I mean come on. This guy is ridiculous. I have never seen someone slow down the game like Hester does. Its like the rest of the players are in slow motion as he takes a few steps to check the scene and then he takes off. I grew up in Chicago watching Jordan and I feel pretty fortunate to be able to say that. I just hope that Hester stays on the straight and narrow and uninjured because this guy is pretty darn special. I’ve got my son Cole brainwashed so whenever #23 comes on the screen he screams “Go Devin Hester!.” He’s a big fan. Its sad the Bears’ season is over. At least we have nfl.com where we can watch highlights. Here’s a...Read More →
Archive for December, 2007
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December 30, 2007
One More Time Devin Hester
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December 30, 2007
The Gospel
“The gospel is the work of God to restore humans to union with God and communion with others, in the context of a community for the good of others and the world.” - Scot McKnight in Jesus Creed
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December 30, 2007
Construction
in progressdone.I’m doing some maintenance stuff on my website at the moment (Sunday, 12/30). It might be all out of wack for a bit. Sorry about that. Update: New Year Cleaning: I’m not sure how much of a difference you’ll notice but I cleaned up the site a bit more. I took off that intro bar underneath the header and moved the “hey” section to the sidebar. I did a few other minor things to the formatting of the posts, mostly things that you probably won’t notice but have been driving me nuts for a while. Quotables: Then I added a new section of the site called “Quotables” which will be where I will post quotes from some stuff I am reading. Feeds: I added some...Read More →
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December 27, 2007
Ecclesia National Gathering
For about 6 years I (and therefore The Well) have been relationally connected to about 10 or so church planters from all over the US. These men and women have been a great encouragement and been great partners in the gospel for us. From this relational network of pastors / church planters grew a new network of missional churches called Ecclesia. This year we are having our second national gathering in the Washington DC area and we’ll be playing host to David Fitch (author of The Great Giveaway) and Alan Hirsch (author of The Forgotten Ways). I love the format of our gatherings because they are so relational. Its a great mix of hearing from people who have been there and have tried stuff and...Read More →
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December 25, 2007
Welcome Little Child
A little something I wrote as I was thinking about the significance of the incarnation. Can you imagine… Waiting for thousands of years For the one who would deliver you and your people from oppression, from sin, from injustice, from the brokenness of this world. And when he finally comes, He is a baby. Born in a stinky stable. But here He is. King of Kings. Lord of Lords. God in the flesh. And the God became flesh and dwelt among us. Immanuel. God is with us. Why? To preach good news to the poor. To give freedom for prisoners. To give sight to the blind. To give freedom to the oppressed. Welcome Little Child. Be with us. Teach us. Save us. Lead us. Come...Read More →
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December 23, 2007
Books of 2007: Business / Fiction Books
I was looking at my bookshelf the other day and realized that this year was a fairly good reading year for me. So, I started trying to remember what I read and how I liked what I read. So, I’ve decided to share that here. I was going to post my thoughts all at once, but when i was done writing I had six pages of text! That’s way too much to read so I am going to post them one section at a time. Book Reviews to come in the next few days: Missional Theology General Theology Church Leadership Pastoral Leadership General Leadership (Business Books & Fiction) Change or Die by Alan Deutschman This book was simply awesome. He addresses the question, “Why do...Read More →
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December 23, 2007
A Christmas Benediction
Tony blesses us with this gem: A Franciscan Benediction: May God bless you with discomfort, at easy answers, half-truths, and superficial relationships, so that you may live deep within your heart. May God bless you with anger, at injustice, oppression, and exploitation of people, so that you may work for justice, freedom, and peace. My God bless you with tears, to shed for those who suffer from pain, rejection, starvation, and war, so that you may reach out your hand to comfort them and turn their pain to joy. And may God bless you with enough foolishness, to believe that you can make a difference in this world, so that you can do what others claim cannot be done. Amen.
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December 22, 2007
Books of 2007: Pastoral Leadership
I was looking at my bookshelf the other day and realized that this year was a fairly good reading year for me. So, I started trying to remember what I read and how I liked what I read. So, I’ve decided to share that here. I was going to post my thoughts all at once, but when i was done writing I had six pages of text! That’s way too much to read so I am going to post them one section at a time. Book Reviews to come in the next few days: Missional Theology General Theology Church Leadership Pastoral Leadership General Leadership (Business / Fiction Books) Countdown to Sunday: A daily guide to those that dare to preach by Chris Eardman Wow. This...Read More →
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December 19, 2007
Anybody got a van?
For the last three months a team of people have been driving down to Philadelphia every monday night to serve and get to know the homeless population down there. Just last week we even brought a few of friends we’ve gotten to know well back to our building and had dinner with them. This team is building some great relationships and providing a very tangible, real expression of the Kingdom of God. Here’s the catch: We’ve been driving down personal vehicles each week which not only causes some liability issues but also is a waste beacuse we are using extra gas. And, we’ve got a bunch of people going who really can’t afford the gas each week. So, anyone know of anyone who is giving...Read More →
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December 19, 2007
Last Minute Gift Giving
If you are looking for some last minute gifts, let me encourage you to head over to One Village Coffee and get some of their Kenya AA (It’s half way down the store page). I am drinking it right now and its fantastic. OVC is a great roaster that’s doing some great things with their profits. By the way, I took a pound of their coffee into Starbucks (I worked there for 2 years) and let the manager of the store try some. He was very, very impressed. And no, I don’t get anything if you buy from them. Other than the satisfaction that I’ve helped you get some great coffee.
