15 years in student ministry affords you the luxury of developing your own lexicon of phraseology. I was rambling about something incredibly important the other day and used the phrase “that is wheels off.” Which reminds me of a story of Riley. Her parents had just dropped her off at college and told her that read more
I’ve been following a blog the last couple of days – on homosexuality. Brian McLaren – yes that evil, liberal, po-mo, emergent church leader (tongue strongly in cheek) wrote an article on how he handled the question “Where does your church stand on homosexuality.” His response – well, actually…his response (both of them) was quite read more
As a Bronco fan, I’ve learned that the off-season is almost just as exciting as the regular season….almost. Take last year for instance – draft Maurice Clarett, trade Rueben Droughns for Cleveland defensive line, cut Maurice Clarett, sign Jerry Rice, watch Jerry Rice retire. This year – lose Gary Kubiak (ouch), flirt with TO, and read more
I finally got the call I was dreading for months….from Heath. They were at the hospital in labor and delivery……. There was no hearbeat. I’m coming. Why? What do I bring to the table? What possible words can be uttered that have any meaning at all? Call the Life Group. Stumble over the story. We read more
Gary Kubiak has always been the man behind the Man. He backed up John Elway. He was Steve Young’s QB coach (picked up a ring there), he was Mike Shannahan’s offensive coordinator (got a couple of rings there). Now – he’s the Man…albeit in Houston. I’m glad he’s finally got a head coaching gig but….Houston? read more
Watched Friday Night Lights last night…(I know, I’m finally getting some time to see some movies that have been on the “To See” list). If anything, the movie downplays the role of Texas high school football. Don’t get me wrong – the movie is great. It is a great discussion starter for your high school read more
I’m leading worship for the 3rd week in a row at Grace. It’s a wierd deal because while I love certain aspects of it, it’s feels a little goofy at times. Like – how does it feel to know the least amount of music on the stage but you are the ‘leader?’ Hearing me describe read more
What exactly would you get if you combined the gay cowboy movie Brokeback Mountain with End of the Spear – a movie about a Christian martyr missionary? Am I being irreverent? Maybe….then again…maybe not. By now you’ve heard about Brokeback Mountain. But what you might not have heard is that Chad Allen, who plays Nate read more
What the heck was that??? I’m not answering my cell phone for the next 2 days – so don’t even call me. First of all – congrats to the Steelers. They beat the 1, 2, and 3 seeds as a 6 seed. I hope the beat the snot out of the Seahawks. BUT it was read more
The Real Super Bowl. I absolutely loved the Steelers and the Broncos growing up. Two of the hardest hitting teams in the NFL right now. Somebody is going to get carried off the field on Sunday afternoon between Troy Polamalu and John Lynch. I’d like to see a cage match between those two. Now for read more
Now for something important… NFC Championship Game…Seattle vs. Carolina….couple of things to consider while picking this game.. 1. Warm weather team in a cold, wet weather locale…advantage = Seahawks 2. Mascot matchup…Panthers win in a landslide. (ever see what a cat does to a bird?) 3. Coaching….Both are very intelligent, both are incredibly annoying. Fox read more
Not For The Comfortable Part 1 Grace Particular [Don't go here...too risky...let sleeping dogs lie...] Grace is an odd duck in this whole discussion. There are days when I think we should be called “The Reluctant Church.” For example, we have a pocket of people feeding the homeless under the Broadway Bridge every week. That’s read more
Nelson challenged me to write about what the church is doing well. Did he mean Grace particular or church in general? Not sure….but here are my musings on the general…Grace specific is coming soon. Church General I read about 35 blogs on churches all over the world. Almost all of the churches outside the US read more
This is ridiculous and this is about exactly how I feel about it.
