One of the things that is annoying about blogs is that once a post has been on your site for a few days, it gets buried under the new stuff and people tend not to find it unless they find it from google search results or from another form of link. This is a shame because most of us have some good stuff in our archives that would be worth reading again. So, I’m starting a new series here on my blog. It’s called: Throwback Thursday. Basically, each Thursday I’ll be posting a link from my archives that I’d love to share again. This week, since I’ve been doing a lot on giving here, I’m reposting a link to my post called “Giving is Only as Strong...Read More →
Category: General Blogging
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May 28, 2009
Throwback Thursday: Giving is Only As Strong As Your Mission
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May 22, 2009
Are American Christians Selfish?
The book Passing the Plate is addressing the “generosity problem” of American Christians. The authors claim (and I believe them) that their research shows that if American Christians were more generous, we could change the world. They write, “We estimate that if committed Christians in the United States gave 10 percent of their after-tax income – fully but no more than 10 percent – that would provide an extra $46 billion per year of resources with which to fund needs and priorities.” Whoa. That’s a lot of money eh? They go on to state six facts that they find in their extensive research. Here they are: Fact #1 – At least one out of five American Christians – 20 percent of all U.S. Christians –...Read More →
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April 29, 2009
Church as Family
In the next few weeks I’ll be a dad for the third time. This is kind of a strange thing and, despite the size of my beautiful wife’s belly, it hasn’t sank in quite yet. I keep asking her, “are you sure there is a baby in there?” She keeps saying yes. I’ll trust she knows what she is talking about. We have a number of friends at The Well who have had babies in the last few months and when I look at the size of those kids I realize that it’s been a while since we’ve had an infant in the house. Cole turns 6 this July and Mason came home when he was 10 months (he’s adopted from Guatemala). That whole prospect...Read More →
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April 21, 2009
Sway by Ori and Rom Brafman
Some of you might know the Ori Brafman from the very good book, The Starfish and the Spider.” Since I loved that book so much I figured I would give this one a try. This did not disappoint. Sway is subtitled “the irresistible pull of irrational behavior.” You could rephrase that as, “why smart people do stupid things.” Not only was this book was as readable as a Malcolm Gladwell book (that’s very readable if you don’t know who Malcolm Gladwell is), but it was extremely helpful and insightful. Telling lots of stories, they gave me some language and perspective to understand why I and other church leaders often make dumb decisions. One thing he writes struck a significant chord with me, “The more meaningful...Read More →
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February 12, 2009
links for 2009-02-12
Seth's Blog: The power of an algorithm good stuff as usual from Seth Godin (tags: leadership)
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February 11, 2009
links for 2009-02-11
Navigation Matrix Reloaded @ Dan Rubin’s SuperfluousBanter This is a great resource for geeks like me. (tags: design css navigation)
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January 31, 2009
links for 2009-01-31
A Lot of Lattés – Books & Culture Ron Sider, a fav of mine, reviews the book "Passing the Plate" which looks like a really , really good book. (tags: leadership books)
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January 28, 2009
links for 2009-01-28
bob.blog: Limitations Great post by Bob Hyatt (tags: ministry leadership) Interview with N.T. Wright – Responding to Piper on Justification « Kingdom People (tags: ntwright piper theology)
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December 29, 2008
Links for 2008-12-29
Reclaiming the Mission :: The Weblog of David Fitch End of year missional linkage. Some great blogs on the subject from David Fitch whom I greatly respect. (tags: missional) kinnon.tv: What is Missional? or A Little More Missional Shampoo I need to get me some missional shampoo! that stuff looks great! seriously though, this is a great post from Bill Kinnon on the concept of “Missional” (tags: missional) A Pastoral Week | Dwell Deep Matt Chandler shares his weekly schedule. One of my goals this year is to continue to do a better job of scheduling my week, especially since i am bi-vocational, that makes it even more important. (tags: pastor) Some Christmas Eve Thoughts, Responding to Michael Medved, and Tonight’s Message – EdStetzer.com An...Read More →
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December 19, 2008
links for 2008-12-19
HOW TO: Setup Gmail for Hosted Domains – PaulStamatiou.com Very helpful for me. Not so sure if you will care! (tags: gmail hosting e-mail)
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December 14, 2008
links for 2008-12-14
Dream Awakener » A Primer on Today’s Missional Church You want to do some research on the thing called the Missional Church. JR has given you a fantastic gift. This is a massive (perhaps the largest) list of missional resources. Thanks JR! (tags: missional) Seth's Blog: Holiday shopping guide Some good thoughts from Seth Godin on holiday shopping (tags: culture) Simply Missional – The Poison Of Consumerism A good post on an important topic from someone who is thinking critically about it. (tags: suburbia consumerism) Quest Sermons & Talks | Quest Church I've been listening to Eugene Cho for a while now and I've found that his passion for the church and his love for the scriptures is amazingly contagious. If you are looking for...Read More →
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December 2, 2008
It’s Not Thanksgiving
It is no longer Thankgiving so feel free to continue reading my blog. Though, I do suggest that you don’t ignore your family in the process.
