July 30, 2010
One Hit Wonders
Maxine and stayed up late last night watching “One Hit Wonders of the 80s.” Nothing deep or profound about this mix of synth, pop, bubblegum, and hairspray but it was wonderful. Maxine is exactly 19 hours older than me so we shared the same common history. Each song elicited groans or “this song reminds of a time…” We laughed at the hairstyles and I cried over the lack of screaming guitar solos.
One of the things that made me sad was that some of these people were still riding their one hit wonder 30 years later! WOW! Move on people!
And just what was the number one “One Hit Wonder” of the 80s according to VH1? Well, it’s not what Maxine and I would picked but…
Enjoy!
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July 28, 2010
Now That’s Strong Cheese!
If you think you are having a bad day, check out this guy!
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July 27, 2010
Baptism By the Bay
When we were in Washington D.C. we attended National Community Church. Mark Batterson, the lead pastor, is one of my favorite authors. They showed a preview video for their upcoming baptism service and we were blown away. In fact, that’s one of the things that all four of us mentioned after the service.
Well, they had the “Baptism by the Bay” service and here’s the video.
Do you want to get fired up about people’s souls? As Perry Noble would say, “Watching this never gets old!”
Baptism by the Bay 2010 from National Community Church on Vimeo.
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July 26, 2010
Joni writes, “I’m a person, not a condition”
Last week, I mentioned Joni Eareckson Tada as an amazing role model for how to have a proper perspective on suffering. She was paralyzed at 19 years in 1967. She is one of the longest living quadriplegics on record. She is a writer, speaker, painter (paints with her teeth), and has an international ministry called Joni and Friends.
She is also someone who radiates the love of Jesus!
If you want to learn more about Joni’s life and ministry you can visit Joni and Friends.
Joni wrote an op-ed piece for CNN this week celebrating the 20th anniversary of the Americans with Disability Act. Obviously, we’ve made a lot of head way but there is still room for us to grow in our care for people with disabilities.
You can read the article here.
Joni has been battling breast cancer and according to her blog she recently received good news.
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July 23, 2010
A.D.H.D. and Marriage
Okay, I knew it. Maxine knew it. Anyone who knew me knew it.
It was hard to admit, but after I went through some testing, it was hard to deny - I was diagnosed with A.D.D.
When I told people, many of them just laughed and said, “Duh!”
It’s a pain but not fatal. Often times, my forgetfulness can tax Maxine. I have a sign next to our door that reads, “What are you forgetting?”
The New York Times published a really interesting article this week about how ADD can effect your marriage. You can read it here.
It is our desire to see marriages thrive here at PBC. Reading this article may spark you to talk about the things that are bugging you. If so, talk it out.
Communication is the key.
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July 22, 2010
Cedar Lake Summer Bible Conference 2010!
What an amazing week at camp! I’m so honored to be asked to be the speaker again this year. We had about one hundred 4th through 7th grade students attend this year and about twenty college age counselors.
I taught 9 times in 5 days. The theme was “Transformers” and I made the case that Loving God and Loving Others will transform us into people who look more like Jesus.
Session One: Keeping the Main Thing the Main Thing (Matthew 22)
Session Two: Loving God with all our Hearts - Compassion (story of paralytic brought in by four friends)
Session Three: Loving God with all our Hearts - Obedience (Forgiveness) (Story of Naaman)
Session Four: Loving God with all our Souls - Prayer (Story of Samuel)
Session Five: Loving God with all our Souls - Worship (Story of Mary)
Session Six: Loving God with all our Minds - The Word (Story of Paul)
Session Seven: Loving God with all our Minds - The Gospel (Story of Thomas)
Session Eight: Loving God with all our Strength - Courage (Story of Gideon)
Session Nine: Loving God with all our Strength - Opportunities (Story of Benaiah)
It was so exciting to have the group of campers eager to see what God was going to do among us. I knew that the counselors were praying for me as a spoke.
Maxine and I were so honored have the opportunity to minister at Cedar Lake last week and pray that we get to do it again!
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July 21, 2010
What I’ve been reading
From time to time, people ask me what I’ve been reading. I’m always reading something. So here’s my summer reading that I would recommend:
I’ve discovered Mark Batterson, pastor at National Community Church in Washington D.C. He’s a great writer and I’ve read all three of his books this summer:
* In the Pit with Lion on a Snowy Day
* Wild Goose Chase: Reclaim the Adventure of Pursuing God
* Primal: Searching for the Lost Soul of Christianity
When we attended NCC in DC, I got to meet Mark and told him how much I appreciated his writing.