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December 18, 2007
Welcome
Welcome to my handy dandy little blog. If you are new there might be some interesting things to read about. We have adopted a child from Guatemala. I wrote a paper on being Missional in Suburban America that people seem to like reading. I make websites for a living to complement my pastoral life and you can see all I’ve written in my archives.
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December 17, 2007
Books of 2007: Church Leadership
I was looking at my bookshelf the other day and realized that this year was a fairly good reading year for me. So, I started trying to remember what I read and how I liked what I read. So, I’ve decided to share that here. I was going to post my thoughts all at once, but when i was done writing I had six pages of text! That’s way too much to read so I am going to post them one section at a time. Book Reviews to come in the next few days: Missional Theology General Theology Church Leadership Pastoral Leadership General Leadership (Business / Fiction Books) Organic Community by Joe Myers This, along with Joe’s first book (The Search to Belong), has been...Read More →
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December 14, 2007
Books of 2007: General Theology
I was looking at my bookshelf the other day and realized that this year was a fairly good reading year for me. So, I started trying to remember what I read and how I liked what I read. So, I’ve decided to share that here. I was going to post my thoughts all at once, but when i was done writing I had six pages of text! That’s way too much to read so I am going to post them one section at a time. Book Reviews to come in the next few days: Missional Theology General Theology Church Leadership Pastoral Leadership General Leadership (Business / Fiction Books) This second section is what I read in the area of General Theology: A Walk Through the...Read More →
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December 13, 2007
Books of 2007: Missional Theology
I was looking at my bookshelf the other day and realized that this year was a fairly good reading year for me. So, I started trying to remember what I read and how I liked what I read. So, I’ve decided to share that here. I was going to post my thoughts all at once, but when i was done writing I had six pages of text! That’s way too much to read so I am going to post them one section at a time. Book Reviews to come in the next few days: Missional Theology General Theology Church Leadership Pastoral Leadership General Leadership (Business / Fiction Books) This first section is what I read in the area of Missional Theology. The Open Secret by...Read More →
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December 12, 2007
Guest Blogger: God is Here
I’ve not ever had someone else post on my blog before. But there is a first time for everything. Shanna Cummings is a member of The Well and we had some neat discussion around the topic of the presence of God. So, I asked her if she wanted to write something to share with you all. Here is her gift to you. Leave her more comments than you leave me! God is here. Let it ROCK your world. God is here. A commitment to intimacy. It does not have to be something I feel. It IS something I trust. It is a trust that I rest my faith on. God is here. It is true. So true, that the full comprehension of the truth, must...Read More →
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December 10, 2007
God is Here. Let it Rock Your World.
This is my sermon manuscript from Sunday, December 10. I had the daunting task of preaching Exodus 35-40 this week. While the text looked to be a bore, it turned out to be a very, very fun text to study and preach. As always, this manuscript is only a glimpse of what I actually said. I leave my notes a lot. But, it should give you a good idea of what I said. The title of this post comes from someone in my community who, after the sermon, said I should have titled it, “God is here. Let it rock your world.” Hope you enjoy. Don’t feel sorry for me. Sure this text is filled with a bunch of boring facts. Its about the building...Read More →
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December 5, 2007
Individual Salvation and Restoration of all Things
Quote of the day from The Supremacy of Christ in a Postmodern World in the chapter by Tim Keller, “In General I don’t think we’ve done a good job at developing ways of communicating the gospel that include both salvation from wrath by propitiation and restoration of all things.” Yeah, I can get behind that! I tried to emphesize this concept in my sermon at the funeral last week.
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December 4, 2007
Merry Christmas Scott
I have a great friend, his name is Scott Hackman. Scott is co-founder of One Village Coffee. Scott is a free thinker. Scott doesn’t fit in your box. Scott wants to change the world (or at least help the people who are). Scott is slightly crazy. Scott has some great things to say. Scott is a provocative writer. Scott had one of the ugliest blogs of all time. Now his new blog is beautiful if I do say so myself. Add him to your list of daily reads. Merry Christmas Scott. Check it out: www.scotthackman.com
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December 4, 2007
Mission Statements are just mission statements
Doing some work on looking ahead to 2008 as we seek to do our best to be a church that matters for the Kingdom. In my reading I came across this Quote of the day, “Developing a statement of purpose is not delivering effective mission; it is simply developing a statement of purpose…the scriptures speak of very concrete forms of help, like feeding the hungry, clothing the naked, giving shelter. That is to say, mission happens only when effective help has been delivered – until that consequential sharing of help has occurred, no mission has taken place.” Ken Callahan, 12 Keys to an Effective Church
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December 4, 2007
New Christmas Music?
My wife enjoys Christmas music. I’m not quite as nuts about it but I don’t mind it so much. The problem is that its the same thing over and over and over again every year. I want some new Christmas music! Well, some guys from our worship band did me (and all of us) a solid and wrote one! And, by gosh, its really stinking good! They entered it into the Sufjan Stevens Christmas Song contest. Hopefully they win! They call themselves the Collaborate and you can listen to their new tune on their VIRB page. So go check it out! They will be performing this song and some other, overplayed, christmas music at our Christmas art show in two weeks. Come and check it...Read More →