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November 27, 2008
It’s Thanksgiving
Stop reading my blog and hang out with your family.
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November 25, 2008
Giving out of Extreme Poverty? (2 Corinthians 8)
Yesterday I started a series of posts on our church looking at 2 Corinthians 8 together during our times of offering. Since I started a week later, you get two posts this week on the topic. To recap: The first verse reminds us of the great grace that we have been given in our lives. Next comes verse 2: “In the midst of a very severe trial, their overflowing joy and their extreme poverty welled up in rich generosity.” Now, I am not a mathematician. In fact, its a little known fact that I actually got an “F” in 8th grade math and somehow still graduated Jr. High. But let’s think about about the equation that is presented here: Severe trial + Overflowing joy +...Read More →
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November 4, 2008
Books in the Works
I’ve been blessed with a number of Amazon Gift cards and a few books as gifts recently. This means I have a pile of books on my shelf that I am currently reading or getting ready to read. I am always looking for new books and really value the recommendations of my friends highly. Some of these books I’ve read a couple chapters or just the book jacket. I’ll be posting more complete reviews of these books as I get into them. Here’s a rundown of what’s there. The Four Hour Work-Week – Timothy Ferriss // I was given this book by a friend who highly recommended it. I am skeptical but at least going to give it a chance. I’ll let you know how it turns out. When...Read More →
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October 30, 2008
Book Recommendation: Linking Arms, Linking Lives
Read Me. I have received a bunch of amazon gift certificates so I’ve bought about 6 new books in the last two weeks. Soon I’ll list a bunch of them here. But I just wanted to take a quick post to recommend a book that I just started reading called “Linking Arms, Linking LIves: How Urban-Suburban Partnerships Can Transform Communities.” My friend JR Rozko recommended it and when he recommends a book, I usually do what he says. Most of you also know that I love talking about the suburban church and the challenges that we face in this context to live out a whole Gospel. This book is right up my alley. I have spoke with a number of urban pastors who look skeptically on partnerships...Read More →
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October 23, 2008
How To Start a Blog…
So over the past few years I’ve had a number friends who have said they wanted to start a blog but they didn’t know how. There is always the “here is why I have a blog” approach and often people start out saying “i don’t know why I am blogging” or “I am not sure what to say” but others start out pretty well. So, because I am kind of a nerd, I went through some of my favorite bloggers and checked out their first post. I figure, if you want to have a successful blog, learn from the best. Here is a run down of how some my friend’s first posts: Uber-blogger Scot McKnight just jumped right in with a post about praying...Read More →
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October 10, 2008
Misusing the Word Missional?
Somehow I fear that the word missional is often misunderstood merely as “social justice.” That might be the fault of how we talk about that aspect of the concept. But, if we understand the church as “a sent community” then it entails so much more than that. Like I have said before, David Bosch’s book Transforming Mission is a really helpful text to understanding the concept. There is a short section where he addresses the holistic nature of viewing the church as sent. He writes, “[The idea that the church is sent] does not suggest that the church is always in and everywhere overtly involved in missionary projects. Newbigin has introduced the helpful distinction between the church’s missionary dimension and its missionary intention: the church...Read More →
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October 10, 2008
Resources on Suburbia
Today I spoke at Biblical Seminary for the installation of John R. Franke as the Lester and Kay Clemens Professor of Missional Theology. Gary and I will be discussing the challenges and opportunities the church faces in the Suburbs. In my talk I promised that I would post some resources for further reading here on my blog. So, here it is. This is a link to the paper that I wrote that started this whole thing for me. Books: Al Hsu has put together a fantastic reading list here. Tom Sine’s new book “The New Conspirators” is a great companion to this conversation. Some posts from my blog: Are You Rioting with the Suburban Mob? Four Movements of the Suburban Missional Church Personal...Read More →
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October 3, 2008
Patrick Lencioni on Leadership & the Financial Crisis
Patrick Lencioni gives his thoughts on the current financial crisis.
