top 3 ministry gifts is administration. I love systems, processes and project plans. I love to set goals, strive to make them happen and help others move the ball forward. I actually enjoy coming into an area of chaos and bring order and structure so that growth can actually happen. These are my gifts and I work very hard to make this happen. I probably work too hard in fact. I spend a significant amount of time offsite because I don’t like being interrupted so much. I just need some peace and quite while I get stuff done. Although I think that my philosophy and approach is… -
Four years and counting
2 May 2012 | 8:06 amYesterday I celebrated my fourth year of coming on staff at Gateway Church in Austin, TX. I vividly remember driving from the Orange Conference in Atlanta with my little family and my car fully packed halfway across the country. Not only was excited about moving to a new city and taking on a new job that was fresh and exciting, but I was amazed how God seemingly directed events on a major scale to move me into a job that was exactly what I needed and exactly the right time. 12 months earlier, I’m not sure how I would have felt about this kind of role, but as God had been shaping my… -
Creating a healthy staff culture
30 Apr 2012 | 10:04 amMost of us could probably tell some great stories of horrible church staff situations. I’ve been a part of several, some of which were highly political where few trusted each other and I’ve been a part of church staff where things even got hostile. I’m not quite sure that the perfect church staff culture exists out there, but I’ve been a part of some good ones too. While at The Orange Conference last week, Andy Stanley spoke specifically to to the issue of staff culture. Many of the points I’ve heard before in one of his leadership podcasts, but it was a great… -
ORANGE 2012: Game Changer
26 Apr 2012 | 2:03 pmI’m at the 2012 Orange Conference and so far, it’s been pretty amazing, but Orange is always like that. I’ve actually been able to attend more breakouts than last year… and I’ve actually been paying closer attention in the general sessions as compared to last year. I hope to publish my notes from some of the sessions/breakouts later tonight. I also had the opportunity to lead a preconference breakout on yesterday, and include some notes from that as well. Stay tuned…
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RELEVANT Magazine
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Debating Calvinism, Part 2
1 May 2012 | 8:29 amIt's one of religion's hottest debates right now. In this second article, an Arminian makes his case. There’s probably no other issue in popular Christianity as argued or debated as Calvinism. Whether it’s a dorm room, a Sunday school class, a dinner table, a church meeting or a classroom, chances are there’s been an argument about election, sovereignty and free will. It’s a theological battle royale, argued by scholars and blog commenters alike. That debate has only grown over the past decade or so, as more and more young people have begun to identify as Reformed—that is, the… -
Debating Calvinism, Part 1
30 Apr 2012 | 8:41 amIt's one of religion's hottest debates right now. Today, a Calvinist defends his side. There’s probably no other issue in popular Christianity as argued or debated as Calvinism. Whether it’s a dorm room, a Sunday school class, a dinner table, a church meeting or a classroom, chances are there’s been an argument about election, sovereignty and free will. It’s a theological battle royale, argued by scholars and blog commenters alike. That debate has only grown over the past decade or so, as more and more young people have begun to identify as Reformed—that is, the tradition that… -
"I Used to Be On Fire for God"
25 Apr 2012 | 2:11 pmIt started junior year of high school when I went to my friend’s charismatic youth group. The room was dark, the music was loud and there was a lot of dancing. People were crying on the floor, shouting unintelligible languages and jumping. It was the weirdest, most electric thing I’d ever experienced. I was "on fire" for God. I was raised almost completely out of church by completely Christian parents. I’ve only recently come to understand what it was that hurt them about church and why they can’t bring themselves to go back. It’s an unspoken bond not unlike… -
Planting Trees Is About People
19 Apr 2012 | 4:03 pmI once asked a friend what part of social justice interested him. “The justice part,” he responded, as his eyebrows narrowed and his chin dropped a few centimeters—just enough for him to look down his nose at me with all the condescension of the lawyer he would one day become. Obviously. “Why? What part interests you?” he countered. Had the question first been posed to me, I would have answered with illustrative stories about men's and women’s lives being transformed, about reconciliation and restoration. I would have named people I knew—Godofredo, Teodora, Grey—whose… -
Do Denominations Still Matter?
18 Apr 2012 | 4:21 pmTaking another look at structured faith community. C.S. Lewis wrote in the preface to Mere Christianity that we should be careful with the word “Christian.” Lewis believed the term should be used strictly in the definitive sense, to describe those that follow “the teaching of the apostles” and not as a term of value or morality. After all, there are good and bad people who are Christians, and there are good and bad people who are not Christians. It’s perfectly fine for our label to simply be a word that describes our commitment to following Jesus’ teachings and not a term…
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Managing Your Church
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ManagingYourChurch.com Honored by Press Association
15 May 2012 | 3:41 pmChristianity Today receives 43 honors for its print and online publications. -
10 Tips for Counting Cash
10 May 2012 | 9:00 amPlus, best practices for making cash payouts -
Five Lessons from The Journal’s Church Fraud Piece
8 May 2012 | 9:00 amOutsiders are watching. How will we respond? -
Christian School Teachers Fired for Out-of-Wedlock Pregnancies
3 May 2012 | 9:00 amWere the firings legal? A recent Supreme Court ruling sheds light. -
Five Online Giving Lessons for Churches
1 May 2012 | 9:00 am2011 data: Technology remains promising, but no panacea.
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Branded With Love
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Forefronters: Everything You Need To Know About This Sunday & The “What If…” Series
15 May 2012 | 4:34 pmSo excited about this Sunday and what is going to happen with the future of Forefront. But, you might be asking some questions… If you’re wondering what’s happening this Sunday, missed a service, been serving with the kids, missed one of the combined Gel Celebrations, did not receive a What If… Prayer Guide, haven’t seen the What If… FAQ Sheet, or just want to remind yourself about all the great things happening at Forefront as we start this great new chapter… This is post is for you. We put together everything you need to know, and even… -
What If… Series Videos
7 May 2012 | 6:44 pmWe’re in our series, “What If…” and it has been AMAZING so far to hear some of the stories, listening to people remember how God changed their life forever, and used Forefront as a catalyst for that. Blown away! We’ve been discussing the questions “What If… Everybody’s Welcome? Nobody’s Perfect? Anything’s Possible? During this series we’ve been playing a number of videos, so we want to make sure you get a chance to check them out. So, here you go. This Is Transformation from Forefront Church on Vimeo. Everybody’s Welcome… -
The Incredible Hulk & Jelly Bracelets
30 Apr 2012 | 8:49 amEvery time my daughter Chloe comes to the office she checks my desk. She runs in, looks, and makes sure that the Incredible Hulk is there… With jelly bracelets on his head. I’m not quite sure when this started. But I do remember her being in my office, taking off her bracelets and putting them ever so delicately on top of the Incredible Hulk’s head. I didn’t think much of it that day. But, every day since then, I remember the moment. “Why?” you ask. Well, because the Hulk holds my cords to plug in my laptop so they don’t fall back behind the desk. -
What If… Everybody’s Welcome @Forefront757?
29 Apr 2012 | 8:05 pmToday we started our journey towards being in a permanent location for Forefront Church. It’s Exciting. Scary. Terrifying. Filled with Anticipation. It’s going to be glorious. “Why?” you might ask. Well, because we’re chasing after a biblical mission: to spread the love and grace of Jesus. Because His role was to come and “seek & save the lost.” (Luke 19:10). But, this isn’t going to be easy. Following God never is. It takes prayer, connection with God on a personal level, so as a church we can be sure we’re fulfilling what God… -
I’m Introverted. Where Do I Fit?- Part 2
25 Apr 2012 | 1:37 pmNot everybody feels comfortable in the church culture that’s been created. And by comfortable, I mean the introverts can feel a little left behind in a world of “engage, connect, share, be in community, etc.” It isn’t easy to connect with people when you’re an introvert. Actually it’s downright awkward and terrifying. A handful of people in our student ministry have this running joke when something awkward happens, “It’s not awkward unless you make it.” Well, I hate to burst anyone’s bubble here, but that couldn’t be…
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david kenney
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Christ redeems us
16 May 2012 | 8:09 amphoto credit: Life Lenses Ephesians 1:7-8 (CEB) We have been ransomed through his Son’s blood, and we have forgiveness for our failures based on his overflowing grace, which he poured over us with wisdom and understanding. Paul says, ‘not only does God choose you because of nothing you have done, he also saves us and forgives us through his Son, based on what? Our asking? Our apology? Our prayers? Nope, all according to the riches of his grace. Here is another bible mystery, “redemption.” But we do use redemption sometimes in our world, but we use the word… -
Spend more time & less time
15 May 2012 | 9:35 pmphoto credit: jasonbolonski Ecclesiastes 11:5 (CEB) Just as you don’t understand what the life-breath does in the fetus inside a pregnant woman’s womb, so you can’t understand the work of God, who makes everything happen. Earlier we had looked at Psalm 139 that talked about how we are chosen by God long before we are born. That can be a concept that’s hard to grasp. How does that happen? Why does God choose some and not others? The idea of predestination is not a doctrine that is easily understood. The writer of Ecclesiastes “gets that” and says, “look, just… -
Shakespeare is boring
15 May 2012 | 9:05 pmphoto credit: MinnesotaDavis Ephesians 1:4-6 (CEB) God chose us in Christ to be holy and blameless in God’s presence before the creation of the world. God destined us to be his adopted children through Jesus Christ because of his love. This was according to his goodwill and plan and to honor his glorious grace that he has given to us freely through the Son whom he loves. Have you ever heard someone say, “Shakespeare is boring?” Sure. Why? “Well, when I read it, I get lost… and it’s not interesting and my mind wanders.” Well that’s because… -
Marvelously Set Apart
14 May 2012 | 9:07 pmphoto credit: sacks08 Psalm 139:13-14 (CEB) You are the one who created my innermost parts; you knit me together while I was still in my mother’s womb. I give thanks to you that I was marvelously set apart. Your works are wonderful—I know that very well. God was present and active while you were an unformed substance. This passage gives an Old Testament support to the idea Paul talks about in Ephesians as being “chosen before the foundations of the world.” Here, instead of the “world” as the illustration, the Psalmist says, “before my Mother knew she was… -
Stories about the groom
14 May 2012 | 8:59 pmphoto credit: Scinern Ephesians 1:1-2 (CEB) From Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by God’s will. To the holy and faithful people in Christ Jesus in Ephesus.Grace and peace to you from God our Father and our Lord Jesus Christ. Paul is a former Jewish bounty hunter. He used to hunt down and kill Christians. But now he is a missionary and a church planter who helped start this church in Ephesus. And as the founding pastor, Paul thinks about his congregation far away. Paul is presently in Rome, he’s in prison. It’s been about 60 years or so since Christ walked the earth and now…
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(re)made
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Proof That Social Media Matters
3 May 2012 | 3:38 pm“Springtime” on instagram Social media started to matter when people started using it. Facebook and twitter were around for awhile before most of us started using it. Five or ten years ago it didn’t matter as much, but now social media is in some way a part of everyone’s daily life. This is especially true if you use a smartphone. Access to social media is just easier now. Take instagram for example. It is something easy to access, a great social way to share photos quickly and they are doing something that nobody else is doing. With doing these things, they are able… -
Don’t Give Up On Your Dreams
24 Apr 2012 | 7:27 pm“Calm” on Instagram The number one reason that people give up on their dreams is fear. Fear of the unknown, fear of rejection, fear of what others will think and the list goes on. So, what should we do when we have fear? 1. Know what you believe. I can’t help but tie my faith into my beliefs on this topic. It is only in God that I have found any sort of confidence. I am still afraid of certain things, of course, but I am able to find confidence through Him. I really don’t know ho people do it without God. We were never meant to be content in just ourselves, but content… -
Two Letters
22 Apr 2012 | 10:57 pmCreative Commons Photo Credit by mrlomo Doing something doesn’t always equal being productive. Ever had one of those days where you are really busy and at the end of the day you can’t really say what you accomplished? But, if you stay focused and are working towards going the direction that you want to go, it’s the process that will get you there. It doesn’t just happen. In the process of achieving your goals, make sure that you are doing something instead of just trying to be someone. There’s a big difference between doing something for the actual good of doing… -
Doing What God Tells You To Do
22 Apr 2012 | 7:06 pmCreative Commons Photo Credit by highersights Sometimes the voice of God can be so obvious. And then sometimes, God has to jump in your way to get your attention. Maybe you know what I’m talking about… If you want an example of this, then read the story of Jonah. Talk about getting Jonah’s attention… Anyways, God seems to talk to us in the way that we will allow Him to. A lot of it has to do with if we will even stop long enough to listen to what He’s saying. Listening becomes easier when we turn to God first instead of turning to Google. I know at least for me,… -
Don’t Forget
11 Apr 2012 | 5:51 pmCreative Commons Photo Credit by AaronPhelps Things that seem so easy to comprehend are usually not believable or they are easy to forget. Here are some reminders to take with you. Don’t forget that you are beautifully and wonderfully made. Don’t forget that people love you, no matter the mistakes that you make. Don’t forget that you are here for a reason. Don’t forget that your journey has made you who you are. Don’t forget about the goals that you really want and have been working towards for years. Don’t forget that nothing worth having ever came easy.
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Vineyard Church of Ithaca
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April 29: The Lord’s Supper, AKA The Lord’s Brunch, AKA The Table
19 Apr 2012 | 10:31 amThe following is a post by James Cherian: Usually, on the last Sunday of every month we only have one service at 10am, and we come together for a pancake breakfast before the service starts. [Side note: Starting April 29 thru the end of August, we will be shifting to only one service at 10am] The Cafe/Food Team as well as others have done a great job in organizing it, and it’s at such a place where we feel we can take a significant next step in this idea. But first a little background… When we first started the pancake breakfast, the idea was to build up community again. One of our… -
PST Update from Mike Heisler
19 Apr 2012 | 8:32 amBeing regular The Pastoral Search Team has resumed its bi-weekly meeting schedule. Wading through the web Our initial search included contacting Vineyard churches we had connections with and the regional overseers across the country. This utilized a more personal network of people that we hoped would provide applicants closely suited to our church. No one has worked out yet from this networking although we continue to review any applicants that come in from these contacts. In fact we are in the process of reviewing information from one such candidate at this time. In the meantime we have… -
Transition & Church Plant Update
21 Mar 2012 | 10:54 amThis past Sunday, Bob & James shared an update about our upcoming transition. If you have any thoughts or questions about this process, contact us. We would love to hear what you’re thinking. The following is the transcript from this Sunday: Bob: Before we get into this week’s message, we wanted to take a few minutes and give an update on our upcoming transition as a church. While we are excited about what God is doing, it clearly set the Ithaca Vineyard & my family on an different path than we had been. Over the next 6 weeks we are planning to take some time during out… -
Pastoral Search Update – March 1, 2012
1 Mar 2012 | 1:26 pmIn our last Pastoral Search Team (PST) update, we’d shared that we were entering a new stage of the process. We had gone through the first round of interviews without having a clear sense that any of the candidate were the person God had to become our next lead pastor. Beginning this new stage involved a few items: 1) Replacing 2 members of the team. Wale Adio and Ivan Daykov both needed to step down from the team due to their own transitions out of Ithaca. We have taken the past 4-6 weeks to pray and consider who we should add to the team. We are in the process of contacting members… -
Missions Report From Peru
1 Feb 2012 | 11:39 amThis past January, the Vineyard helped support Josephine Chen’s missions trip to Peru. Jo is one of our undergraduate students at Cornell. We’ve asked her to share a little about her experience in Lima. Pamplona This year, from January 7-15, I took a trip to Lima, Peru, with the non-profit organization MEDLIFE (Medicine, Education, and Development for Low-Income Families Everywhere). For half the trip, I worked with medical professionals in a mobile clinic offering primary care to community members. My tasks included everything from teaching kids how to brush their teeth to…
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Serving Strong
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Broken Bread
16 May 2012 | 6:00 amBread. Some like it sliced thick with lots of butter. Others like to rip off a piece and dunk it in olive oil. Maybe you like to simply take the loaf and bite right into it. But notice the common theme among all of these choices: the bread must be broken to be used for [...] -
What Would You Do? #CaseStudy01
15 May 2012 | 6:00 am“His name is Roger*. He has been in the ministry for 15 years. Seven years into his calling, God had led him to a dying church of 25 people. That was 8 years ago. Today, that church is now running 2,500 in 6 locations (satellite campuses) across the city. Two years ago, Roger had an [...] -
Yellow And Blue Make…
14 May 2012 | 6:00 amWe eat an orange one slice at a time but to pursue our Life Plan like an orange short circuits the purpose. Compartmentalism is the bane of genuine passion. Consider the most important aspect of our Life Plan: our walk with God. The moment we see our spiritual life separate from our other areas of [...] -
Mother’s WHAT?