I also love Craig Groeschel’s, pastor of Life Church, writing. I just finished his new book:
* The Christian Atheist: Beleiving in God but living as though He doesn’t exist.
I’m currently reading Mark Driscol’s new book:
*Doctirne: What Christians Should Beleive
I read the best book on basketball I’ve ever read but can not recommend it because of the language used in it from time to time (very frustrating because the book is so good): “the Book of Basketball” by ESPN writer Bill Simmons. (The book is 800 pages long and is the most detailed account of the history of the NBA that I’ve ever seen)
I just finished a fascinating book about the search for Amelia Earhart:
* Amelia’s Shoe? Is the Mystery Solved?
I’ve been trying to read one leadership book a month. This month is:
* Wooden on Leadership: How to create a Winning Organization by UCLA coaching legend John Wooden.
So that’s it so far. I’ll read more before the summer comes to and end.
What are you reading that you would recommend?
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July 20, 2010
Donald Miller and the Power of One
Dag Hammerskjold wrote:
“It is more noble to give yourself completely to one individual than to labor diligently for the salvation of the masses.”
Do you want to read an article that helps you understand that quote better?
The front page of CNN’s site yesterday morning features an article on Donald Miller, author, thinker, and speaker. His book, “Blue Like Jazz,” made him a Christian “celebrity.” Personally, I think that his best book is Searching for God Knows What , which I read to Josh every night for about a month.
Miller is not a pastor. He’s not a theologian. He’s a story teller. No, strike that. He’s a master story teller.
I’ve heard him speak several times now and I love his honesty, something woefully lacking in today’s evangelical subculture.
As you read the article, you will see that someone believed in Donald long before he believed in himself.
This is the power of one.
It’s the over-told story of the the boy throwing star fish back in the ocean. You know how it ends - “I’ve made a difference to this one.”
Ultimately, that’s Donald’s story. A pastor saw his gifts. He encouraged him. He lived out the Gospel in front of him.
It doesn’t take a pastor to do that.
Read the CNN article on Donald Miller and ask yourself,
Who has God placed in your life that you can cheer on and encourage?
This post is dedicated to our clarinet girl. We’ve spent the last 7 years believing in you. Just close your eyes and play!
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July 19, 2010
Water Games Mania 2010!
Last night, we had our annual “Water Games Mania!” It was sooooooo much fun. The weather was perfect, the course was creatively ridiculous, and we had about 60 students attend and a few brought their parents along!
Marty and Ken designed a water obstacle course that had to be seen to believed. When I say that I’m honored to work with the craziest, most fun and creative, and most dedicated team, I’m not just blowing smoke!
I’m so thankful to Ken, Kara, Marty and Kristy, the McClures, the Moores, Milt and all the rest that made it an amazing night of ministry.
I’m still not able to upload pics to my blog but you can go to my Face Book to see some hilarious pictures!
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July 10, 2010
Headed to Cedar Lake
We are headed to Cedar Lake Summer Bible Camp tomorrow morning. I’m the campus pastor/speaker for the week for the 4-7th grade camp. I love that age. They like my jokes and love to fart! I also love hanging out with the college age staff. Come to think of it, they like my jokes and love to fart too! And Maxine and I get to celebrate our hija’s 19 birthday to boot. One drawback - Josh will be staying here in Pontiac. He feels too old to go with us this year. Please pray for us. I will be speaking nine times in five days. I’m excited. Pray as we have countless opportunities to LGLO. Onwards and Upwards.
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July 09, 2010
Intimidation leads to Isolation
Perry Noble says that the words we speak to our children matter.
The words you speak from NewSpring Church on Vimeo.
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June 25, 2010
Blogging Break
Obviously, I’ve been on a blogging break but now we are headed out on vacation (to Washington DC). I will resume blogging when I return after the July 4th holiday. Stay safe and enjoy your summer.
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June 21, 2010
The Voyage of the Dawn Treader
When I was in seminary, a friend introduced me to a series of books that blew me away. Remember, I did not grow up in a home where C.S. Lewis was read so I didn’t know anything about “The Chronicles of Narnia.” He gave the “The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe” and I read it two days. When I returned it, he made my day by telling me there were five more books! I read the entire series in about two weeks.
In seminary, it was expected that I would read Lewis’ classic works like “Mere Christianity” or “The Great Divorce.” But most of my friends just assumed that everyone had read the Chronicles when they were children.
