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For me - this is the blog post of the year. Some of it I have wanted to say or tried to say from time to time (although not very well) - most of it I just needed to hear. This wasn't just a home run - it was a freakin' grand slam and EVERY church planter needs to read it about once a month! Thank you Gary!
I'm excited about the weekend!
The SEC Leads the way! College football kicks off RIGHT NOW!!!! I am STOKED. LSU and Miss State open up the season.
I'm pleased to add the following folks to my blogroll. They are blogs I follow and truth be told if you are looking at mine - you probably already heard of these folks and im just late to the party as always.
Anne Jackson - I added Anne a month or so ago but never officially welcomed here I dont think. I love the way she writes and tells stories. Of all the bloggers I read - hers is one of the more entertaining and often one of the most thought provoking. I never know what Im going to get. Plus I think we need more chicks speaking into our lives in our dude-centric church planting world. After all - potentially half of our church is female! I may not know Anne well enough to refer to her as a chick - I hope she doesn't throw a sheep at me. (a facebook thing) She's writing a cool cool book called "Mad Church Disease" - What a clever title about church burn out.
Ben Arment - Ben is the founding pastor of Reston Community Church in Virginia. I think he started it about the same time we started Crosspoint Community Church. RCC meets in a theater too and us Theater pastors have to stick together. His blog is challenging and I love his blog series take off on Seth Godin's "The Dip". You can read it Here, Here, Here and Here
Michael Lukaszewski - Michael planted and pastors Oak Leaf Church in Cartersville, GA. Recently he hooked us up with some stuff for our Children's ministry. He started his church a little over a year ago and blew past the 500 mark almost instantly and now is past the 700 mark! This church is blowing and going in THREE services in a theater! Imagine getting ready for an 8:15 service at Regal in Decatur! WOW! Thats a team committed to reaching unchurched people! Im looking forward to connecting with Micheal at the Church Planters Practicum at Mountain Lake
Tadd Grandstaff - Tadd is planting Pine Ridge Church in North Carolina which is a good thing. Since they don't have any real college football there it must be very pagan. I haven't met Tadd but follow his blog and progress at Pine Ridge. Its cool to see how many people link to Tadd's blog and he hasn't even launched yet. Cant wait to see good things happen next month when he goes live!
There are lots of other bloggers out there that I'm sure are worthy of reads and links - I just have limited my blogroll to the one's I track almost daily and that encourage me personally in my walk with God and help me grow as a leader.
This morning after my prayer time I was driving to a meeting. My prayer this morning was that somewhere - sometime today - that I would be overwhelmed by God's presence and "meet him." I was listening to Christian Radio (yes I actually do that from time to time) and Chris Tomlin's Song "Amazing Grace (My Chains are Gone)" came on the radio. As I was listening and singing the words in my mind suddenly I began to weep when I considered what Jesus did for me. As the hair on the back of my neck rose up and the chill bumps covered me - for a brief moment I felt as if God Himself was holding me and comforting me.
How has God met you recently? Has he?
Amazing grace, How sweet the sound
That saved a wretch like me
I once was lost, but now I'm found
Was blind, but now I see'Twas grace that taught my heart to fear
And grace my fears relieved
How precious did that grace appear
The hour I first believedMy chains are gone, I've been set free
My God, my Savior has ransomed me
And like a flood His mercy reigns
Unending love, Amazing graceThe Lord has promised good to me
His word my hope secures
He will my shield and portion be
As long as life enduresMy chains are gone, I've been set free
My God, my Savior has ransomed me
And like a flood His mercy reigns
Unending love, Amazing graceMy chains are gone, I've been set free
My God, my Savior has ransomed me
And like a flood His mercy reigns
Unending love, Amazing graceThe earth shall soon dissolve like snow
The sun forbear to shine
But God, Who called me here below
Will be forever mine
Will be forever mineYou are forever mine
Chris Elrod's Post Inspired me. I've you haven't heard Chris Tomlin do this song - you are missing out! I wept when I heard this the first time. And Perry is right - Booming Sound Systems are AWESOME!
I stand amazed in the presence
of Jesus the Nazarene,
and wonder how he could love me,
a sinner, condemned, unclean.How marvelous! How wonderful!
And my song shall ever be:
How marvelous! How wonderful
is my Savior's love for me!He took my sins and my sorrows,
he made them his very own;
he bore the burden to Calvary,
and suffered and died alone.How marvelous! How wonderful!
And my song shall ever be:
How marvelous! How wonderful
is my Savior's love for me!When with the ransomed in glory
his face I at last shall see,
'twill be my joy through the ages
to sing of his love for me.How marvelous! How wonderful!
And my song shall ever be:
How marvelous! How wonderful
is my Savior's love for me!
Wow - and I thought Alabama had an education problem. Check out Miss South Carolina. Im not sure there is even a sentence in her answer to the question.
Thank you Pastors, Church Planters, Bloggers, and yes - even "Online Discernment Ministries" who hate what Crosspoint is doing but can't stop looking at my blog and linking to it. All of you, together as a community, have pushed moviepastor.com past a HUGE milestone on Technorati. I now rank in the top 100,000 blogs! Sure the ranking system us bogus much like College Football Championships - but it exists none the less. When I started blogging - I was way below 6,000,000 - thats right - 6 MILLION! Today my ranking is 97,290! Still got a LONG way to go to catch Gary, Craig, Steven, Perry, Tony and the like. (They are all in the top 20,000, some in the top 5000!) Considering Technorati tracks 100 MILLION Blogs - I feel this is a day to celebrate and applaud you! Thank you!
I was pretty pumped when Ed Young Jr. invited me to be his friend on Facebook. Apparently Tadd and Brad and Maybe even Terry and Scott got invites too! I could see Terry and the other guys getting an invite - but ME? I was pumped too because I was FIRST to write on Ed Young's wall! Yeah Baby! Then I went back later and he was gone - vaporized - missing - vanished. There was no record of me being Ed Young's Friend, no record of me writing on his wall - nothing. I was a little bummed - so I started a new Facebook group for people who would like to be Ed Young Jr's friend. You can join here. Join early and invite your friends. Maybe one day Ed himself will join!
I need to make a trip to Jacksonville, NC. Its about 700 miles from here. I will be driving a vehicle back so I can't drive there. I can fly for $220.00 - or I could take the bus for $59.00 if I can advance purchase the tickets in time. The plane takes 3-4 hours. The bus trip is 21 hours! WOW! It takes 12 to drive in a car. Anyone ever rode Greyhound? This would be a new experience for me - but is it an experience I want to add to my list???
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