13 May 2012 | 4:13 pmI’m sitting and thinking (a bad combination, I know). It’s the evening of Mother’s Day and I’m in a reflective mood. A lot of flowers and candy and lunches have been consumed. A lot of homemade cards are now opened and stuck firmly to refrigerators with trusty magnets. Photos have been posted on Pinterest, Facebook [...] -
The Strong Digest
12 May 2012 | 3:01 pmWhat took place this past week at Serving Strong Raw Notes – 2012 Chick-Fil-A Leadercast Several days ago, I attended the Chick-Fil-A Leadercast for 2012. Below are my raw notes from that day, if you’re interested. Have a great weekend! 2012 Leadercast Raw Notes – ServingStrong 12 baskets I was sitting too far from the [...]
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HalMayer.com
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A Letter from Lockdown
15 May 2012 | 2:22 pmWe start a brand new series this weekend on the New Testament book of Philippians. Here is a little background: After his conversion to Christ, the Apostle Paul spent much of his time traveling the Mediterranean area starting churches. Whenever he started a church he would spend some time developing leaders and then he would hand off the church to the leaders, only to move on to start another church. We read in the book of Acts about the church Paul started in Philippi. The book (actually letter) of Philippians is written to the church that he started in Philippi. He writes this… -
A family needs our help …
8 May 2012 | 2:32 pmThere are times in life when things happen that we can’t make sense of and we ask why. Often we never get the answer we are looking for and yet, we find God’s presence in huge ways. That is what I am asking Church at the Bay to do this week- be the hands and feet of Jesus- to a hurting couple and their family. Here is their story. On April 29th a mom attended Church at the Bay for the first time with a heavy heart- her baby boy (5 months old) was on life support. She asked me to pray with her and so we prayed. A few days later the little boy died and we did not know. But,… -
WHY???
30 Apr 2012 | 3:10 pmThis past Sunday I talked about a big WHY. If your WHY is big enough you will figure out how. So let me ask you a big WHY question. Why do you obey Jesus? Why do you serve Him? Why do you give? Over the past 30+ years of being a pastor I have heard a lot of answers, most include some variation of: I feel guilty if I don’t… I am afraid God will punish me … I want His blessings in my life … Often times we don’t express our motives as clearly as I have listed but, if you push in- it seems to land in one of those areas. Before I tell you what I believe is the best motive… -
To Be Or Not To Be…
24 Apr 2012 | 6:11 amI am over in Orlando Florida for a couple of days at a conference for church planters called Exponential. This is the largest gathering of church planters in the world- over 4000 men and women. I am teaching with Ron Sylvia the founder of Next Churches and some other pastors. We are teaching potential planters principles and processes for starting a church. We share the successes and the misses we have all experienced along the way. This is always a great place for me- I love being around people who are crazy enough to trust God and start a church. Church at the Bay was blessed to… -
Now God …
17 Apr 2012 | 10:11 amSunday we looked at a Defining Moment in the life of the prophet Daniel. This teenager (along with 3 friends) was taken captive into a strange culture (for him anyway). There he was brain washed/re-educated over a 3 year process. They changed his Location Proximity to family Name Language Education And yet when they changed his diet- he would not follow. Daniel 1:8 describes how Daniel had made a pre-decision not to defile himself. Because of his pre-decision we see his “Now God” moment in verse 9. It is amazing to me that a teenager would have this kind of conviction. And…
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ChurchTechToday
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5 Things Facebook Users Want From Your Church
16 May 2012 | 10:00 amMany of us have a love/hate relationship with the companies and brands we follow on Facebook. We like getting free stuff, we feel special to get the inside scoop, and we love interacting with the brands in a personable way. But when the brand wears out its welcome by posting too much, too little, or generally being uninteresting, most fans have no qualms about ditching them and making room on their news feed for a more worthy participant. A lot has been written on the rules that brands and businesses should follow when establishing themselves on Facebook. Many of these guidelines also apply… -
ProPresenter 5 Worship Software for Windows Launches
14 May 2012 | 10:01 amGood news for all you worship leaders and techs out there – ProPresenter 5 for Windows worship software launched and is now available for purchase. ProPresenter 5 for Mac launched back in mid-February and many churches were eagerly awaiting the Windows launch. ProPresenter 5 is the evolution of Renewed Vision’s award-winning worship presentation software. This major upgrade to the software builds upon the incredible foundational capabilities they built in ProPresenter 4 and adds completely new functionality to make service preparation easier, and the overall impact of your… -
Top 10 Mistakes I Made in Social Media
11 May 2012 | 9:56 amWe all make mistakes and when it comes to social media, true statement? In his first ebook, Justin Wise admits to making many faux pas in the first days and weeks of diving head-first into social media. He’s put together a great 14-page easy-to-read ebook in which he shares his biggest mistakes so that readers can avoid making the same blunders. >>Visit Justin’s website and sign up for his free email list to get this great ebook download and save yourself some social media misery.<< As the (now expert) social media director for Monk Development, an Internet solutions… -
10 Reasons Not to Miss Worship Facilities Expo 2012
9 May 2012 | 9:59 amWorship Facilities Conference and Expo (WFX) — held this September 19-20, 2012 at the Georgia World Congress Center — is a team of people passionate about helping and serving churches and other houses of worship. Their mission is to equip church leadership teams on the tools and technologies they need to support their individual ministry calling. WFX does things through a combination of education events and media products. WFX is primarily developed to serve and support usage in Christian churches, we believe we are directed to respect all people and so do not exclude attendees… -
LifeWay Launches Mobile-Optimized Website
7 May 2012 | 10:00 amCustomers of LifeWay Christian Resources can now purchase the latest Christian book or Bible study, learn about upcoming events or read ministry articles on their mobile devices through the recently launched LifeWay.com mobile site. “This mobile-optimized site was designed to help customers find the information they are looking for when, where and how they are looking for it,” said Dave Thoma, director of eCommerce and LifeWay.com. Thoma said the mobile experience is a reflection of the full version of the site specifically built after studying customers’ mobile patterns and…
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Blog
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How to Plan for Replacing Pastors
16 May 2012 | 10:46 amIn September, news of Rob Bell surprised the world once again when he announced plans to leave his church in Grand Rapids and move to Los Angeles to pursue broader interests—one of those being the development of a script for an ABC television show loosely based on his life. He also plans to continue touring and speaking; he is working now on his “Fit to Smash Ice” tour. -
Question of the Week
15 May 2012 | 7:00 pmEach week, Neue asks a question that is meant to challenge, inspire and encourage today's ministry leaders. Feel free to respond and discuss in the comment section. This week, we want to know: Has your church ever had to replace a pastor? What was that process like? -
Does Suburbia Hurt Christianity?
9 May 2012 | 10:03 amIf you’ve been to a hip evangelical church in the last decade, you’ve probably heard the phrase “doing life together.” It’s the solution for twentysomethings’ need for a spiritual support system and community. It usually takes the form of a group of people who meet regularly to study the Bible and socialize. -
Question of the Week
8 May 2012 | 7:00 pmEach week, Neue asks a question that is meant to challenge, inspire and encourage today's ministry leaders. Feel free to respond and discuss in the comment section. This week, we want to know: How does your church live in community outside of services and programs? -
Leading Small Groups Out of a Rut, Part 3
2 May 2012 | 10:11 amThe most challenging small group is the stuck-in-a-rut group. It is not growing, and it is not dying. You can feel it at the meetings, observe it in the relationships and sense it in the leader. There’s some Bible reading and discussion, some sharing and socializing. But one week leads to another and nothing changes. There are no emotional highs and few depressing lows. It feels flat.
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Artie Davis
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Lie Down or Fall Down…But Your’e Going Down!
9 May 2012 | 7:11 amI was reading this the other morning… "He MAKES me lie down…." Ps 23 I really felt the Lord speaking to me, "Artie you better lie down or you gonna fall down, you choose." Well, I stayed home that day, cleared my calendar and I rested. I have so many friends that seem to strive on being "busy and over scheduled." They love being in demand and running full blast. I know, because I was one of them! But no more. If we don’t take time to "Lie down" and allow God to lead us to the "stil waters" then our souls cannot be "refreshed." We wont sit quietly in the presence of our… -
The TRUE Definition of Missional
7 May 2012 | 7:16 amMissional- The church buzz word of the last five years.It’s what we’re supposed to be. It’s what we’re supposed to do, but understanding that, well… there seems to be some "Tension-al." This is the way I see it. I’m a very simple guy, therefore things have GOT TO BE simple. I never see God trying to make things hard to understand, or difficult to define. Jesus equipped a circle of "uneducated and untrained men." He didn’t do that by making their mission hard to undertand, or define! I think we spend way to much time debating the what something… -
16-Things I would tell my Son about Leading
20 Apr 2012 | 5:57 amIf my son were starting a church this weekend… and he came to me and asked, "Dad, what are the most important things I need to know?" I would think, "Man, this is my BOY! He has got to get this right." I would pray a minute, ask him to take out his Ipad, and then say… 1-What you’re doing is all about loving people. Forget that, and you’re doomed 2-Make your wife priority! Never let her feel she’s in the back seat behind ministry 3-Raise your kids in freedom! Don’t let your position make you feel they have to be superstars 4-Learn to hear God’s voice. -
There’s Never a Line at the Squat Rack!
19 Apr 2012 | 4:22 am"I Can Squat now!" Because of some previous injuries, I had to give up squats as part of my workout routine… until recently. On the day I was going to add that exercise, I noticed something… No one is standing in line to do squats! Why? Most everyone I know hates and loathe squats. They’re hard, tiring and make you sore like a Redwood sized pimple. But… most exercise gurus agree, the single best exercise anyone can do is the squat. So where is everybody? They’re on the other side of the gym doing the easy more pleasurable machines. Isn’t that just… -
Most Radical Way to Find Great Staff
9 Apr 2012 | 6:24 amWe are truly blessed to have some of the greatest team players in the Kingdom assembled at Cornerstone! One of the questions I get asked most by other pastors and leaders… "How do you find such great staff?" Most are surprised to hear the answer…"I don’ pay them." Well, that answer really needs clarification. Many of our staff came to work for free. We have developed a culture where we greatly value hearing the voice of God in the decisions we make. We don’t want to make choices based just on wisdom, but rather the heart and voice of God. This certainly holds true…
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Brandon A. Cox
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Metrics: Balancing Stats and Stories
25 Apr 2012 | 6:00 amMetrics: Balancing Stats and Stories is a post from Brandon A. Cox.Church metrics. That’s not a very pretty phrase. In fact, for many, it seems cold. If church becomes a numbers game, then people become “just a number,” and when people are just a number, we’ve failed to emulate the ministry of Jesus. But if we fail to count anybody, we allow people to slip through the cracks and therefore fail to emulate the ministry of Jesus. So how do you count people in a way that makes each person count? You balance the stats and the stories. In other words, who was there on… -
There Is More to Sunday Than Meets the Eye
24 Apr 2012 | 2:53 pmThere Is More to Sunday Than Meets the Eye is a post from Brandon A. Cox.Recently, our staff met and talked about what Sunday looks like at Grace Hills. We don’t want to be defined by Sundays, but we want to lead people to experience the presence of God in a life-changing way, which requires planning, prayer, and intentionality. As we walked through the average Sunday morning, we began to list out the various elements that are a part of an individual’s experience, from pulling into the parking lot to heading for lunch afterward. Here is the list we came up with… Preparing… -
3 Ministries of Every Church Staff Member
10 Apr 2012 | 9:08 am3 Ministries of Every Church Staff Member is a post from Brandon A. Cox.Some churches view the staff as hired workers. If that is the case in your church, respect your leaders and don’t blame any rebellious attitudes on what I am about to say about this. Other churches view the staff as interdependent creative thinkers and leaders. In the first case, the usual mentality is “anything you aren’t doing for the church should be done ‘off the clock’.” In the second case, the mentality is “everything you do as ministry and mission benefits us as long as… -
Our First Easter as Grace Hills Church
9 Apr 2012 | 10:36 pmOur First Easter as Grace Hills Church is a post from Brandon A. Cox.Was awesome. On Saturday, we hosted a community Easter egg hunt at Grace Hill Elementary School. About 75 volunteers, a third of which were teens, came and hid 5,000 eggs and served a hot grilled lunch to about 350 people. The school was gracious enough to allow us to invite all 500 of their students which allowed us to have some great conversations with people in the community. (Watch the highlight video.) On Sunday, we broke our previous attendance record (176, set on our launch Sunday) with 215! With a full band and a… -
Doing Discipleship Post-Resurrection Style
4 Apr 2012 | 3:03 pmDoing Discipleship Post-Resurrection Style is a post from Brandon A. Cox.I’ve heard plenty of talk about discipleship and multiplication recently, and it usually goes something like this… If you want to make disciples the way Jesus wants, you have to do it the way Jesus did it. And Jesus, in His earthly ministry, chose only a few people, weeded out those who weren’t true followers, and avoided letting crowds follow him. Therefore, discipleship is one-on-one, takes a year and a half, and doesn’t involve seeing masses of people come to know Him. If you’re arguing…
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The Navy Christian
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Mother's Day
13 May 2012 | 6:44 amMy children have quite possibly the best example of a mother. Alicia is humble, dedicated, and passionate about being a mother, and it shows every day. In frustrations, excitement, happiness, and a host of other emotions, she is a mother of the highest caliber. For the longest time, and even now to some degree, I've struggled with the idea that my first ministry is to my wife and children. -
Lose the Christianese
7 May 2012 | 5:00 amThere is a phrase that the Navy uses to describe one barrier to effective communication: Lack of common-core experience. Just because you know what transformational means doesn't mean that your younger believer will. He or she needs to hear things on his/her level. This is certainly true of a non-believer. Sometimes we as experienced believers don't talk in church slang on purpose. These may -
5K Race #2 just about killed me
5 May 2012 | 8:17 amI put "hot and miserable!" on my status for runkeeper, but the fact was that the 5K I ran on Thursday of this last week as so much worse than that. The temp was at 83 degrees with 60% humidity. Sure, some of my adoring readers have ran in worse conditions, but they hadn't been running in dry and 50 degree temps for almost all of their training runs. Anyway, I did very well on my first mile, -
To my Non-Christian Friends
29 Apr 2012 | 5:00 amI've spoken to several of you about my faith (and your faith) from time to time over the years. I remember a few of you (Eric, Ryan, Chris, and others) heard exactly how I feel, including the parts about how Jesus died for us to give us new life. Others of you only know about my faith because of the debates we get into or the viewpoint I hold on random issues (Scott, Jamie, Kevin, and others). -
Running with Good Memories
25 Apr 2012 | 7:41 amIn September of 2011 I ran in the inaugural Fort2Base 10 Nautical mile race. For those who don't know the difference between nautical and standard miles, the race was 11.5 miles long. I had been in Chief Petty Officer Induction for about six weeks by that time, so I was in really good shape. I ran that race in 1:45:44 with an average pace of 8:56. Felt awesome! As I was getting out onto the
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Cory Center for Children's Ministry » Blog
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Teaching Digitals: Animated Video
15 May 2012 | 7:57 amThere’s tons of items online and even here at Cory Center about working with and teaching digital natives. The children in our classrooms don’t know what it is like not to be bombarded with information, images, and messages. They interact differently with technology than their teachers. Rather than fight to get them to be more like you – which will never happen – be creative, see how you can leverage the world that they live in to help pass along the message you have. One idea, inspired by the RSA Illustrate people is to augment your talk with… -
Children’s Ministry Ideas: 4 Nonlinear Presentation Tools for Churches
14 May 2012 | 8:47 amToday’s kids prefer to process images before text. As leaders and storytellers present the truth of God’s Word, it is vital to incorporate visual elements into the teaching and today’s nonlinear presentation tools resources are the right tools for the job. Why use a nonlinear tool? Visuals can be accessed in any order Increased interactivity Unique point of view – presenter can pan and zoom on the visuals Greater flexibility with multimedia and social media Here are 4 nonlinear presentation tools to help display those visual elements and empower your storytelling:… -
Pinterest
11 May 2012 | 8:00 amI’m not afraid to admit it. I’m a big fan of Pinterest. I wouldn’t say I’m addicted like others I know (my wife), but it has definitely made it into my list of favorite sites for creativity and collaboration. For me Pinterest is a powerful tool in my creative workflow. My gift is not in coming up with ideas, it’s in making good ideas better, or taking an idea and making it fit for a particular context. If you’re like me then Pinterest can be a huge time saver when it comes to the creative process. Pinterest is all the best ideas of the web in one place. It’s… -
What to Do About Mother’s Day
8 May 2012 | 7:56 amThis Sunday is Mother’s day…but you already knew that. We’d love to hear you ideas for Mother’s Day – this year my church will be giving hugs and kisses to all the women in our congregation. Maybe I should clarify two points – it’s Hershey’s Hugs and Hershey’s Kisses and yes, all women. Sometimes it is obvious who the moms are – the ones with kids. But Mother’s day isn’t just about the joyful reminder of your great kids, it’s also a reminder, a painful reminder for all the women who have lost children (and for those… -
Who’s Supporting You?