I will humbly admit…after a very heated email exchange between Wayne and I, that I do not get as many emails as Wayne does. But I do not think that a subscription to Biker Babes should count. In the meantime, so many of you have asked us about Brazil. Are we going? How much money read more
I’m in the middle of a great dialogue with a friend of mine about pain, darkness, how the church seems to be completely unable (and at times unwilling) to just BE the church – cry with those who cry, mourn with those who mourn, weep with those who weep. Instead, she seems to opt for read more
If you aren’t familiar with WordPress, this isn’t going to mean a whole lot. Other than maybe kick you in the rear to switch to it. I upgraded to WP 2.0 for a whole three days. The upgrade process was easy and painless. The usability was not as good. In fact – I hated it. read more
I am grovelling for anyone who has a heart for a pastor who is addicted to Bronco football. I check ebay last night to see what tickets would cost for the AFC Championship game. I figured that I could talk my dad into going with me. Holy FREAK!!! Could be expensive…around $300 a ticket right read more
Last year, I posted that Little Rock was the nation’s highest concentration of ‘Christians’ and the meanest city to the homeless. Thanks to Robert, I learned some good news today. We’ve ‘improved’ to the third meanest city to the homeless. Does that mean that we have LESS evangelicals OR is Mark and Zack and Garrett read more
Rowland really set the table for our life groups this week. Spend some time with 1 Samuel 8-12. What word or phrase “shimmered” or stuck out. What did you like best about the passage? What did you like least? What did you learn about God? What did you not understand or find puzzling? What do read more
My dear friend Robert thinks I ought to pick games in Vegas based on the uniforms. If it was only that easy. The truth of the matter is that uniform rank will only help in a close game winner. If we were picking today’s game upon uni’s…The Bears and Steelers…hands down. BUT…couple of other factors read more
Just about everyone is saying that New England will come in to Denver and win a close, hard fought game. (Tonight at 7 central, on CBS.) That makes sense…except for these facts. 1. Mile High. Broncos are unbeaten at home this year. 2. Running game. Patriots can’t stop it. Broncos have two backs that could read more
This is a great letter. I think his cautions are great but a bit skewed. I see ‘us’ emergents wanting to redeem the church, not throw it away. But good cautions, none-the-less. I also don’t see that the whole movement as an age based phenomenon. [tags]emergent church, Keith Drury[/tags]
In a news conference today, Bush decided to stay one more year in hopes of leading the nation in scoring once again. Full story here. In other news, another running back named Bush decided he’d forego his last year to chase after the illusion of a NFL career. Experts think he will be picked by read more
In August of 2005, I made of list of bloggers I’d like to meet. I really need to update that list because now I have a few more I’d like to add to that list BUT…I did get to meet Robert Terrell. He blogs about our meeting here. We met in this cool little coffee read more
This is a waste of a show. Here’s why… 1. Jessica Simpson’s ridiculous performance to start the show…I swear she flashed the world her breasts. 2. Favorite Group – Greenday, Black Eye Peas, Destiny’s Child. What the heck is up with those choices? 3. Remember that kid in school who thought he was funny but read more
One of the most frustrating things as a leader is not being able to engage (connect) with someone else on the journey with Jesus. I don’t mean geographical or schedule disconnections. I’m talking about the reluctance, sometimes refusal, to be vulnerable and real. The harsh reality of the matter is this – there are some read more
First of all, I was accosted this morning at church by Dr. Laura. Not that one, but the one that was sporting a Longhorn shirt. What is up with you not giving my ‘horns their props on your blog?? Well, considered props given. I hope my Aggie in-laws will allow me this small discourse. (However, read more
I preach in a few hours…he he he. Can’t sleep. In the meantime I’m thinking about this series coming up and the topics we will uncover. It’s about leadership and lack thereof, the values that filters a leader’s decisions. Saul is particularly on my mind. He constantly made decisions that were about his image. He read more
Rob posted on this earlier today but I have a question, especially after ESPN’s article on the matter. After all his legal troubles, VT says one more time and he’s out. Vick is arrested on Dec 17th. The Gator Bowl was played on Jan 2nd. So VT’s big disciplinary action was to kick Vick off read more
Watched Serenity, a sci-fi Star Wars meets Mad Max. I really liked it. I learned that it used to be a tv show called Firefly, was cancelled and now is a movie. I was fairly impressed with the movie – the whole reluctant hero routine fighting against the evil establishment. Usability with youth group: search read more
As Grace stumbles forward in looking for a youth pastor, I’ve been thinking (and writing) alot about how I can help him/her without getting in the way. The last couple of posts have been some of these thoughts. (What Every Volunteer Needs, New Youth Pastors Really Need) There are so many things that are good read more
I upgraded to WordPress 2.0 on New Year’s Day. It went very smoothly. However, there were some glitches in the matrix. Actually, they weren’t bugs just features that 2.0 didn’t support. So I reinstalled and hence – the comments were casualities of the change back. Sorry about that. You can carry on with your lives read more
We are looking for a student pastor at Grace since the last one didn’t work out. Seriously, I’ve been thinking about this for awhile and I’ve learned some things as a result of the last youth group I left. And since I’m still going to be around at Grace, I think the next youth guy read more
We are about to start a very, very, very long series. Starts this Sunday and goes to Easter. I normally wouldn’t do that or even like that – my ADD kicks in and I just go to complete pieces. I do think however this is going to be a great series. We will be looking read more
I was going to write my cute little weekly e-vo thing. Then I read this. I don’t think anything else needs to be said about the matter. Thanks, Mike.
Next Friday night – the 13th…how do you feel about meeting on a Friday the 13th? Maybe I can counter those feelings by feeding you…and feeding you well!!! We’ll start eating at 6.30 PM, take a break at 7.30. Shut it all down by 9 PM. Who’s it for? If you lead a life group read more
We are about to start a very, very, very long series. Starts this Sunday and goes to Easter. I normally wouldn’t do that or even like that – my ADD kicks in and I just go to complete pieces. I do think however this is going to be a great series.heart of a king We read more
I need to set some ground rules for this discussion. In fact, just read here first before you comment. There is only one minor rule change when evaluating a college uniform versus a professional one. In college, tradition is hands down the most important factor. Having said that, let me roll out the best looks read more
Part of the service last night was to recall what God had done for us in 2005. Again – remember the big table with bread and juice for communion? Camber looks at Amy and says – “If I can’t think of anything, does that mean I can’t have some bread?†The neat thing was to read more
Instead of church tomorrow morning, we had it tonight. It was a great idea. Have this huge table set up with huge cups of grape juice, cheese, bread, and grapes – break a church-wide fast together. Spend half the service looking backward, half of it looking forward, worship, prayer walls, and dreaming about 2006 with read more
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