I read once that Lewis wrote the Chronicles to provide children with a framework for understanding the Gospel. Little Johnny reads the Chronicles when he’s a child and then when someone tells him about Jesus dying on the cross to rescue us from sin he thinks, “That’s just like Aslan dying on the stone table to rescue Edmond from the White Witch!” He gets it. There’s a category in his brain for such things because of the books.
I also read that C.S. Lewis did not want these books made into movies because he was convinced that they could not do Aslan justice. Alsan, as the representative of Jesus, deserved dignity and royalty. If you have ever seen the BBC adaptation of the Chronicles, with the furry puppet Aslan and atrocious special effects, you understand why. But Lewis died in 1963, (the same day as JFK’s assassination which meant the obituary of the greatest writer of the 20 century was relegated to page 13. Somehow I think he wouldn’t have cared), and could have never imagined CGI rendering that makes Aslan come alive with majestic brilliance.
Out of all the Chronicles, my favorite, by far, is “The Voyage of the Dawn Treader.” I’ve seen both movies and enjoyed them immensely but I’ve been waiting for the Dawn Treader. Well,I need wait no more. Christmas 2010 the Dawn Treader sails again.
Enjoy the trailer. I can’t wait!
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June 17, 2010
A Prayer about our “Stuff”
Scotty Smith writes a blog for Gospel Coalition called “Heavenwords.” Scotty is the founding pastor of Christ Community Church in Franklin, TN, right outside of Nashville. His blog posts are prayers based on Scripture passages. With the economy the way it is right now, I thought it would be helpful to share a post he wrote the other day. It’s called “A Prayer About my Stuff.”
Do not wear yourself out to get rich; have the wisdom to show restraint. Cast but a glance at riches, and they are gone, for they will surely sprout wings and fly off to the sky like an eagle. Do not eat the food of a stingy man, do not crave his delicacies; for he is the kind of man who is always thinking about the cost. “Eat and drink,” he says to you, but his heart is not with you. Proverbs 23:4-7
Dear heavenly Father, this has been a crazy and stressful season in our economy. Some of us who thought we’d be retired in a couple of years are now thinking it’s ten, if at all. Some of us have lost jobs, even homes. Some of us are selling stuff; having stuff repossessed; having to move; some of our marriages are being stressed to the point of ending; and some of us are being tempted to steal for the first time. Others of us are holding tighter to our stuff than ever and are exerting great energy just to get more. Lord, we need wisdom for ourselves and for our friends.
Father, though the issues vary and we dare not generalize, bring the perspective of the gospel to bear as we think about our relationship to “stuff”. Where have we been presumptuous? Where have we assumed the right to excess? Why did we think only first century disciples of Jesus would ever actually have to pray for daily bread? Where have we gotten use to a lifestyle of having so much stuff to the point that we actually call abundance “need”?
In our “iWorld” of new gadgets and cool widgets, help us to ponder the reality that over half of the population on the earth exists on 3 of our American dollars, or less, a day. Father, rather than setting our gaze on riches, help us only to glance at them. Give us restraint, Lord Jesus. Holy Spirit, if we would wear ourselves out for anything, let it be to become rich towards God—to have the gospel so penetrate our hearts that we cry out with spontaneous joy, “who do I have in heaven but you, O Lord, and being with you I desire nothing on the earth… YOU are my portion, sovereign Lord.”
And Father, if we’ve become the stingy man or woman who is always thinking about the cost, forgive us and free us… forgive me and free me. Let our hearts be so smitten with you, Jesus, that we’re primarily thinking about how to be grace-meisters in generosity, not curmudgeons in hoarding.
Lord Jesus, you who were outrageously rich in all things became incomprehensibly poor for us, so that we, who were desperately poor in sin might be made immeasurably rich in grace. So very Amen, I pray, in your most enriching and liberating name.
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June 10, 2010
Good Grief?
As many of you know, a high school student was killed yesterday diving off of Manville Bridge. We opened the church to any students who wanted to meet and, at one point, had about 50 students and parents there. The grief was real and raw and was expressed in a variety of normal ways.
Grief is like that. It has “stages” like denial, bargining, anger, fear, depression. But it is uniquely personal and no two people grieve the same way.
A couple of years ago, I preached a sermon called, “Good Grief?” You can read it here.
Pray for the Slown family and for all of his friends as the terrible truth and finality of death becomes more real to them.
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