4 May 2012 | 1:00 amIt’s May…and for me that means volunteer recruitment season is in full swing. Having had the lead on multiple ministry positions in the church there is no doubt in my mind that those that recruit volunteers for our weekly children’s and family ministries have the one of the most relationally intense jobs in church ministry. Even those in a small congregation can find themselves supporting dozens of people as they serve Christ through ministry to children. The danger with such a relationally intense ministry is that, if we are not very mindful, we can find ourselves empty, tired, and…
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the running reverend
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We've had a good run... It's not me... It's you...
20 Apr 2012 | 7:56 pmAll good things must come to an end. Posterous and I have had a good run. After some careful thought... -
Bo Sanders offers a fantastic (and thought-provoking) post on "Post-Contextuality"
2 Apr 2012 | 9:36 pmEarlier today, I stumbled across a post by Bo Sanders, over at the Homebrewed Christianity blog,... -
Stop Throwing Starfish Back! When making a difference to the one isn't good enough.
30 Mar 2012 | 9:08 amMotivational speakers love the starfish story: A man walking along a shore covered with... -
Re-Imaging Pastoral Ministry: Where relationships go to die
29 Mar 2012 | 9:29 pmPastoral ministry is where relationships go to die. Your friends who aren’t in ministry... -
Re-Imaginging Pastoral Ministry: Let's Get Naked
26 Mar 2012 | 7:35 pmExposing the Hazards of Ministry for All to See If you are a pastor (are on a church board or...
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Mark Batterson
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Voices
14 May 2012 | 7:45 pmLoving our VOICES series. If you want to find your voice it helps to hear those who have found theirs! We’ve got three prophetic voices! The first voice, Bob Goff, was off the charts. In fact, we’ve turned Bob’s name into a verb. We got “goffed.” It means: Just Be Awesome! This week we got “Tillered.” John Tiller shared one of the most amazing testimonies I’ve ever heard about how to endure difficult circumstances. Then 12 year-old Eli, who survived a traumatic fall from his second-story bedroom when he was three, sang I Will Rise… -
Just be Awesome
6 May 2012 | 2:27 pmI’ve always believed that church ought to be the most enjoyable hour of the week. It definitely was this weekend. Listening to Bob Goff preach twice and sharing two meals was unforgettable! I feel like a hero became a friend. We decided to adopt each other this weekend. We’re his church and he’s our law firm. Love it. The big takeaway for me was that we make the rules. Why do we automatically conform to the conventions of society? It’s time to rewrite the rules–church rules, schedule rules, relationship rules. Bob stopped taking meetings 18 months… -
Lion Chaser’s Manifesto
6 May 2012 | 12:39 pmI thoroughly enjoyed giving the commencement address for Southeastern University last week. At the end of my address I shared the Lion Chaser’s Manifesto from In a Pit with a Lion on a Snowy Day. It’s been a long time since I’ve posted it. Quit living as if the purpose of life is to arrive safely at death. Set God-sized goals. Pursue God-ordained passions. Go after a dream that is destined to fail without divine intervention. Keep asking questions. Keep making mistakes. Keep seeking God. Stop pointing out problems and become part of the solution. Stop repeating the past… -
Raise up a Remnant
3 May 2012 | 9:37 amDuring our 7:14 AM prayer today, I kept feeling led to pray: “Raise up a Remnant.” At critical junctures in history, God raises up a remnant to start a revolution. All it takes is a faithful few. There was Gideon’s Remnant, Deborah’s remnant, and Elijah’s Remnant. The common denominator is that they dared to defy the status quo and hold fast to the promises of God. They honored God via acts of courage. They are the ones who wrote the history that the rest of us read. I’m circling I Kings 19:30: “Once more a remnant of the house of Judah will… -
One Cry
2 May 2012 | 5:19 pmSo honored to be part of the radio broadcast for the ONE CRY event tomorrow. I’ll be the last “prayer” so to speak. The passion for God’s presence continues to grow exponentially. When we get on our knees, there is NOTHING that God cannot do! Tune in Thursday night, 8-10 PM EST. www.ONECRY.com
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Liberty Church NYC | New York City
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Connect Groups // Summer
15 May 2012 | 9:14 pmIt’s time for Season 2 of Connect Groups this summer! Connect Groups are the discipleship community of Liberty Church and meet weekly in locations around the city. With all of the different groups available there’s something for everyone to be a part of! Some of the topics of this summer’s connect groups include bible studies, [...] Related posts: Connect Groups Are Breaking Records! Connect Groups 2.0 – Get Plugged In Today Visiting New York City This Summer? -
Baptisms – Sunday May 27th
14 May 2012 | 10:34 pmIf you haven’t been water baptized as an adult, here’s your chance to make this powerful declaration of your faith in Jesus. There’s no doubt that baptism is a significant milestone for every believer and Jesus included it in the Great Commission in Mt28 as we make disciples across the earth. We’ll be gathering at [...] Related posts: Our First Baptisms – Sun June 12th Highlights From Our First Baptisms “Modern Family” – New Series & New Service Time – Starting Next Sunday -
Liberty City Donation Drop Off
13 May 2012 | 5:31 pmJoin in bringing items to help those who are less fortunate in our city. You can bring items to all services at our Tribeca or Union Square communities. Needed items: Laundry detergent, Paper towels Dish soap Wash cloths Socks (men, women, and children) Cleaning supplies (all-purpose cleaner, sponges, brooms). Sunday Services- Tribeca – Tribeca Cinemas [...] Related posts: Liberty Sisterhood Launch – Thur Sept 29th Thanksgiving Appeal: Supporting The Bowery Mission Angel Tree – An Initiative Of Liberty City -
“He Never Fails (Part 2)” Sebastian Buffa – Podcast
10 May 2012 | 5:40 pmSubscribe in iTunes to the LibertyChurchNYC podcast to receive new teaching automatically. Sebastian Buffa preached this message called “He Never Fails (Part Two)” at our services in Tribeca on May 6th. Sunday Services- Tribeca – Tribeca Cinemas 10am & 12pm Union Square – New York Film Academy 7pm Related posts: “He Never Fails” Sebastian Buffa [...] Related posts: “He Never Fails” Sebastian Buffa – Podcast “The Power Of ‘I Must’ / Breakthrough Pt4″ Sebastian Buffa – Podcast “The Conversation”… -
All Team Meeting May 11th
9 May 2012 | 12:43 pmCalling all volunteers: Make sure you join us this Friday night (May 11) for our next All Team Meeting – a night of vision, training and encouragement. 7.30pm for dinner & equipping 359 Broadway, #2 See you there! Paul & Andi Related posts: All Team Meeting – Fri Mar 23rd Join The Union Square Launch [...] Related posts: All Team Meeting – Fri Mar 23rd Join The Union Square Launch Team Liberty Church 101 – RSVP Today
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MarkHowellLive.com
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New from J.D. Greear: Presence | Overwhelmed by God
16 May 2012 | 5:50 amLooking a challenging study? Need something that will take your group members into deeper waters? New from J.D. Greear and Lifeway’s Platform series, Presence: Overwhelmed by God delivers. Greear, senior pastor of The Summit Church in Raleigh/Durham, NC, is widely recognized as one of America’s most gifted communicators. It definitely shows on this six session, DVD-driven study. With Exodus 32-34 as a scriptural context, Presence: Overwhelmed by God examines six facets of God’s presence. Each of the sessions is taken from a weekend message series at The… -
New from IVP Connect: Field Guide for Small Group Leaders
15 May 2012 | 5:50 amThere are books about small group ministry that are written by theorists and there are books assembled by practitioners. Every once in a while there is a book written by a writer who is also a practitioner. Sam O’Neal’s Field Guide for Small Group Leaders: Setting the Tone, Accommodating Learning Styles, and More is a great example of this third category. A practitioner in the sense that he has led small groups for a number of years, Sam also invested five years as the managing editor of smallgroups.com before moving on to a new position with Lifeway. No stranger to… -
Debunking GroupLife Mythology
14 May 2012 | 5:50 amEver heard these truths? You have to be a member of a group before you can lead a group. Only closed small groups can develop genuine intimacy. Coaching helps small group leaders develop better technique. Healthy groups grow and birth. Apprenticing is the best way to produce new leaders. What do you think? Believe they’re true? Or could they be small group ministry old wives’ tales? Like a lot of mythology, they have the appearance of truth. They seem reasonable. In some cases, they seem obvious. But are they true? I think they’re only partly true at best. In… -
Win the Soul Detox Church-Wide Campaign from Zondervan
10 May 2012 | 11:23 pmThe contest is closed. We have a winner! Thanks everyone for playing. And thanks Zondervan for a great product and a great prize! I am so excited about the best give-away I’ve ever offered! One of the very best church-wide campaigns I’ve come across in quite a while is Soul Detox: Clean Living in a Contaminated World. New from Craig Groeschel and published by Zondervan, this is a great match of a fantastic communicator and great topic. I am always on the lookout for topics that are cross-cultural, that is they make sense to the friends, neighbors, family and… -
Top 10 Signs You May Have Missed the Church OF Groups Off-Ramp
10 May 2012 | 7:59 amRecognize any of these? You’re still searching for a problem-free grouplife strategy. Your menu of discipleship options looks a lot like buffet at the Bellagio. Your senior pastor is committed…to giving every ministry an equal shot at the megaphone. Your method of wrestling with the aligator is to call everything a group. Abracadabra…we’re a church of groups! You’ve become way more Calvinistic and now believe that the chosen make it into a group without your help! You’ve found yourself thinking, “Man, the 50s were great weren’t they?”…
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the mayward blog
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Writing Update
16 May 2012 | 9:23 amI love words. I love how they sound. I love the way they look on a page when they're put together in sentences and paragraphs and stories. The thesaurus is a dear friend of mine. This is probably why I read and write so much. I'm beginning to realize that this is a God-given passion and gift for communication, which has developed into a few writing opportunities. Here's what I've been working on lately: Book: I'm working on my first book publication co-authored with Mark Oestreicher. It's part of a youth ministry series of for parents of teenagers. It's titled A Parent's Guide to… -
Remembering Who I Am
15 May 2012 | 12:46 pmIt's been one year since I transitioned into high school ministry. A lot has happened in that year. Our family purchased a larger car and added a new child. I've made a number of ministry changes, from adding a second summer missions trip to rethinking how we do high school summer camp to adding mingle time to our midweek program to having a film festival. There have been countless small group gatherings, staff meetings, worship songs, one-on-one discipleship moments, and countless Starbucks americanos purchased and consumed. The time has flown by. In the midst of all the activity, there's… -
On Moderation, or Why I'm an Extreme Non-Extremist
14 May 2012 | 10:03 amPolarization and partisanship are the zeitgeist of our times. In the midst of this, a humble moderate perspective is routinely lost in the ensuing shouting match between two sides. Rather than be drawn to the extremes of either side or system, I typically find myself as the extreme non-extremist, living in the tension of the middle ground. It is akin to standing at the middle of a tug-o-war rope, pulling at both ends with either arm, trying to draw both sides towards a moderate conclusion. This occurs both politically and theologically; my conservative friends often consider me their liberal… -
Graduation Commission for the Senior Class of 2012
11 May 2012 | 7:00 amOur senior class celebrates their graduation from high school and our ministry this evening, so I thought I'd share the transcript from the devotional I will share with the seniors and their families. May this be an encouragement to you in this season of change and new beginnings: After Jesus was raised from the dead and had appeared to his eleven disciples, he gathered them together on a mountainside in Galilee for them to await instructions. These eleven guys were on the brink of a completely new way of life. They had spent three years learning and growing and following Jesus, all the way… -
Following Jesus - Where Do We Go From Here?
10 May 2012 | 11:28 amWe've heard from variety of voices over the past two weeks--Andy Blanks, Paul Martin, Mark Riddle, Matt Bowen, and Adam McLane--on the nature of discipleship and its current barriers. Today, I'm offering my synthesis of their responses, as well as as some musings of my own. What is discipleship? In the simplest sense, it is the title of this blog series--following Jesus. The first disciples could literally engage in this activity by walking the same paths and streets as the incarnate God. This invitation from Jesus required a response of movement, engagement, and the laying down of one's life…
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For Senior Pastor's Wives and Church First Ladies
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Pastor's Wife and Praying for Others
1 May 2012 | 9:35 pmNoble or Nosey?Today, somone on a Christian televsion show said in order to pray for a person, we must know details of their prayer request. I disagree.Our job is to pray according to God's Word and allow the Holy Spirit to do the rest. You see, we are human and can often fall short in prayer because we do not know how to pray the way we ought. During those times, the Holy Spirit steps in (and steps up) to intercede for us with groanings that cannot be uttered. You can pray effectively without knowing every intricate detail of a person’s life.In fact, I don’t think people should ever feel… -
A Woman of Excellence- it's an inside job
2 Sep 2011 | 10:20 amRecently, I spoke to a group of women's ministry about the concept of "excellence".As I prepared, I thought of "excellence" in the traditional sense of the word. You know, the idea of being on time, finishing what you start and focusing on producing quality results. As, usual, my plans were not God's plans.Once I started organizing "my" thoughts, the Lord lead me in a completely different direction. His revelation changed the way I would "excellence" for the rest of my life. Here's what I learned: Contrary to what many people think,… -
Living before an audience of 1
28 Aug 2011 | 11:33 amLiving before an audience of OneYesterday, I was blessed to be on a radio show that focused on the manifold challenges woman married to pastors manage. Let me tell you, it was one of the most exhilarating conversations I've had the privilege of participating in. The conversation included the host (a former minister's wife), the pastor's wife of my youth and myself. The dialogue was open, honest and the only limitation on the candor was that of time. One thing I had hoped to convey and I strive do daily is to perform my life for an audience of One. You know who that One is. :)In… -
One blessing of being a pastor's wife..
