Christmas Story

Check out this story on Tim Chester’s Blog — the storytelling night is a great idea.

Whiteboard Sessions Update

Here’s an update on the full lineup for the Whiteboard Sessions. I’m going to blog on thoughts I’m having about this conference later. Conference registration is going to launch in January

Tacky Christmas Party

Sunday night we had our annual church Christmas Party. The theme this year was “Tacky Family Christmas”. I was blown away by the buy-in we had on this. Almost everyone dressed up and most people went beyond the call of duty. It was a great time with great outfits, great dessert and great karaoke. Here’s a taste of what we saw

Help a Brother Out

Okay I need some of you blog experts to give me some advice for this blog?

What technical things do I need to be adding to the page? For example what are feeds and how do I set them up? What other questions like that do I need to be asking and answering.

For you super-techs out there — I am not one. One of the reasons I got out of blogging back in 2003 is that it was taking too much time working the html. It helps that I don’t have to do it now but there are so many other things I see on other blogs that look to be basic necessities and yet I don’t get how to do it or why to do it. I also see blogs that are full of stuff and I don’t want to be too cluttered. After all it’s good to be stripped – right?

So blog guru’s (who probably aren’t reading this blog yet) — any help would be appreciated.

Uncomfortable Learning

Craig Keener writes — “The reader (of Matthew’s Gospel) must identify with the pagan Magi rather than with Herod or Jerusalem’s religious elite, and hence are compelled to recognize God’s interest in the mission to the Gentiles.”

What a difficult thing it must have been for Matthew’s Jewish Christian audience to accept the reality of what God had promised to Abraham in Genesis 12.  But I’m thankful that God moves his Church to travel beyond nationality and carry the Gospel and make disciples of all nations.

I love it when God moves us out of our comfortable (and often wrong) religious  understanding(s) and directs us to His truth and plan.

Impressive Obedience

Matthew 1:24 When Joseph woke from sleep, he did as the angel of the Lord commanded him: he took his wife, 25 but knew her not until she had given birth to a son. And he called his name Jesus.

As I’ve been thinking about the challenges that Joseph knew he was going to face by obeying God’s word  I am so amazed and so challenged by the humility Joseph displayed by just simply doing what the angel of the Lord told him.  I know we have no idea what was going through his mind but regardless he died to his own will, plan to submit to the will of the Father.  Impressive Obedience.

Sunday Recap

Yesterday was a whirlwind but mostly in a good way.

We had a good service yesterday morning — I’d like to say great but I have no idea if it was or not.  I woke up with a ferocious headache and even aided by Advil it did not leave my head until I was wrapping up the message.  So needless to say I was fighting to stay focused as my mind was wandering a bit with the pain.  However it’s always times like this where I experience God’s power being made perfect in my weakness.  Felt like the message came across well and the Gospel was preached.

I just began working through the  Gospel of Matthew and I was preaching the 2nd part of Matthew 1 about the birth of Jesus.  Great passage especially when the angel comes and tells Joseph to name him Jesus because he will save the people from their sins.  As preaching goes that line is such a layup for preaching the Gospel. I also was struck with the similarity between Jesus being legally (not biologically) Joseph’s son and us as saved sinners being legally declared sons and daughters of the Father.

Worship Set List — Enough, O Praise Him, Help My Unbelief, Hungry, I Boast No More, Wonderful Cross

Help My Unbelief always gets me.

I’ll post on Sunday evening once I get some pictures.

Discovering the Inner Desire for Attention

I think I’ve known all along it’s there but the other day it became clear — I like attention.

Here’s how it came out.  The other day I thought about something to blog (what’s funny is that I can’t remember what it was) but then the thought hit me, “maybe I should save it for later when more people have discovered my blog”.  Now I can’t imagine I’m the only one who has ever thought this and I’m not really sure that it’s even a bad thought.

Most of us are blogging because we believe we have something to say that warrants other people’s attention — not to mention we blog because we look forward to other’s comments — unless their negative.  So I really don’t think it’s wrong to desire that people read our blog and comment about what we say.  I guess I was just surprised I was thinking it so honestly.

Transperancy or Vulnerability?

Just read this quote from Caesar Kalinowski on Drew Goodmanson’s blog.

“As a church seeks to see the gospel transform their community and lead them to mission, sin/idols are exposed.  One potential danger is that people who enter into the life of the community are willing to be transparent, but they are not vulnerable.  Meaning, you can have a person publicly profess sin, being very transparent BUT they have no intention of letting other people speak into their life toward change.  This false transparency appears like humility but it is a charade of self-righteousness behind the ‘right things to say’. “

Without commenting too much — I think there is some great insight here.  I definitely have seen this ring true in my life at times and seen it in the lives of many of the people I pastor.

the Whiteboard Sessions

Ben Arment, always the visionary, has been putting together a very fascinating lineup of speakers for a very unique conference. You can check it out here.