23 Jul 2011 | 4:11 pmI have no problems saying that being married to our husbands brings lots of challenges. However, it also brings us a myriad of blessings. One of them is the privilege to get to know and love God's people in real and meaningful ways. We get to "do life" with them (as my cousin, Karen) would say and that's a pearl of great price.Yep, its wonderful that we get to cherish and love our church families, but that also means we feel the sting of farewell from time to time.For instance, today our church said "goodbye" to one of God's faithful, most beloved servants. -
You're never alone, senior pastor's wife
19 Jul 2011 | 9:14 pmSometimes, you can feel completely alone. You know. It can seem people only want something from you, your husband is so consumed with "the work" that you forget what he looks like and then the demands of life can sort if seem to close in.Today, in my other blog (www.GodsyGirl.com), I wrote about the importance of foregoing the "super woman" complex and asking for help when we need it. Make no mistake, Sis, you occupy a tricky position in the Body of Christ. Being married to a pastor can shake the very foundation of who you are as a Christian, wife, mother and (sometimes) woman. But, in…
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The Discipleship Diary
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God's Grace in the Old Testament-Part 2
5 May 2012 | 12:16 pmGod’s grace is revealed in Gen 12 when God chose Abram and made him a promise that through him, all the families of the earth would be blessed. Abram did not choose God, neither was he immediately the man of faith that Hebrews 11 refers to. It was a gradual transformation as Abram learned to trust in God’s grace. In Gen 12, God instructed Abram to leave his country, kindred and father’s house and journey to a land which God Himself would show him. Abram obeyed God, but not totally. Instead of leaving everything he knew behind, he took his nephew Lot with him (Gen 12:1-4).Many… -
God's Grace in the Old Testament-Part 1
29 Apr 2012 | 6:40 amMost people are comfortable with the notion of grace in the New Testament, but find it difficult to reconcile to the God of the Old Testament. Most, when reading the Old Testament, see a God of judgement and wrath whereas the New Testament reveals through Christ, a God of mercy and Truth. As much as we cannot in our finite minds hope to understand God, the Bible assures us that He never changes (Heb 13:8). That means His character is constant. He has always been a God of grace! God does not have a split personality. Genesis is the book of beginnings, foundational to our belief and doctrines,… -
Creation Epic
25 Mar 2012 | 6:26 amThe worlds were framed by the Word of the LordAnd the earth embraced by His Spirit of Love;He spoke and boundless light poured forth…The mantle of darkness was peeled away, Revealing the marvelous miracle of the very first day;His powerful Word like a sword did splitThe highest heights of the firmamentFrom the broiling depths of the ocean deep,Which seemed to have no end…He sent forth the heavenly decreeWhich established the border of the seasBringing forth the dry land,Soon to be the home of man…With tender love did His voice forthThe pleasant herb of the field,The abundant bounty of… -
A Prayer for Revival and Reformation
11 Feb 2012 | 6:44 amGreat and honourable Father, we come to You through the precious Name of Jesus. You established us as Your Church, to do Your Will on the earth and to make disciples of all men. Attached to this mission, You granted us the power of Your Spirit, that we may prevail against the gates of hell. We come to You today asking for Your mercy and forgiveness.We have each gone our way and neglected Your Great Commission. You told us to be in the world, yet not of it; we have made ourselves comfortable here. Trading in the wares of the world, we have made enlargening our barns for survival our primary… -
The Deadly Sin of Self-righteousness Part 2
27 Jan 2012 | 5:59 pm“How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! How art thou cut down to the ground, which didst weaken the nations! For thou hast said in thine heart, I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God. I will sit also upon the mount of the congregation, in the sides of the north. I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will be like the Most High.” –Is 14:12-14It was a deadly mix of pride, hypocrisy and self-righteousness that, in the beginning, caused the created to revolt against his Creator. Lucifer, the most beautiful of…
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Pray Chat
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Prayer for Understanding
15 May 2012 | 11:22 pmHi, i have been a victim of demonic activity in my life. I need the Lords Protection from any evil, entrapment, phenomenons sent my way. -
family & future
15 May 2012 | 11:22 pmPlease pray for my future.I have completed B.tech course, but still unable to find a good job.my mother is widow & i has to support her.Please pray for me to throw away all my bad habits & to believe in jesus completely -
Pray
15 May 2012 | 11:22 pmpray for me to get back in church and to realize whats right and whats wrong…ok thank you -
Vocation
9 May 2012 | 10:19 pmPlease pray that my heart is open enough to hear what God is calling me to do, and that I have the courage to do it. -
Family
7 May 2012 | 1:01 pmPlease pray for the Yeske family. Our situation is getting worse every day. We are losing our business which is our only income. We have 4 children to provide for, one with cerebral palsy, one who is an active drug addict and on the streets. And we have so many more expenses. Our oldest son, Michael is an active drug addict who is on the streets. We fear for him. He was jumped and beaten four days ago, in a car accident two days ago. He is talking about suicide. We don’t know who he is anymore. We pray for his safety, protection, healing, comfort and conviction by the Holy Spirit. We pray…
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Kevin Beers' Blog
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Catalyst Conference
30 Apr 2012 | 10:25 amLEADERSHIP is influence! Catalyst is the premiere conference for next generation leaders. There is no other event that has impacted me and developed me to be the leader I am today. If you have not been to Catalyst, you have got to find a way there. Here is a highlight video of the conferences they make available in various parts of the country throughout the year. - http://www.cometocatalyst.com/ - Over the next few blog posts I’m going to share some of the most impactful and practical leadership lessons I’ve learned through the conferences and resources that Catalyst…
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GC Ministry
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Egyptian Faith Leads to Salvation
9 May 2012 | 6:00 amGC Ministry He that feared the word of the Lord among the servants of Pharaoh made his servants and his cattle flee into the houses: (Exodus 9:20 KJV) The Egyptians Face The One True God God has just informed Pharaoh through Moses that He is going bring a devastating hail storm on the Egyptians. They were warned that all servants and cattle left outside would be killed. The Egyptians had already experienced six plaques brought by God. There are now servants that have seen what God says is a promise. They may not fully understand who this God of Israel is, but they know He follows through. -
David’s Zeal For God
2 May 2012 | 6:17 pmGC MinistrySome rights reserved by Fried Dough Jehovah will deliver you into my hand today, and I will strike you and take your head from you and give the bodies of the army of the Philistines to the birds of the air today, and to the wild beasts of the earth, so that all the earth may know that there is a God in Israel. 1 Samuel 17:46 David Arrives To Visit His Brothers David has come on a mission for his father , Jessie, to bring a gift of food to his brothers. When he arrives on scene, he is met with a chilling scene. The army of God is hiding from the challenge of the Philistine champion,… -
California Pastor Arrested for Reading The Bible in Public
6 Apr 2012 | 7:28 pmGC MinistryHemet California Pastor, Mark Mackey of Calvary Chapel was arrested Feb.2, 2012 for reading Romans 1 outside the DMV office. Pastor Mackey was first asked to leave by a security officer shortly after he began reading the bible passage to those standing in line waiting for the office to open. A short time later, a California Highway Patrol (CHP) officer arrives to arrest Pastor Mackey. When questioned why he is being arrested the officer states that he [Mackey] was asked to leave and didn’t. The officer later states it was because the minister was preaching to a captive… -
Full Moon Christian-Guest Post for Rev Trev
2 Apr 2012 | 9:28 amGC Ministry Have you ever looked up into the night sky and observed the splendor of a full moon? The glow of the moon can light up the darkest of nights. There is something about the full moon that makes you look up. Yet, have you ever really thought about the moon? That is the subject of my guest post today at RevTrev.com. I hope you will stop by and check it out.Related posts: Guest Speaker Favorite Links Friday-Rev Trev How To Get Fired as a Christian Full Moon Christian-Guest Post for Rev Trev -
Predestination Viewpoint
28 Mar 2012 | 6:00 amGC MinistryHas God Already Chosen? A while ago, a good friend of mine asked for my opinion on predestination. Well, here it is. There are two main thought groups when it comes to predestination: Arminiainism Calvinism Both theories have been debated and discussed for centuries. Both have different theories within the theories. The two main general differences between them exist on the subject of free will. Arminian theology believes heavily that humanity has the choice to choose God or not. Calvinist theology believes that God has chosen you (or not chosen) and you are powerless…
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Artie Davis
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Lie Down or Fall Down…But Your’e Going Down!
9 May 2012 | 7:11 amI was reading this the other morning… "He MAKES me lie down…." Ps 23 I really felt the Lord speaking to me, "Artie you better lie down or you gonna fall down, you choose." Well, I stayed home that day, cleared my calendar and I rested. I have so many friends that seem to strive on being "busy and over scheduled." They love being in demand and running full blast. I know, because I was one of them! But no more. If we don’t take time to "Lie down" and allow God to lead us to the "stil waters" then our souls cannot be "refreshed." We wont sit quietly in the presence of our… -
The TRUE Definition of Missional
7 May 2012 | 7:16 amMissional- The church buzz word of the last five years.It’s what we’re supposed to be. It’s what we’re supposed to do, but understanding that, well… there seems to be some "Tension-al." This is the way I see it. I’m a very simple guy, therefore things have GOT TO BE simple. I never see God trying to make things hard to understand, or difficult to define. Jesus equipped a circle of "uneducated and untrained men." He didn’t do that by making their mission hard to undertand, or define! I think we spend way to much time debating the what something… -
16-Things I would tell my Son about Leading
20 Apr 2012 | 5:57 amIf my son were starting a church this weekend… and he came to me and asked, "Dad, what are the most important things I need to know?" I would think, "Man, this is my BOY! He has got to get this right." I would pray a minute, ask him to take out his Ipad, and then say… 1-What you’re doing is all about loving people. Forget that, and you’re doomed 2-Make your wife priority! Never let her feel she’s in the back seat behind ministry 3-Raise your kids in freedom! Don’t let your position make you feel they have to be superstars 4-Learn to hear God’s voice. -
There’s Never a Line at the Squat Rack!
19 Apr 2012 | 4:22 am"I Can Squat now!" Because of some previous injuries, I had to give up squats as part of my workout routine… until recently. On the day I was going to add that exercise, I noticed something… No one is standing in line to do squats! Why? Most everyone I know hates and loathe squats. They’re hard, tiring and make you sore like a Redwood sized pimple. But… most exercise gurus agree, the single best exercise anyone can do is the squat. So where is everybody? They’re on the other side of the gym doing the easy more pleasurable machines. Isn’t that just… -
Most Radical Way to Find Great Staff
9 Apr 2012 | 6:24 amWe are truly blessed to have some of the greatest team players in the Kingdom assembled at Cornerstone! One of the questions I get asked most by other pastors and leaders… "How do you find such great staff?" Most are surprised to hear the answer…"I don’ pay them." Well, that answer really needs clarification. Many of our staff came to work for free. We have developed a culture where we greatly value hearing the voice of God in the decisions we make. We don’t want to make choices based just on wisdom, but rather the heart and voice of God. This certainly holds true…
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All Articles
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Do Exactly What He Tells You To Do
15 May 2012 | 6:13 pmWhat does God ask of us in our Christian life? How much of pursuing our calling is our part and how much of it is God's part? When Jesus called His first followers, he gave them a story they would never forget: "One day as Jesus was standing by the Lake of Gennesaret, the people were crowding around him and listening to the word of God. He saw at the water’s edge two boats, left there by the fishermen, who were washing their nets. He got into one of the boats, the one belonging to Simon, and asked him to put out a little from shore. Then he sat down and taught the people… -
Becoming Known For What We Are For by Matt Whitlock
10 May 2012 | 7:51 pmMuch of my day is spent with the feeling of small grains of sand falling in an hour glass. Like time is a book about to be closed. By nature I am a futurist. I didn't read a book, or take training for it. Its just how I've been wired. I feel the weight of the shortness of my life always bearing down on me. It might have something to do with my birth. 34 years ago, God spared my life from a young girl caught in a difficult circumstances ready to sacrifice me to the god of convenience. The living God stepped in with revelation and she walked out of the… -
What If We Prayed Like This?
2 May 2012 | 10:30 amWhat if we prayed as much as the Scriptures tell us to? I think our lives would be bathed in righteous, God filled, expectant anticipation. Listen to some of these Scripture challenges on living a life of prayer: 1 Timothy 2:1-2, 8: I urge, then, first of all, that requests, prayers, intercession and thanksgiving be made for everyone— for kings and all those in authority, that we may live peaceful and quiet lives in all godliness and holiness. This is good, and pleases God our Savior, who wants all men to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth. For… -
Unite: National Day of Prayer
30 Apr 2012 | 8:30 amWe are thrilled to be a partner of the upcoming Unite: National Day of Prayer on May 3rd at Mariucci Arena in Minneapolis. This may be one of the largest National Day of Prayer gatherings in the nation. We are thrilled to partner with our friends who run an organization called Pulse, the evangelistic ministry of our friend Nick Hall. Unite: NDOP is really a partnership of dozens of churches and ministries across the region. Matt will be one of a handful of leaders leading in prayer, and the evening will consist of worship with National Christian artists Leeland and Jamie Grace, as well… -
Mobilize: National Alpha Conference
18 Apr 2012 | 8:21 amWe are so honored to take part in the Mobilize: National Alpha Conference on April 27-28 in Minneapolis. In case you aren't up to speed on the impact of Alpha: The Alpha course has been running for more than 30 years. It began at Holy Trinity Brompton in central London, England in the late 1970s, as a means of presenting the basic principles of the Christian faith to new Christians in a relaxed and informal setting. By 1990, when former lawyer Nicky Gumbel took over the course, Alpha was a central feature of the church's life. While leading his second Alpha course, Nicky…
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Pastoralia
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Biola Queers Ask For Safety
14 May 2012 | 12:51 pmIt’s been an emotional final few weeks of the term at Biola University. Increasing tensions between the Biola administration and an unidentified group calling themselves The Biola Queer Underground, and claiming to represent LGBT persons who are current and former Biola students, as well as Biola employees. The emergence of this group has led to a few tremors in the Biola community, both on campus and on the facebook pages of a few Biola students. For those who don’t know, Biola University is a conservative evangelical Christian college. It was once the Bible Institute of Los… -
State of the mission – one year later
6 Dec 2011 | 5:37 pmFellow San Diegan Jason Evans wrote a thought-provoking piece the other day on missional discernement. It’s good stuff, as usual, from a talented leader. You should read it. I do have some thoughts on what he wrote regarding being missional, but I’ll share those in more depth later. His post comes at an interesting time for me: today marks one year since announcing the close of our missional church plant, Ikon Community, and that has prompted me to conduct a little ‘missional discernment’ of my own: What is the status of our ‘mission’ one year after closing… -
Do this in remembrance of me
2 Nov 2011 | 5:18 pmIs there a more concrete manifestation of God’s grace than food? Food nourishes us. Without it we die. Within it reside the elements of the earth, of which we are composed and with which we are daily renewed. Food revolutionizes us through an internal, hourly insurrection of the new overthrowing the old. Food demonstrates the intimacy of grace and work: it grows as a gift freely and abundantly the world over, yet requires effort to cultivate, process, prepare and store. Through it we have access to become not merely grateful recipients, but faithful stewards of life. Through food we are… -
Free books for the eating
11 Oct 2011 | 10:27 pmMy bookshelf is stuffed like a holiday bird – and everyone knows the only grateful way to steward excess wealth is to eat it, give it away, or burn it spectacularly in true Potlatch fashion. Of course, the burning of books has fallen out of favor in recent years, so these volumes are yours for the taking. One, ten, twenty, or the whole lot. Just name your titles. If you’re in Southern California, shoot me a message and you can come pick them up. I’ll even throw in a cuppa coffee and a friendly chat, if you’re so inclined. If you hail from out of town, send me your… -
Jack White and the new horizons of marriage
17 Jun 2011 | 9:00 amWe interrupt this blogging hiatus to bring you…celebrity gossip. Not long ago I predicted the coming of “term marriage.” Well, it looks like that possibility might actually be sprouting in the rich soil of popular American celebrity life. Divorce among celebrities, of course, is nothing new. It has long been a popular American spectator sport. What’s new is the happy, even jovial celebrity divorce. This, I propose, is not only novel, it is the harbinger of a genuinely new cultural institution just beyond the horizon: term marriage. Exhibit A: Psychologist Judith…
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RobShep.com
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Risk Week: Day 2 – Just Another Risk
16 May 2012 | 4:57 amIf you are just joining us on the blog welcome to Risk Week. Risk Week or RW, as I like to refer to as of .1 nano second ago, is about trying to live a fantastic story. According to author Donald Miller, story is “a character who wants something and overcomes conflict to get it.” It’s a risk. I’ve come up with a list of risks and I’ve invited you along for the ride. So day two wasn’t as risky as I hoped it would be. I made some attempts but after shaving my head nothing seemed like a great story. Here are the risks that I knocked off my list… Eat a meal… -
Risk Week: Day 1 – Scalped
15 May 2012 | 4:55 amRisk Week. Great stories involve some type of risk. Story is “a character who wants something and overcomes conflict to get it” Donald Miller. Even if I don’t achieve a great story this week I will at least have some good blogging material. Risk 1 was very scary for me. Now this risk is something that I’ve talked about doing for years, but my wife said I didn’t have the guts to do it. Now this might not seem like a risk to you but it was a big risk for me. Risk one = a new haircut. I’ve had essentially the same hair cut for over ten years. It’s gotten… -
Risk Week
14 May 2012 | 4:49 amMy brain is being rocked by Donald Miller’s book, A Million Miles In A Thousand Years. Miller says things like “The most often repeated commandment in the Bible is ‘Do not fear.’ It’s in there over two hundred times.” Boom Sauce. The main idea of the book is about story. Miller says that a story is “a character who wants something and overcomes conflict to get it.” He tells lots of stories about overcoming a poor story to live an amazing story. It’s amazing to me how easy it is to live a poor story. We get comfortable with the story that… -
Next Level Church: Update
12 May 2012 | 4:13 amThe Next Level Update has been going strong for two and a half months. I started it with our interest meetings and carried through to our first six public services. It’s been fun but it’s coming to an end. I’m still going to update but I want to focus it a little more. The update is going to turn into 5 things. It will still include some updates but it will also help me cast vision for those that attend Next Level. I hope that those that are friends of the blog will still get something out of it, but at the same time be able to speak directly to those who attend Next… -
Things I Don’t Want My Kids To Say
11 May 2012 | 4:56 amMy kids are starting to speak. It’s not talking because they don’t put words together…yet. They simply say a few words over and over and over again. Their favorite words are dog, dad, duck, and touch. The first three sound the exact same so we figure out what they are saying by looking at what is close. If dad is close then it’s dad. If a dog is within 3 miles then it’s a dog. I think they say duck on accident. Oh and it took us forever to figure out touch. I don’t know where they picked that one up from but they say it often while they stretch out their…
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News and prayer information from Richard and Pinuccia Wilson
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Youth, studies, and children
13 May 2012 | 10:28 amDoing the week, there was a meeting of the leaders of the “special” groups (that is not the normal cell groups) which work with the young people – the church Youth and Young Adults’ Groups, and the university and English language groups which also include people from other churches. It was great to hear their desire to work together, with a bigger vision of reaching and discipling all the young people in the city. As I sat in the meeting, I was so proud of these eight leaders and the ministry that they are building, and grateful to God for having raised them up for us. -
Special Sunday month
7 May 2012 | 12:39 amThis is a month of special Sundays, and next week it will be the visit of someone from the school in India that the Sunday School supports. So he will be able to report on the construction of the dining room, which is where the children’s money is going at the moment, and we have prepared material for him to take back to the children in his school. After church, we will be having a working picnic to do some planning for the children’s camp next month. There is still a fair bit to do, but it is coming along well, and I’m excited about it and looking forward to being there! -
Moving church?
29 Apr 2012 | 10:21 amNext Sunday could be an historic moment for the church. For about five years we have been looking for a suitable and affordable place to rent, with increasing problems in the council hall that we have been using for more than 20 years. Finally we have found what could be a good place to use, and on Sunday there will be a meeting of the church to decide if we want to rent it – and importantly, if we want to increase our giving enough to pay for it. The place is close to the city centre and on a road that a lot of people use, so it is very visible and would give us a real presence at… -
Conference ending
20 Apr 2012 | 3:10 pmIt is now the last night of the ECM biennial conference in Spain which has been on all this week. Pinuccia is at the final meeting together, whilst I am in our room with the children as they sleep. It has been a good time, although having to look after the children does limit our interaction with the other missionaries. But of course we would not have it any other way! The children have had a great time in the children’s program, after a bit of unease on their part on the first morning, and it has been a privilege for us to be able to leave them with some capable people during this… -
Stay home for holidays, going away for work
8 Apr 2012 | 3:15 pmWe are enjoying our Easter holidays with the family. As with all families, the holidays do a bit tiring for us since we have to be constantly present for the children, but having my parents here helps. Pinuccia and I even get some time off by ourselves, more than in the rest of the year put together. My parents leave next Friday, and the day after that we all leave as a family to Spain for a week, for the biennial conference of ECM. Pray that it will be a good time together as a family, with other missionaries and supporters, and that each one of us will grow in our relationship with God and…
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Will Mancini
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10 Ways to Assess your Vision: Webinar Resources
8 May 2012 | 1:54 pmThanks to those of you who joined me for the free webinar today. I wanted to provide some additional resources: Be sure to download the Church Unique Visual Summary (click upper right rotating banner) Subscribe to this blog via e-mail Download the Kingdom Concept Worksheet. Down the Vision Frame Overview. Download the Articulating Vision Proper. Download the Clarity Quiz. Be sure to look for the VisionRoom.com coming in August. FInally if you would like to start a 24 coaching track with 8 other churches, Vince Antonucci of Verve Church in Las Vegas will be kicking off a virtual Vision… -
Introducing some friends at #Exponential that will CLEARLY help you
23 Apr 2012 | 10:44 amEach year as I gather at Exponential I see old friends and new who have invested in clarity and vision for their ministry-minded organizations. Here are their stories: WAYFARER and 3DM Years ago, the leaders of Warfarer Ministries developed their vision frame that sprung from a mission core of “awakening redefinition” about the person of Jesus. One of their mantras and their first core value is “Christ before Christianity.” They eventual joined forces with 3dm and Mike Breen. Check in with Dave Rhoades and Mike Breen as they help leaders build a discipling culture in… -
Six Reasons to Have a Dedicated Guest Website for Your Church
18 Apr 2012 | 5:57 pmOver the years the Auxano Design team has helped churches think more strategically about guest engagement. (Read 10 Mind Blowing Facts to Fuel your Hospitality Ministry). One great idea is to create a separate website for guests. At Auxano, we call this a “buzzsite.” To catch an example, check out Gateway’s WelcomeToYourJourney.com or First Baptist’s ExploreFirst.org Why have a dedicated site just for guests at your church? 1) Make a Bigger Front Porch: Eighty-seven percent of your guests will click-thru before they walk-thru. Having a site dedicated to guests enables… -
Death before Multiplication
6 Apr 2012 | 2:17 pmSeeds come from living plants. But before they bring more life, they must die. Good Friday reminds us of a life-death-more life pattern. The death of Jesus would bring a dramatic multiplication of the body of Christ on earth. Seeds would be scattered to the four corners of the globe as “dead-to-self” disciples lay down their life in Gospel service. I am thinking about the death that must come before multiplication in a different way this week. As I enter a new chapter of multiplying my work as a Vision Pathway Navigator with Auxano, I meet the end of my own gifts. For one… -
The Five Strategies to Reach Young People at Church
27 Mar 2012 | 3:50 pmI can’t tell you how many conversations I see about reaching the next generation: “Our average age is getting older…” “Our neighborhood is changing…” “Our kids don’t come to church anymore…” “Did you see those stats on millennials…” In an effort to help church’s think through their strategy, I have developed “the five.” Please excuse any notion that I have figured out “the” strategies. Rather, I am trying to provide a water-tight approach that logically covers all of the possible…
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Christian Times Online :: Praise, Worship, Discipleship :: Free Christian Online Newsletter :: 213-325-0977
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Social Media: Marketing King?
30 Apr 2012 | 1:55 pmIs Social Media The New Online Marketing King? Lately there has been a lot of shifting in the internet marketing community. Google is slapping overly optimized affiliate websites out of existence. Facebook has taken over as the most visited website online. It seems like more and more that social media is the weapon of choice for online traffic. Has social media marketing become the next online king? In the past the most popular marketing strategy was search engine optimization. The problem with SEO is that it is not interactive and it definitely is not viral. A website still needs to be… -
Christian Times Online: Quarterly Update 2012
17 Apr 2012 | 5:59 pmWe round out our program with features including Joyce Meyer’s “Everyday Moments;” Dr. James Dobson’s “Family Talk;” Focus on the Family’s “Plugged-In Movie Review” and “Family Minute;” Beth Moore’s “A Quick Word;” Luis Palau’s “Reaching Your World;” Dave Ramsey’s “Daily Money Makeover;” and Matt Fore’s “The Truth Shall Make You Laugh.” Beginning with our April 19, 2011 broadcast we will air “Everyday Moments” with Joyce Meyer. Everyday… -
A Review Of Our Priorities
24 Jan 2012 | 5:30 pmWhen Delay Allows Us to Review Our Priorities “Ah, but a man’s reach should exceed his grasp, Or what’s a heaven for?” ~ Robert Browning, ‘Andrea del Sarto’ One of the most common frustrations of ministry is our desire for things to happen faster than they usually do. We may think they should go faster (and perhaps according to some standards, they should), but they don’t. How do we react? Do we redouble our efforts? Do we work to motivate staff to do more? Do we take projects away from volunteers and staff and drive them forward ourselves? It is hard for… -
A Method To Generate Backlinks
31 Oct 2011 | 4:05 pmA Powerful Method That Will Generate Backlinks When it comes to getting backlinks to your site there are a lot of methods to consider. Matter of fact you might want to take into consideration all the methods that are available to you. I am not referring to blackhat tactics, but legitimate methods of backlinking. What some people do is rely on one “magic method”, but when it comes to getting backlinks to your site, there really is not one “magic method.” There may be better methods, but there is no longer one method to backlinking. Depending on how hard it is to… -
Targeted Website Traffic
8 Oct 2011 | 2:58 pmHow Do I get Targeted Website Traffic? Go Where The Target Market Goes Targeted website traffic is without doubt the holy grail of all online businesses, without it you might as well shut up shop and go home. It doesn’t matter how good your sales copy, your offer, your marketing funnel or your products and services, without visitors of an interested variety you will struggle pure and simple. So much has been written about the subject of targeted website traffic and increasing the visitor count to your site, an awful lot of it good quality information that if implemented could see you…
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Live To Worship
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Story Church Set List – 13 May 2012 #sundaysetlists
13 May 2012 | 9:33 pmHappy Day – Tim Hughes (B) Like A Lion – Daniel Bashta (B) Mighty To Save – Hillsong (G) Cannons – Phil Wickham (G) Revelation Song – Jennie Lee Riddle (D) No related posts. -
Mother’s Day
13 May 2012 | 9:16 pmClick here to view the embedded video. We used this video today at Story Church and it was hilarious! Check it out. No related posts. -
Story Church Set List – 6 May 2012 #sundaysetlists
9 May 2012 | 5:00 pmOh You Bring – Hillsong (G) Your Love Never Fails – Chris McClarney (G) Jesus Paid It All – Kristian Stanfill (B) You Alone Can Rescue – Matt Redman (B) Holy – Matt Redman (chorus only) (B) Reading: 1 Peter 2:9-10 But you are the ones chosen by God, chosen for the high calling of priestly work, chosen to be a holy people, God’s instruments to do his work and speak out for him, to tell others of the night-and-day difference he made for you—from nothing to something, from rejected to accepted. Because Of Your Love – Phil Wickham (B) No related posts. -
Video: You Alone Can Rescue Cover
3 May 2012 | 6:46 amClick here to view the embedded video. This is one of my favorite songs to play at church. I was surprised I hadn’t given it the YouTube treatment until now. Still playing with around with logic pro. This video adds some subtle keys for the first time. No related posts. -
Story Church Set List – 29 Apr 2012 #sundaysetlists
1 May 2012 | 11:47 amForever – Chris Tomlin (A) Your Grace Is Enough – Maher / Tomlin (A) You Never Let Go – Matt Redman (B) Majesty – Delirious (B) How He Loves – John Mark McMillan (B) I really enjoyed Sunday morning and had so much fun with the band. There seemed to be a real freedom and excitement to worship in the room and I want to see that more. I want us to keep running after God like that – desiring more of His presence in our worship. We have sung How He Loves many times now, but on Sunday it felt really fresh. It was great to pull away from the microphone and…
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Kristine Remixed
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What Hides Behind the Pendulum?
15 May 2012 | 1:56 pmIn 1999, when I first began exploring witchcraft, I worked at learning many forms of divination including tarot, runes, scrying, and dowsing. From the glossary I created for Escaping the Cauldron): Divination – The process of using tools, methods, or symbols to determine or foretell the future. Scrying – A method of future-casting (divining) through gazing at a crystal, bowl of water, blackened mirror, or other reflective surface inducing visions. Dowsing – A method of divination using a pair of rods to find water, iron ores, missing objects, direction. -
The Faith of a Mother
13 May 2012 | 2:40 pm"I remember your genuine faith, for you share the faith that first filled your grandmother Lois and your mother, Eunice. And I know that same faith continues strong in you." 2 Timothy 1:5 (NLT) I remember looking into the eyes of my sweet baby girl as I cradled her in my arms. This little person had been given to me by God—to love, nurture, and teach what it means to follow Him with her whole heart. Such a breathtaking gift and responsibility. What I didn't know in those moments were the temptations, difficulties, years of spiritual wandering which lay in my future or how… -
Mediums, Psychics, and Ghosts–Oh My!
12 May 2012 | 12:58 pm"Did you know there's another new TV show about a medium?" my husband asked as he looked at me over the top of his laptop expectantly. "Yes, I know about it. How many paranormal programs do you think there are now?" I wondered. "Last time we checked there were 27 on ghosts alone". By the end of the evening, my husband had compiled a list for me (because that's just who he is). There are currently over 70 first run or syndicated television programs devoted to the topics of ghosts, aliens, mediums, and psychics being aired in the United States,… -
CORNERSTONE (Pssst–I’m Speaking There This Year)
11 May 2012 | 4:18 pmKristine Speaking at Unity Christian Music Fest 2010 Cornerstone Music Festival For twenty-four years, my husband and I have been talking about attending this five day Christian music festival. Despite our shared desire to attend, finances have always ranked fairly high among the reasons we could not (what with the cost of tickets, round trip expenses, food, accommodations, etc). HOWEVER…. THIS year, my beloved and I shall not only be attending Cornerstone Christian Music Festival; I will be sharing my testimony on the Michigan Stage , and teaching a four day seminar… -
What Day Is It?
10 May 2012 | 7:20 pm"So you must live as God’s obedient children. Don’t slip back into your old ways of living to satisfy your own desires. You didn’t know any better then. But now you must be holy in everything you do, just as God who chose you is holy. For the Scriptures say, “You must be holy because I am holy.” 1 Peter 1:14-16 (NLT) My husband and I were in the car on the way to Detroit to retrieve our oldest daughter from college for the Summer. We were discussing an article I'd read recently about the ranking opinion among the general unchurched…
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What I Learned Teaching Sunday School
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Christ's Definition of Faith
14 May 2012 | 2:40 pmMark 10: 13-1613 People were bringing little children to Jesus for him to place his hands on them, but the disciples rebuked them. 14 When Jesus saw this, he was indignant. He said to them, “Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these. 15 Truly I tell you, anyone who will not receive the kingdom of God like a little child will never enter it.” 16 And he took the children in his arms, placed his hands on them and blessed them. Jesus begins to define faith in this passage and continues through verse 27. In verses 13 through 16… -
James 1:19-25 a Mini Worship Guide
8 May 2012 | 6:44 pmDan Dumas, Senior Pastor at East Baptist in Louisville, KY was our guest minister a couple Sundays ago. He told us that James 1:19-25 is a mini worship guide. That got my attention!James 1:19-25 19My dear brothers and sisters, take note of this: Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry, 20 because human anger does not produce the righteousness that God desires. 21 Therefore, get rid of all moral filth and the evil that is so prevalent and humbly accept the word planted in you, which can save you. 22 Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. -
What Jesus Said About Divorce
7 May 2012 | 1:54 pmMark 10: 1-12 Jesus then left that place and went into the region of Judea and across the Jordan. Again crowds of people came to him, and as was his custom, he taught them. 2 Some Pharisees came and tested him by asking, “Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife?” 3“What did Moses command you?” he replied. 4 They said, “Moses permitted a man to write a certificate of divorce and send her away.” 5 “It was because your hearts were hard that Moses wrote you this law,” Jesus replied. 6 “But at the beginning of creation God ‘made them male and female.’ 7 ‘For this… -
Will They Know?
1 May 2012 | 6:00 pmIn my sorority magazine the editor was talking about the sorority’s values: honor, beauty, friendship and service to others. She asked, “Without reading our ritual, could a potential new member know what our values are by watching our behavior and listening to our words?” And I thought, “What a great question for Christians. Could someone know what we believe by watching our behavior and listening to our words?” -
Gaither Homecoming 2012
22 Apr 2012 | 4:07 pmJohn and I were in Nashville last week and Friday night he took me to The Gaither Homecoming 2012 concert as an early birthday present! I had never been to one before although I listen to them on You Tube sometimes and I’ve seen David Phelps in concert before and also heard Gloria Gaither at a Hearts of Worship conference. It was three and a half hours of wonderful music and worship! Mark Lowry who wrote “Mary Did You Know” (my favorite!) was part of the group and sang it! Chills! Can’t wait to go to another one!
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Mobile Ministry Magazine (MMM)
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JIT (Just in Time) as Your Mobile Focus
16 May 2012 | 6:00 amWhen preparing for this week’s articles and activities, a term kept coming to mind, then it started popping up in various articles and comments. The term is simple, JIT (just in time), and it refers to a context of information and the media channels supporting it. But when we drive into mobile, JIT takes on another, more personal implication – I’m using this device for this channel because at the moment of need, its just in time to reply. When was the last time that you went to your mobile for something you needed right now? Was it directions? A movie time? A contact you… -
The Hunt for Non-English and Mobile-Friendly Resources
15 May 2012 | 6:00 amOne of the more significant challenges that comes to the mobile ministry (#mobmin) world is the search for any non-English Christian content. And depending on the conversation – that hunt for Christian content comes with that preface of good, quality Christian content. Its been said to us directly that of the Christian content that is available – more than 80% is English only – which leaves thousands of languages to be served by a meager rest of what’s left. That leaves ministries and organizations with a dual purpose of not just being there for a spiritual gain, but… -
Two Hemispheres of Tech and Memory
14 May 2012 | 6:00 amMemory is a weird thing. There are some who say you can hack it (and other aspects of your mental/physical capacities), there are others who believe that you are given a brain with only so much capacity, but few who ever make it to the breaking point of using it all. I’ve been asked if I do mental exercises to train my brain (nope), or what it is I do to read, retain, and restate so much (rest/Sabbath is key). And its amazing. We can think that we forget so much, but in a flash – whether its a smell, touch, sound, or sight – we are triggered to memories. I remarked to a… -
Mobile Ministry Forum Updates
13 May 2012 | 6:00 amA few updates from the Mobile Ministry Forum (@mobmin): Regarding the Mobile Ministry Webinar (April 26th): 21 participants discussed a dozen collaborative mobile projects in the Mobile Ministry webinar on April 26. The recorded webinar and notes, along with extensive links, are available (this is a Google doc and may require a log-in). Learn how your mobile device can be transformed into a spy in your pocket. In addition to learning the risks, we will discuss safety precautions that field workers and ministries can take to protect themselves from this emerging threat. Anyone interested… -
Trying Out the biNu Mobile App Developer Platform
11 May 2012 | 6:00 amPer our usual activities here, we occasionally check out processes and software which would be relevant to the #mobmin (mobile ministry) world. A question for many groups is the process of making a mobile application, and so we definitely like to take a look at the various application creation platforms that are out there to get an idea of what’s needed in terms of graphical, technological, and marketing knowledge to get things up and running. The latest of these development platforms we are looking at is the biNu platform. biNu is a software delivery platform. Think, something like an…
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the mayward blog
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Writing Update
16 May 2012 | 9:23 amI love words. I love how they sound. I love the way they look on a page when they're put together in sentences and paragraphs and stories. The thesaurus is a dear friend of mine. This is probably why I read and write so much. I'm beginning to realize that this is a God-given passion and gift for communication, which has developed into a few writing opportunities. Here's what I've been working on lately: Book: I'm working on my first book publication co-authored with Mark Oestreicher. It's part of a youth ministry series of for parents of teenagers. It's titled A Parent's Guide to… -
Remembering Who I Am
15 May 2012 | 12:46 pmIt's been one year since I transitioned into high school ministry. A lot has happened in that year. Our family purchased a larger car and added a new child. I've made a number of ministry changes, from adding a second summer missions trip to rethinking how we do high school summer camp to adding mingle time to our midweek program to having a film festival. There have been countless small group gatherings, staff meetings, worship songs, one-on-one discipleship moments, and countless Starbucks americanos purchased and consumed. The time has flown by. In the midst of all the activity, there's… -
On Moderation, or Why I'm an Extreme Non-Extremist
14 May 2012 | 10:03 amPolarization and partisanship are the zeitgeist of our times. In the midst of this, a humble moderate perspective is routinely lost in the ensuing shouting match between two sides. Rather than be drawn to the extremes of either side or system, I typically find myself as the extreme non-extremist, living in the tension of the middle ground. It is akin to standing at the middle of a tug-o-war rope, pulling at both ends with either arm, trying to draw both sides towards a moderate conclusion. This occurs both politically and theologically; my conservative friends often consider me their liberal… -
Graduation Commission for the Senior Class of 2012
11 May 2012 | 7:00 amOur senior class celebrates their graduation from high school and our ministry this evening, so I thought I'd share the transcript from the devotional I will share with the seniors and their families. May this be an encouragement to you in this season of change and new beginnings: After Jesus was raised from the dead and had appeared to his eleven disciples, he gathered them together on a mountainside in Galilee for them to await instructions. These eleven guys were on the brink of a completely new way of life. They had spent three years learning and growing and following Jesus, all the way… -
Following Jesus - Where Do We Go From Here?
10 May 2012 | 11:28 amWe've heard from variety of voices over the past two weeks--Andy Blanks, Paul Martin, Mark Riddle, Matt Bowen, and Adam McLane--on the nature of discipleship and its current barriers. Today, I'm offering my synthesis of their responses, as well as as some musings of my own. What is discipleship? In the simplest sense, it is the title of this blog series--following Jesus. The first disciples could literally engage in this activity by walking the same paths and streets as the incarnate God. This invitation from Jesus required a response of movement, engagement, and the laying down of one's life…
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ChurchLeaders.com
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5 Reasons To Give Up Trying To Live The Christian Life
15 May 2012 | 10:00 pm"Years ago, I came to the place in my spiritual journey where I gave up trying to live the Christian life," says Frank Viola -
Pastor Suing Mother, Daughter for Bad Online Church Review
15 May 2012 | 6:47 pmAn Oregon mother and daughter are reportedly being sued by a local pastor after the two blogged about their experience at his church as being "cult-like" and "creepy." -
Religion Changes by Command, the Gospel Changes by Sight
15 May 2012 | 3:45 pm -
To Tithe Or Not To Tithe?
15 May 2012 | 3:44 pm -
The Life Of Moses and More Muslims Coming To Know Jesus
15 May 2012 | 3:39 pm
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Don't Eat The Fruit
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Two Great Technology and Faith Conferences in June 2012
14 May 2012 | 2:12 pmIf you’re anywhere on the West coast or have flexible travel plans next months, and you’d like to spend time with some fellow believers who think deeply about the relationship between technology and Christian faith, I’d like to invite you to two excellent conferences. Biola Digital Ministry Conference – Jun 5-7, 2012 What used to be called GodBlogCon, then Christian Web Conference is now “Digital Ministry Conference” signaling it’s move from specifically focusing on blogging to the internet and now to all forms of digital ministry. They have three… -
Q&A with Dr. Mark Hoffman, Professor of Religion and Media
11 May 2012 | 8:35 amReligion and Media Blog Tour Earlier this spring, Dr. Mark Hoffman (www.crossmarks.com) of Lutheran Seminary in Gettysburg had me Skype into a class of his in Gettysburg, and I was impressed by the caliber his students and warmed by their kindness toward me. LTSG then made the exciting announcement that it was adding a new Religion and Media Concentration to its Master or Arts in Religion degree. As part of its launch, two of the programs professors including Dr. Hoffman, are going on a blog tour where they answer questions submitted to them by bloggers. I asked two questions of Dr. -
Parenting Tip: Three Photos, and I’m Out!
27 Apr 2012 | 9:36 amThomas the Tank Engine day with my kids Jon Acuff has a nice post about Skrillex (an Internet sensation for his electronic music) who recently advised a group of his fans that they shouldn’t try to experience his concert through their smartphones. In the words of Mr. Skrillex: Don’t try to experience the party through your cell phone just so you can document it to show people later that you were there. Just be there. Acuff follows with some helpful thoughts about parenting, and many of the commenters lamented that they feel pressure to document everything in order to be good… -
The Dangers of Text-Walking Humorously Illustrated
12 Apr 2012 | 3:03 pmOne of the key dangers of media is that you can get so engrossed within its universe, that you miss important things happening in the world around you. -
Project Glass: Will Google’s Augmented Reality Glasses Finally Make Technology Fade Into the Background?
5 Apr 2012 | 11:24 amHeisenberg’s Uncertainty Problem Heisenberg’s Uncertainty Principle says you can’t measure something without altering it. Last night, I had dinner with dear friends and in those sweet moments when the kids did something cute, we stopped, got out our phones, launched the camera apps, waited a second, and tried to snap the perfect pic. Then there was emailing, Instagraming, and the rest. Wouldn’t it be nice if such things happened in the background without altering the event itself? I tell my fridge, “Make this cold” and it just works. Can’t I just…
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Nathan Creitz
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Sermon: Great Joy In That City [Audio]
9 May 2012 | 10:15 amTitle: Great Joy In That City Text: Acts 8:1-8 Main Idea: A city has cause for great joy when the Good News is proclaimed and good deeds are performed in that city. Notes: This was a message I preached in Bayside, NY and then in Yonkers, NY. The purpose is to show how God sovereignly mobilizes His people to fulfill His Great Commission. Thanks for reading Sermon: Great Joy In That City [Audio]! Have a comment? Click on over and share your thoughts. I'd also like to encourage you to subscribe to my free newsletter. -
WANTED: Partners To Make Disciples and Multiply Churches Throughout NYC
10 Apr 2012 | 10:27 amStarting a church is like starting a business. The only difference is that in this “business” the “business partners” won’t be getting a financial return; the “employees” pay (tithe) the company for the privilege of working for free; “customers” are asked to deny themselves, take up their cross, and follow Jesus; and the “product” is a message that is offensive to 90% of the people who hear it. That’s why I’ve come to a few conclusions about what it takes to start a church: It takes an act of God to start a church. -
Sidewalk Missionary Journey: New York City
30 Mar 2012 | 11:34 amThe Apostle Paul traveled 13,000 miles on his missionary journeys. According to the NYC Department of Transportation there are 12,750 miles of sidewalk in New York City. If Paul could travel 13,000 miles to bring the gospel to those who had not heard, is it crazy to think that we could walk 12,750 miles to do the same in New York City? The Great Commission in Matthew 28:18-20 tells us to “Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations…” There is no more strategic place in the world to “go” and make disciples than New York City. To begin with, there are people… -
Challenges to Reaching Unreached People Groups (Over There)
1 Mar 2012 | 1:52 pmI was recently at a missions forum put on by the International Mission Board (IMB). This forum happened a couple of days after I blogged about reaching unreached people groups in US cities. The opening session was led by David Campbell of the IMB and the title was “Challenges to Reaching the Unreached”. I want to share some of David’s talk and use that as a springboard to go a bit deeper into what I previously wrote about reaching the unreached. According to various sources (IMB, Joshua Project, etc.) there are something like 11,600+ people groups in the world today. The IMB… -
Reaching Unreached People Groups In The City
17 Feb 2012 | 3:34 pmThere are people from at least 62 unreached people groups living in New York City. One way to reach them would be to train and deploy 62 missionaries in 62 countries who would spend 2-3 years learning the local dialect and culture, and be supported financially for the rest of their lives to live in those countries (where they may never be fully accepted). This, I think, is our primary international missions strategy and it is effective. We need to continue sending missionaries to live and serve in nations around the world. We need to count the cost and go to them. Where are the Unreached Most…
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Christian Droid
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Prayer Notes
15 May 2012 | 4:02 amI believe in the power of prayer and I generally try to keep an application on my mobile devices that will allow me to keep track of prayer needs as I go through my day. Several months ago I reviewed my favorite prayer app for my Android devices here. So I thought it was time that I turn my attention to iOS prayer apps. Most of the time when I am teaching my Sunday School class I am using my iPad to show presentations, videos, or keep notes. So I need a prayer application that I can take notes when we are listing the prayer concerns for the class in order to follow-up and pray for… -
Subversive Kingdom
14 May 2012 | 3:40 amAs you may remember, I have been looking for ideas for the last couple of weeks for a new series of lessons for my adult Sunday School class. (I know that the “proper” term these days may be “small group” but around here we still have Sunday School.) After several discussions with our class they decide that they would like to use a video lesson series for our next lessons. We try to mix up our lessons with some being taught using audio or video series to lead us in our lessons or sometimes I teach whatever I feel led to teach. I began the search for the next… -
Mommy Rhapsody – A Tribute To Mothers
11 May 2012 | 4:01 amHappy Mother’s Day, I hope you enjoy this tribute to mothers in our Video Of The Week. A Tribute to Mommies : Mommy Rhapsody from hulahan on GodTube. -
50,000,000
10 May 2012 | 3:02 pmCongratulations to YouVersion for surpassing 50 million installations of their Bible application. The YouVersion Mobile Bible Application has been installed more than 50 million times on mobile devices around the world. That is double the installations in just the past 12 months. A truly worldwide community is now equipped to explore almost 300 different versions of the Bible, in 144 languages. With the Bible App on your mobile device, you can read or listen, capture what God’s Spirit is saying to you, highlight your favorite passages, even share your faith with friends on your social… -
Its Raining Again
10 May 2012 | 3:50 amIt is 5pm and the sky is dark enough for all the automatic lights across the town to shine. Even with the light it is hard to see buildings across the street. This is not the end of the world, nor some catastrophic event; it is springtime in North Carolina and the rain has set in. It was just a few days ago when everyone was saying; “We could sure use some rain. The crops are looking mighty bad.” You might expect that the rain would be a welcome addition, however, you would be wrong. It is not welcome, at least not while it interferes with our outdoor plans. “I wish this rain would…
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The BIGBible Project
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Communicating the Word – and the Word was Digital #Catholic
16 May 2012 | 10:30 amCalls from the Catholic Church to engage with the digital world appropriately. -
QR Codes: What are they all about? #DigiLit
16 May 2012 | 6:30 amThis one’s a little old, but still interesting. Creating a code doesn’t necessarily mean that people will use it. Where have you seen good examples of the use of QR codes? -
What do you think to a #GodHour? #Digidisciple (@paulblakey)
16 May 2012 | 12:00 amITV Website So a dog won Britain Got Talent! I have only watched part of one episode but as I checked in on Twitter on Saturday night the talk seemed to be of a dog winning #BGT. Twitter has fast become the number one source for news and views on everything. From latest news stories to winners of Britain’s Talent Skate on Thin Ice Singing Y Factor (or whatever the latest talent show is) Twitter is the place to go. God has destined us to be alive at this time in history – a time when the world is smaller than ever before, when something that happens hundreds of miles away is… -
Thinking about #MediaLit12?
15 May 2012 | 10:30 amAre you thinking about coming to #MediaLit12. Here’s the likely programme: Staff are: AD Anna Drew, Methodist Media Officer AG Andrew Graystone, former BBC producer, Director of Churches Media Network BL Bex Lewis, Lecturer & Technology Enhanced Learning Fellow, University of Winchester; Blended Learning Project Manager, CODEC, University of Durham CS Carl Stiansen, Media Relations Officer, Durham University KB Kate Bruce, Chaplain, St John’s College; Fellow in Preaching and Communication LK Leighton Kitson, Media Relations Officer, Durham University PMP Pete… -
Inbound Vs Outbound "Marketing" #Infographic
15 May 2012 | 6:30 amIf you’ve heard @drbexl talk, you’ll know that she continually says that we live in the age of “pull” rather than “push” information. People will seek out what they are interested in, and don’t want materials ‘pushed’ at them. This also ensures that your information is more likely to reach those who are interested in it, although there’s always that age old dilemma will people then restrict themselves to an interest bubble? Anyway, see how the push/pull factor has affected business marketing, and think about how this may affect your…
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Children's Ministry Online
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Don’t raise well rounded, well educated and happy kids
3 May 2012 | 12:23 pmI’ve been working alongside parents now for fifteen years, but I’ve only done this from the perspective of actually being a parent for the last five. Having kids of your own certainly changes your perspective. We all have hopes and dreams for what our kids will grow up to be. Every time we host a child dedication class, we ask the question, “What does parenting success look like to you?” We also ask another question that hits the same issue from a different angle asking, “If you could pass only one thing to your child by the time they become an adult, what would… -
I’m not so comfortable with the mess
2 May 2012 | 12:17 pmOne of my top 3 ministry gifts is administration. I love systems, processes and project plans. I love to set goals, strive to make them happen and help others move the ball forward. I actually enjoy coming into an area of chaos and bring order and structure so that growth can actually happen. These are my gifts and I work very hard to make this happen. I probably work too hard in fact. I spend a significant amount of time offsite because I don’t like being interrupted so much. I just need some peace and quite while I get stuff done. Although I think that my philosophy and approach is… -
Four years and counting
2 May 2012 | 8:06 amYesterday I celebrated my fourth year of coming on staff at Gateway Church in Austin, TX. I vividly remember driving from the Orange Conference in Atlanta with my little family and my car fully packed halfway across the country. Not only was excited about moving to a new city and taking on a new job that was fresh and exciting, but I was amazed how God seemingly directed events on a major scale to move me into a job that was exactly what I needed and exactly the right time. 12 months earlier, I’m not sure how I would have felt about this kind of role, but as God had been shaping my… -
Creating a healthy staff culture
30 Apr 2012 | 10:04 amMost of us could probably tell some great stories of horrible church staff situations. I’ve been a part of several, some of which were highly political where few trusted each other and I’ve been a part of church staff where things even got hostile. I’m not quite sure that the perfect church staff culture exists out there, but I’ve been a part of some good ones too. While at The Orange Conference last week, Andy Stanley spoke specifically to to the issue of staff culture. Many of the points I’ve heard before in one of his leadership podcasts, but it was a great… -
ORANGE 2012: Game Changer
26 Apr 2012 | 2:03 pmI’m at the 2012 Orange Conference and so far, it’s been pretty amazing, but Orange is always like that. I’ve actually been able to attend more breakouts than last year… and I’ve actually been paying closer attention in the general sessions as compared to last year. I hope to publish my notes from some of the sessions/breakouts later tonight. I also had the opportunity to lead a preconference breakout on yesterday, and include some notes from that as well. Stay tuned…
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You Begin Here
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How does One Know if they Love God and are Saved?
11 May 2012 | 4:05 amf you are asking that question, while this is not confirmation, it’s a good sign you are going in the right direction. If you don’t have at least the smallest desire to love someone or care about someone, you don’t ponder the question if you love them. When was the last time you heard an [...] -
The Affection Due Her
27 Mar 2012 | 3:38 pmWhy do we understand that great success comes after hard work, but often fail to recognize that great marriages also come after hard work? When working on any project we understand that it takes time to research, plan and build skills to successfully pull off that project. This includes everything from making a cake to [...] -
Is Porn so Bad?
25 Jan 2012 | 1:56 pmIs porn so bad? Is it not a private matter? It’s not hurting anyone so why not let it go? Just because someone looks at porn does not mean it is affecting their relationships, does it? What’s so wrong about porn? We live in a world where men between the ages of 18 and 34 [...] -
The One You Love
18 Jan 2012 | 4:38 pmDo you realize that the Bible does have different standards? God gives husbands one set of standards and wives a completely different set of standards. It is easy to miss this different set of standards in a quick reading of scripture, but when one realizes the significance these two verses it can redefine ones marriage, [...] -
Why Christians Should be Amongst the Occupy Wall Street Protesters
19 Oct 2011 | 12:48 am“We live in an era that questions authority.” John McArthur. Today, at this moment in history, Americans are frustrated, uncertain, tired and scared. The American dream is crumbling in front of them, finical security is waning, uncertainty is looming and the people are voicing their concern. Since September 17, 2011 Occupy Wall Street has been [...]
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samluce.com
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Best Bible for Preschoolers!
15 May 2012 | 7:01 amI’ve written a few posts about what bible to buy for your kids. Here are a few of those posts. Helping kids love the bible: Stay one bible ahead Resources to help your kids love the bible. As a kids pastor my favorite bible has to be the Jesus Storybook Bible. I love because of the vocabulary it gives parents and kids to understand and explain the Gospel. The only problem for us with our youngest kids it didn’t hold their attention because they are to young for the stories. So knowing that our youngest love lift the flap books my wife has been on a quest because it so important to… -
Treasuring Christ
14 May 2012 | 8:01 amThis weekend at church my pastor spoke on Love out of 1 Corinthians 13. It was a powerful message talking about what love should look like. As as I sat there listening I began to think as a Child, Husband, father, leader do I treasure Christ? In all that we do as followers of Christ I think this is a question we do not ask enough. As I sat at my seat listening to my pastor preach I started to think that I treasure lots of things about Christ and I treasure the possibility of what Christ can bring to my life but do I truly treasure Christ. The answer I came to was no. If Christ could do… -
REdefining Maturity (Part 2)
8 May 2012 | 7:33 amThis is an article I did for K! magazine a few years ago. K! is a great magazine Ryan Frank and his team do an outstanding job of finding new voices. I also am a huge fan of the layout of the magazine love the artwork. If you are not getting K! magazine and are involved in ministering to kids you need to subscribe now. Here is the link to part 1. Here’s a few things you can do to ensure that you are maturing in your faith: Read Your Bible It’s not a textbook for ministry, but a guidebook for your personal life. It’s huge. Something that I find intimidating, if not down right… -
REdefining Maturity (Part 1)
7 May 2012 | 8:32 amThis is an article I did for K! magazine a few years ago. K! is a great magazine Ryan Frank and his team do an outstanding job of finding new voices. I also am a huge fan of the layout of the magazine love the artwork. If you are not getting K! magazine and are involved in ministering to kids you need to subscribe now. Keeping your faith fresh. I’m no green thumb but my wife by her own admission is even worse. Over the past ten years of married life she has successfully killed every houseplant we’ve brought into our home. She over waters, under waters, gives them her leftover espresso,… -
This Ends in 22 Hours
2 May 2012 | 2:29 pmThis Ends in 22 Hours If you’re looking for some great worship videos for your Children’s or Preteen Ministry, I really hope you can snag this super deal from Yancy. It ends Thursday at noon (like in a few hours). It’s $97 for $1,682 worth of her Children’s Ministry Worship resources. If you don’t know Yancy, she’s awesome. Her videos typically sell for $10-12 a piece, so this is a pretty sweet deal. Visit www.only144.com to check it out. Hope this helps stretch your budget a lot further. - Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone
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TimSchraeder.com
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Quick Update :: I’m Moving…Kind of…
15 May 2012 | 5:10 pmGod has a unique way of doing what He does best: the unexpected. A couple of weeks ago I embarked on what was supposed to be a quick trip to Australia. I spent about a week in Sydney and flew to Queensland to speak at the Christian Media Australia Conference. I returned to Sydney for the weekend and was meant to fly back to Chicago on Monday. Instead, today [which is Wednesday in my part of the world] I’m in Auckland, New Zealand. I’m no expert but I’ve lived enough of life to know that when God is in control and you live keenly aware of His whispers and the leading of the… -
The Adventure is About To Begin!
1 May 2012 | 2:22 pmThis time tomorrow afternoon I’ll be landing in Sydney, Australia! To say I’m excited is an understatement. This pretty much sums up how I feel right now: I’ll be in Sydney for a long weekend before flying to Surfer’s Paradise next Tuesday to speak the Christian Media Australia Conference. I’m doing four sessions there and a panel discussion with Hillsong’s Paul Nevison and church communications guru Steve Fogg. So excited! Then, I’m headed back to Sydney for one more weekend before flying back to the USA on May 14. It’s going to be a whirlwind… -
3 Months and 7 Days Ago… and 40 Pounds Later
30 Apr 2012 | 12:35 pm3 months and 7 days ago, I began a journey that has transformed my life…. and it’s only just beginning. From as far back as I can remember I’ve been the chubby kid. And in more recent adult years I’ve had an on-again/ off-again relationship with the gym and seasons [which would only last a couple of months] where I would lose some weight and see some progress. Sadly, most of those efforts failed as the energy and drive fizzled out. In late January this year, well after most New Year’s Resolutions had all but been forsaken, I decided it was time to make a change. -
Catalyst Dallas Ticket Giveaway
25 Apr 2012 | 11:12 pmWell friends it’s been awhile since I’ve done a giveaway, so here goes… Catalyst is coming to Dallas May 9-11. I, unfortunately, won’t be able to make it [I'll be in Australia, tough break I know!], but I’ve got 4 FREE tickets [a $319 value EACH!] and would love to send 4 of you to go there in my place. And one of you better blog your notes from it so I can catch up on what I miss! If you’ve never been to Catalyst before you have no idea what you’re missing out on. Catalyst is one of the best leadership conferences out there that’s committed to… -
The Art of Marketing Summaries & Quotes
25 Apr 2012 | 4:06 pmYesterday I had the opportunity to attend The Art of Maketing Conference in Chicago. In a word: UNREAL. I actually didn’t think I was going to be able to make it, but thanks to the power of Twitter and the graciousness of @Ilana221 who gave me a ticket she wasn’t going to be able to use, I was able to be there! And now I’ve compiled all of my notes in a handy PDF and also compiled a short list of some of the top quotes from throughout the day. If you’re new to my blog, one thing you need to know is that I love to help spread ideas that matter. When I attend…
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What Christians Want To Know
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10 Prayers for Missions or Mission Trips
16 May 2012 | 5:00 amWe always pray before we take a trip. We ask God to protect us in our journey and to bless our time away from home. It is also a good thing to pray for others as they leave for a mission trip,... [[ This is a content summary only. Visit my website for full links, other content, and more! ]] -
Words of Hope: 22 Beautiful Quotes
15 May 2012 | 5:00 amHope is defined as a verb: to desire with expectation of obtainment; to expect with confidence [1]. Some words that mean the same as hope are trust, expectation, longing, dream, optimism, and desire.... [[ This is a content summary only. Visit my website for full links, other content, and more! ]] -
What Does the Bible Say About Same Sex Marriage? Is it Sin?
14 May 2012 | 5:00 amWhat does the Bible say about same sex marriage? Is it sin to marry someone of the same sex? Does the Bible have Scripture about this subject and if so, is it out of date for our modern culture?... [[ This is a content summary only. Visit my website for full links, other content, and more! ]] -
What Does the Bible Say About Rape? How Does This Affect the Abortion Argument?
12 May 2012 | 5:00 amThere are rapes that occur in the Bible. If someone is raped, does this justify having an abortion? What perspective can we gain from the Bible on this issue? The Bible Doesn’t Hide the Truth The... [[ This is a content summary only. Visit my website for full links, other content, and more! ]] -
Bible Verses About Pride: 20 Revealing Scriptures
11 May 2012 | 5:00 amPride and forms of the word pride are seen throughout the Bible. Here is a definition of pride both from the Hebrew and the Greek. From the Hebrew (OT): - Various “ga’avah”, “ge’eh”, “gabah”... [[ This is a content summary only. Visit my website for full links, other content, and more! ]]
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Practical Youth Ministry
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My Top 10 Youth Ministry Fails
11 May 2012 | 8:53 amThese certainly are not the only mistakes I’ve made and my psyche has probably blocked out some of the worst ones. But here they are: #10 Intern Fail- I have made the mistake of hiring someone that wasn’t the best person for the job, even though it was the best person available. Nothing bad happened, but I could have put a few thousand dollars to better use (I’m the only one who knows which one of the 10 hires I’m talking about). #9 PC Fail- My world has become much more efficient and less frustrating with a Macbook and iPhone. While I haven’t done the math, I… -
Culture of Discipleship
10 May 2012 | 5:47 amJesus calls us to be disciples and to make disciples. This past Sunday I shared some unflattering research about how well the church is doing and some steps we can take to create a discipleship culture. This sermon focuses on three environments that are critical in building a discipleship culture in our congregation. Related Posts LTC to Student Impact -
LTC to Student Impact
8 May 2012 | 5:15 pmFor many years our congregation participated in Leadership Training for Christ, a program designed to equip train young people for leadership roles in the church. LTC was an innovative strategy designed to address a need that was felt in many churches to equip the next generation of church leaders. (Click for LTC history by Bobby Ross Jr.) Student Impact We recently began Student Impact, a strategy tailored to fit our congregation while meeting the same goal. Student Impact is an opportunity for juniors and seniors in high school to serve in an apprentice role alongside ministry leaders in… -
Investing Your Summer Time
7 May 2012 | 5:42 amHow will you invest the summer? Summer affords every family a chunk of time must be spent and cannot be saved. As you make your plans I am pleased to offer some advice from Jim Martin, a mentor of mine. Jim is a husband of over 30 years, father of two grown daughters, preacher at Crestview Church of Christ in Waco, and author of the blog “A Place for the God Hungry”. 6 REFLECTIONS ON FAMILY VACATION by Jim Martin Over the years, our family went on a lot of vacations together. Each summer, we went somewhere. The mountains. The beach. Some special place. Those vacations were… -
Pepperdine Lectures 2012
4 May 2012 | 7:32 pmThis week I am attending the Pepperdine Lectures in Malibu, CA. Here are a few highlights: Presentation on Marriage and Prayer by Steve and Emily Lemley- The Lemley’s were so transparent and humble as they talked about prayer in the various life-stages of their marriage. Using Paul’s shipwreck in the book of Acts as a metaphor for marriage they testified to the pain and difficulty in marriage and life. It was an unexpected gift when they prayed their personal rendering of the Lord’s prayer inserting the names of those dear to them. I’ll never forget this. Hymns That…
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MatthewStarner.com
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How We Pick Worship Music
15 May 2012 | 11:30 amAs a follow-up to the last post about worship styles, I though I would share about the process I use at Journey for selecting music for worship. I’m sure a lot of people think that it’s as simple as me sitting in my office picking my favorite songs. (If only it was that easy!) When it comes to traditional music, the job of picking worship music can be pretty easy. For churches that follow the lectionary (the series of prescribed readings for each Sunday), you can often find accompanying lists of hymns that fit with the various readings, giving you plenty to choose from. Many… -
Sunday Setlist: May 6, 2012
6 May 2012 | 4:58 pmWe’re not in a series for the month of May, which always makes things a challenge because there are so many directions you can go on any given week. This week, so focused on a series of passages throughout scripture about God’s love for us – that unconditional love that will never fail. Every once in a while, we need a reminder of that love that surrounds us throughout all the ups and downs of life. Today’s Worship Glory to God Forever by Steve Fee Sing Along by Sixteen Cities From the Inside Out by Joel Houston The Message Enough by Chris Tomlin Offerings and Prayers… -
Things I Starred This Week – May 4
4 May 2012 | 7:44 amI read blogs. Lots and lots of blogs! Google Reader is my blog reader of choice and I was recently looking at my blog reading stats. I’m always adding new blogs and removing older ones that have been abandoned or otherwise stopped being helpful, so the total count changes, but right now there are 169 blogs that I’m following. Most are related to things like church, worship, leadership, and technology – but some are just for fun. One of the things I use a lot in Google Reader is the ability to star posts to save for later. Since I have such a large volume of… -
Who are you?
3 May 2012 | 7:50 amI’ve had this blog for over 5 years and it’s gone pretty much unnoticed for most of that time. But in the last month or so I’ve been inundated with more visits than I’ve ever had before. Thanks to getting some articles of mine republished on TheWorshipCommunity.com, ChurchLeaders.com, WorshipIdeas.com and Musicademy.com, my readership has grown tremendously in the past few weeks. It’s both exciting and humbling at the same time to realize that my audience is growing. But what I really want to know is who are you? There are way more readers of my blog than… -
Spring Cleaning at Church Part 5: Equipment
2 May 2012 | 10:36 amThere’s one last place I think we should look as I wrap up this Spring Cleaning at Church series and that’s our equipment. We’ve already taken a look at our buildings, our style, our digital spaces and our music. Now, let’s take a look at all the equipment that keeps things going and make sure it’s ready to take on the rest of the year. As the church continues to become more and more reliant on equipment and technology, the need to keep it running smoothly grows! The obvious things to check not just in springtime but throughout the year are important things like…
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The Long View
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Is it possible our churches are optimized for the wrong kind of growth?
15 May 2012 | 10:00 amIs it possible that (1) the “more Christian” areas of the world have developed church service models which are geared toward a more demographic form of growth (particularly during a more rural time period)? Demographic growth means children born in Christian households are raised to be Christians, marry Christians, and raise Christian children, repeating the cycle. Optimizing for this means a focus on Sunday School, teaching, facilitating youth events, facilitating life-point transitions, etc. (2) BUT: they are now struggling to urbanize and shift with cultural norms. Urbanization… -
J.D. Payne’s Challenge
14 May 2012 | 12:05 pm@jdpayne tweets, “Missiological challenge: Take these 25 cities: http://bit.ly/IQV9Hrcalculate the lostness: http://bit.ly/IRB0kG share it with us.” The 25 cities are: 1. San Francisco-Oakland-Fremont, 61% AC. 2. San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara, 60% AC. 3. New York-Newark-Edison, 65% AC. 4. Champaign-Urbana. 69% AC. 5. Durham, NC, 69% AC. 6. Gainesville, FL, 66% AC. 7. Ithaca, NY, 71% AC. 8. Ann Arbor, MI, 66% AC. 9. Trenton-Ewing, NJ. 69% AC. 10. Boston-Cambridge-Quincy, 68% AC. 11. Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue, 60% AC. 12. Corvallis, OR, 60% AC. 13. New Haven-Milford, CT, 66% AC. -
Teaching by facilitating discovery
14 May 2012 | 11:39 amOne of the key principles that we at MUP focus on is to always facilitate the discovery process rather than to teach. I’ve been pondering other applications of this process recently. 1. Is it possible to do all of one’s social networking posts in a “purely discovery” mode – e.g. using questions, short posts, prodding discussion, etc? 2. Is it possible to do Adult Sunday School in this mode: share the “Scripture passage” (or perhaps the bigger passage around the lesson “memory verse”), ask the key questions: (1) what is God doing, (2) what… -
The right time to plant a church
13 May 2012 | 7:51 amKrish Kandiah wrote this article, about Saddleback recruiting leaders to plant a church in London. The comments on this article are fascinating from so many different view points. Take the comments and put them in bolder questions to highlight some of the ways that we think: (1) is there a right size for a church, so that it can only be “half full”? How do you determine the “right size” for a church? [clearly, in the comments we are defining the right size of the church as being the maximum occupancy of the building it is presently in. If the building is less than… -
Mapping and reaching unreached people groups in the USA
10 May 2012 | 3:55 pmWe know that there are many UPGs coming to America as diaspora groups–Saudi, Thai, Vietnamese, and Iraqi just to name four obvious groups. There’s a lot of complexities involved in identifying the groups that are here, and even more in identifying which ones are unreached (because a lot of Christians from unreached countries come to America for one reason or another) and developing strategies to reach them. Today I learned about an effort to map the groups within the 100 largest metropolitan areas of the United States. Some 65% of America’s population live in these 100 MSAs,…
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The Inclusive Church
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New Special Needs Ministry Resource: Volunteer Training DVD
7 May 2012 | 3:33 pmThe Background: For a couple of years I’ve been teaching a workshop that offers 35+ ideas to better engage kids with learning differences in children’s ministry settings. The content for the workshop was developed after I volunteered in a room full of 5 year-old boys in the summer of 2009. One particular participant was especially challenging for me to understand and manage. The mother had not been forthright about her son’s needs and they were significant enough to warrant extra supervision and assistance. After feeling conviction to do my best to keep this child in our… -
Video & Pictures from Orange #OC12
1 May 2012 | 9:55 amDuring the conference Orange Leaders hosted a live webcast interviewing the main stage speakers and many of the workshop presenters. Jared Herd did a great job of entertaining and educating the live online audience. Meaghan Wall and I had fun sharing about special needs ministry during a 25 minutes of the live cast. Tony Kummer with Ministry-to-Children.com was kind enough to capture the interview on tape. I talk a little about the new Surviving to Thriving Volunteer Training DVD and Meaghan shares some best practices for volunteer recruitment and training. Meaghan’s part… -
Special Needs Champion Denise Briley Wins Orange Award at #OC12
30 Apr 2012 | 11:23 amDenise Briley Winning Orange Award – Copyright The ReThink Group 2012 Each year The Orange Conference recognizes leaders who have made a lasting and eternal impact in the participants of their ministry. Nearly always the award goes to someone who has made a bigger impact in the whole field of family ministry and sometimes without even realizing it. This past Friday Reggie Joiner and Sue Miller surprised Denise Briley by honoring her with an Orange Award from the conference main stage. When it comes to special needs ministry, hundreds of ministry leaders across the United States,… -
From Orange: Special Needs Ministry Champion – Madeline Rowell #OC12
29 Apr 2012 | 12:00 pmMadeline Rowell is a Children’s Associate at Johnson Ferry Baptist Church in Marietta, GA. She coordinates Green Light, a Special Needs Ministry that serves more than a dozen families on Sundays and through respite events. You can follow Green Light at facebook.com/green.light.ministryor follow Madeline on Twitter: @madelinerowell. AFL: Many special needs ministry coordinators come into a church staff position unfamiliar with the politics and protocol of church leadership. What advice would you give a new person starting in a staff leadership position for the first time? MR: A new… -
From Orange: Special Needs Ministry Champion Spotlight – Kristy Moser #OC12
27 Apr 2012 | 2:18 pmKristy Moser is the Early Childhood Pastor of Crosstown Children’s Ministry at Montgomery Community Church in Cincinnati, Ohio. Over the past seven years Kristy has been instrumental in establishing a special needs ministry for children and students. In addition, Kristy runs her own blog for parents of children with special needs at The Road Less Traveled Blog. To learn more about Kristy and her own journey, read the earlier post on this blog, When the Children’s Pastor is Impacted by Special Needs. AFL: What’s one thing that you know now that you wish you’d…
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RevTrev.com
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Where To Distribute Your Press Release
15 May 2012 | 10:53 amNow that you have your press release, how do you distribute it? Here are some resources for you investigate. We make no claims as to their claims, so compare what they offer and see if anyone has any advice to share. http://www.publicityinsider.com/release.asp http://www.prfree.com http://www.prnewschannel.com http://www.loudlaunch.com http://www.prweb.com http://www.pressmethod.com/Release.htm http://www.webwire.com/press-release-distribution.asp http://www.press-release-writing.com/ Here are some PR Firms that I can recommend: Harrow Communications Press Kit Zable Fisher PR Download Your… -
Chapter 3 – Part 1 The Emergent by Trevor Lund
13 May 2012 | 11:01 amHe kept his Blackberry charged, even though the service had yet to be restored. He took that, the charger, all the kid’s passports and his wallet. He told the kids to take only one change of clothes. They were going to go and try to find their parents. The kids were eager to go. They had been stir crazy sitting in a hotel with no TV and nothing to do for five days. Taylor and Monica missed their parents. Jeri was worried for her aunt and uncle and Sam, well Sam was just ready for a new adventure. “We need to sneak out of here.” Colby told his charges. “They don’t want you to leave. -
Are You Quick to Listen?
10 May 2012 | 4:11 pmA warm welcome to all the new people who signed up for Twitter Tips, the Negativity Fast, RevTrev News and every other email sign up I don’t have space to mention. I know where I’ve done it…have you seen the 18 Things You Can Do For Free on RevTrev.com? Check them out and become more of a part of this amazing community. Are You Quick to Listen? “Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak, and slow to become angry.” – James 1:19, NIV I remember when our kids were young it was fun, but not always easy. The time before they could tell us what they wanted was probably the… -
Is there an Eternal Hell?
10 May 2012 | 11:43 amThis is from the series of questions I’ve been getting from a Muslim member of the RevTrev community. So I’ve answered it differently than a theological debate with Christians. Question: Is there an Eternal Hell? Answer: I understand the Muslim definition of Hell is a place of torment and fire (Quran 25:65, 104:6-7). Hell is known as Jahannam. Jahannam has several levels and a person may not necessarily spend eternity there. Is this your understanding of it? In my branch of Christianity there is a current discussion around whether or not a loving God would send people to hell. -
Why Do Christians Believe Jesus is God?
10 May 2012 | 11:31 amQuestion: Why do the christians believe that Jesus is god not a Messenger? Answer: Another excellent question. I’ll do my best to answer it for you. First let’s look at how the Qur’an talks about Jesus. According to the Qur’an, ‘Isa was the Messiah. He was supported by the ‘Holy Spirit’. (Al-Baqarah 2:87; Al-Ma’idah 5:110) He is also referred to as the ‘Word of Allah’. (An-Nisa’ 4:171) ‘Isa’s mother Mariam was the daughter of ‘Imran, (Âl ‘Imran 3:34,35) — cf the Amram of Exodus 6:20 — and the sister of Aaron (and Moses). (Maryam 19:28) She was…
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Nate Fietzer .:. Leading the Future
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Instragram Photo
13 May 2012 | 7:00 pmDude crashed! -
Instragram Photo
13 May 2012 | 6:59 pmWorld's Best Mom! Happy Mother's Day. I Love You! -
Instragram Photo
13 May 2012 | 6:59 pmWorld's Greatest Grandmother! Happy Mother's Day! Love you! -
Instragram Photo
13 May 2012 | 6:59 pmVisited dad's grave. He had company. -
Instragram Photo
13 May 2012 | 12:06 amTwo more PEZ dispensers to add to my collection! Thanks Jackie!
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Media Outreach
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Just Checkin In!
15 May 2012 | 3:27 pmIt’s a bit of a joke with me and a few of my friends. Whenever someone is on their smartphone and there is a group of people present, we always joke around that we’re just “checking in.” However, the... For the full article, please visit: www.mediaoutreach.com -
Shattering the “church culture”
11 May 2012 | 12:48 pmChurch culture is a funny thing. There’s this unspoken feeling you can get in many churches in the US when you walk into their offices. I have become keenly aware of it after working with... For the full article, please visit: www.mediaoutreach.com -
Top 10 Stats Churches Should Know About Outreach
9 May 2012 | 2:49 pm(These are in no particular order) 82% of the unchurched are at least somewhat likely to attend church if invited – Dr. Thom Rainer, The Unchurched Next Door Only 2 percent of church members invite... For the full article, please visit: www.mediaoutreach.com -
5 Tips to Better Vlogging
8 May 2012 | 1:34 pmVlogging is a video blog… surprise! While vlogging started around 2000, it increased in popularity around 2005. YouTube is one of the most popular vlogging sites that allows users to upload all... For the full article, please visit: www.mediaoutreach.com -
Top Blog Posts from April 2012
3 May 2012 | 8:57 amWhen is it Right to Start Live Streaming Services Can Your Church Use Pinterest How to Write for the Web Hardware to Use for Audio Recording in a Service Internet Evangelism- What Does it Mean for... For the full article, please visit: www.mediaoutreach.com
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Ramblings on the Way
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16 May 2012 | 5:58 am
16 May 2012 | 5:58 amOver the last few weeks I've finally got my Google Reader organised and have subsequently gone a little crazy.For those who don't know, Google Reader is a place where you can subscribe to a bunch of blogs and they will chronologically appear in one place. At the moment, I'm subscribed to 188 blogs, ranging from youth ministry, youth culture, church, leadership, speaking, blogging and atheism.I've previously written about the blogs which I usually check out, but over the last two years, the list has been trimmed.Now, aside from my Google Reader feed, the only blogs I… -
Giving the answer or riding the jouney?
14 May 2012 | 5:41 amI think that following Jesus answers the big questions in life. From my point of view, it makes sense.Today it was pointed out during my christian worship class that there exists a tension revolving around providing answers.As worship leaders and preachers we should give answers.But equally, we should accompany people on the journey of discovering answers for themselves. Again, like other things I have previously mentioned (here and here), there is a tension which must be balanced in ministry. Those in ministry need to tread the fine line of journeying with… -
Peter Pan in the church
13 May 2012 | 1:29 amPeter Pan... The boy who never grew up...Since I was 21 quite a few things have changed.I've got married. I've moved out of home. I've moved a few times. I've changed jobs a few times. I've become a Dad.I wonder... If you asked a bunch of guys the question "What is different in your life now compared to when you were 21?" How many thirty years olds would reply very little?They look the same.They go to the same places.They are hanging out with the same people.They still live at home.They may be better educated, but not much else has changed...Mark Driscoll would call them "boys… -
Why child protection matters
10 May 2012 | 7:06 amIf you work in schools or churches then you are sure to attend a child protection course...At least once a year.In the lead up to every camp.At the start of any cross-deniminational ministry or activity with high exposure to young people.The reasons are simple.Children matter. They matter to God and the should matter to the church. The church is to be a welcoming place for children (Matthew 18:5)The church should be aware of the needs of children.Bad things happen in the world and the children who are the victums of some awful things enter our churches… -
What does the lounge or kitchen say about your visit?
8 May 2012 | 7:21 amToday's post isn't world changing, but I believe it is certainly true.A few weeks ago I heard a conversation between two people who make a number of pastoral visits.They mentioned that there was a significant difference between where someone meets you in their home.The normal location is the lounge room.The lounge is comfortable. The lounge is usually tidied before an expected guest arrives and has more family knick-knacks on display.When visitors are given a drink, the host leaves the room to make and bring you the beverage. The lounge is "the showroom" of the visit.The lounge is…
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Ryan Guard
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Study tip: don’t just underline the noteworthy quotes and...
3 May 2012 | 7:00 pmStudy tip: don’t just underline the noteworthy quotes and sections, write them on the blank pages in the front & back of the book. (Taken with instagram) -
Gavin is here!
28 Apr 2012 | 5:23 pmOur baby boy is home! Gavin has been home for two nights now. He’s eating and sleeping really well, although I can’t say the same for his mommy! She’s been really strong this week and I’m so proud of her. Gavin’s cleft lip makes feeding him a little more challenging than a typical baby, but he’s really getting the hang of it. We were able to get a really good idea of what to expect with his cleft lip and pallet while Lindsay was pregnant, and so far things haven’t been too difficult. The most difficult things when it comes to feeding him is keeping… -
Griffin helping feed Gavin. Most adorable freaking thing ever?!...
26 Apr 2012 | 7:59 pmGriffin helping feed Gavin. Most adorable freaking thing ever?! (Taken with instagram) -
Any Day Now
17 Apr 2012 | 9:29 amEvery time my phone rings I wonder if it’s my wife, and every time it’s my wife I wonder if she’s going to tell me she’s going into labor. We are so close. Lindsay’s due date is the 28th, but the baby weighs about 43 pounds right now, so it could happen at any moment. She’s scheduled to be induced on Monday, but my phone could ring in the next few minutes. I might not finish this blog. If you haven’t been keeping up on our story, you might want to read my wife’s previous blog post before you see us post a photo of our mystery baby. He or she… -
lanewood: Caine’s Arcade: This short film will be the best...
12 Apr 2012 | 12:22 pmlanewood: Caine’s Arcade: This short film will be the best thing you watch all week. I want to meet this little guy.
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Fr. Peter-Michael Preble
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Sunday Sermon ~ It's Not Complicated
14 May 2012 | 6:40 amI am not sure how many of you believe in the power of dreams. Interpretation of dreams is as old as the world itself. We read in the Hebrew Scriptures about different people who had dreams and even visions and what they meant. The Prophet Samuel is visited in a dream and in the New Testament Joseph, the stepfather of Jesus, is visited in a dream by the Angel to tell him to take the child and -
5 Reasons to Visit a Monastery
11 May 2012 | 6:00 am(Originally published on OCN’s The Sounding) Published here with Permission Introduction: Journeying by boat to visit their beloved spiritual father, Constantine Palamas – the father of St. Gregory – suddenly realized he and his family had forgotten to bring food with them for the monastery. While his wife and five children looked on, he raised his voice in prayer and put his hand -
The Future of the Church
9 May 2012 | 1:52 pmYesterday a few parishioners and I went on a sort of pilgrimage to St. Tikhon’s Monastery in Pennsylvania. I have written about my experience at this monastery in the past so I will not go into a lot of history about the monastery. Follow this link to the monastery for a more complete history. I will say this however, St. Tikhon’s is the oldest Orthodox Monastery in America and part of -
Courage in Leadership
7 May 2012 | 2:21 pmOne of the fundamental characteristics of a good leader, no, strike that, a great leader is courage. Of all the skills that leaders, especially leaders in the Church, need it is courage. We are faced with an unprecedented attack on religious freedom in this country, and what we need more than anything are leaders who are not afraid to say what needs to be said. We need leaders who put -
What paralyzes you?
7 May 2012 | 6:11 amThe Sick man answered Him, “Sir, I have no man to put me into the pool when the water is stirred up…” Today we are faced with a story that seems to be out of place. For the last three weeks we have focused on events that had taken place right after the Resurrection of Jesus but today we go back in time, to a time during the earthly ministry of Christ. Jesus comes to Bethsaida, to the
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Iyasostuff
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Breakups: Let’s be friends
14 May 2012 | 1:51 pmStay friends with your ex…if you want to continue crying yourself to sleep. Photo Credit: Gabriela Camerotti via Compfight One of the biggest lies that popular culture tells us is that breaking up with someone is simple and it happens casually everyday. You know how it goes: it doesn’t work out, we break up, I date your best friend, we’re all friends and we sing kumbaya together around a bonfire in your apartment… LIES!!! one of the hardest things I had to deal with in breakups was realizing that I could not remain friends with people I dated…and that was okay. -
Breakups: Time doesn’t make things better
10 May 2012 | 4:27 pmTime doesn’t heal all wounds. Photo Credit: Capture Queen via Compfight I used to think that time made things better, that in time I would forget the pain of past breakups, and forget the life trajectory that seemed to have been unexpectedly lost forever, so I waited for time to pass… until one day I found out that I wasn’t invited to a roommates graduation because my ex was engaged to her best friend…and I found myself crying uncontrollably at Bible study…yeah time had gone by, and I had temporarily forgotten how much it hurt, but when the pain returned, it… -
Breakups: I told you so
7 May 2012 | 4:12 pmOne of the most painful phrases in the world is “I told you so.” Photo Credit: Abhinay Omkar via Compfight I once dated a guy who made it his life’s goal to stand me up…consistently. But I was smitten. I didn’t like that he stood me up or kept me waiting, but he always made up for it with the most amazing stories of life and death emergencies. Many of my friends told me he was no good, and one of my friends even said that I was like a dog returning to my vomit….ahh well I guess I liked the smell of vomit. Needless to say he broke my heart many many times,… -
Breakups: Losing a best friend
3 May 2012 | 3:56 pmOne of the hardest things about breaking up with someone is that you lose a best friend. Photo Credit: Hilda Solis via Compfight I remember when me and “should-have-been-the-love-of-my-life” broke up, I did not realize how much I would miss talking to him about every single detail of my life. I remember calling him in the middle of the night to share the most profound dream (of which I currently remember nothing but I’m sure it had something to do with the meaning of life)…and he was so patient… Now all of a sudden I had no one to share my profound dreams with. I… -
Whose timeline is it anyway?
30 Apr 2012 | 4:48 pmPhoto Credit: д§mд via Compfight I was talking to a friend of mine the other day about how all of a sudden people are getting concerned about my singleness… People are trying to “hook me up” with distant relatives from all over the world…People are praying for me…and talking to me as if my life must be full of misery since marriage is the main purpose of life. And she said something so profound…she told me that I’m not on anyone else’s timeline… it was something so simple yet so incredibly profound. There are some people that made a…
