Sometimes both Christians and pastors of my generation think they can’t learn much from a man in a suit. This video, a sermon excerpt from Mark Beeson of Granger Community Church, shows just how much we can learn and be inspired by those who’ve gone before us. Please please please take the 6 minutes to watch it.
Here’s a link to Mark’s breakdown of the video.
The Early Church from Granger Community on Vimeo.
Yesterday I plowed through Donald Miller’s latest book, A Million Miles in a Thousand Years. I love the subtitle- “What I learned when editing my life.” We all would like a chance to back and make edits, improvements, change characters and scenes in our life, wouldn’t we?
While we can’t go back and change past experiences, we can live with greater intentionality and focus for the rest of our lives, which is the path Miller travels in this book. In the process of editing a previous book into a movie screenplay he learns what a great story is, realizes his life isn’t one, and determines to start living a great Story.
However, a succinct summary of the book doesn’t do it justice. Miller’s writing style, very stream-of-consciousness, drifts without getting lost, is funny and lighthearted right before it pierces you with depth and insight. He seems just like the kind of guy you’d want to grab a drink with, be it carbonated or fermented. If you’re not the kind to pick up such a book, it’s the very reason you should. You need to be stretched to dream, wonder, reflect and imagine what you life is and what it could be.
I do want to add on caution to the book. As with Blue Like Jazz, Miller’s writing seem to strike their deepest chord with long-time or disaffected Christians. Since I’m neither, I never resonate as deeply with his writing, though I’ve seen it’s impact on others and appreciate the healing it’s brought them. However, I would be wary of a non-Christian reading this book, as they may come away thinking the way to a better story with God is to “try harder,” one of the most dangerous and horrifically wrong things a non-Christian can think about God. Someone who understands sin and redemption, but never quite found their groove or purpose in Christ (Ephesians 2:10) will find a sympathetic and challenging voice in Miller. Had I read this 12 months ago, before I started planting Trinity New Life, this would have been a great encouragement to take the steps to do so, and I hope it plays the same role in the lives of other Christians.
Oh, and if you want a review of the book covering more of the actual content, check out Ross Middleton’s review.
Have you read it? What did you think?
“Let no debt remain outstanding, except the continuing debt to love one another, for he who loves his fellowman has fulfilled the law.”
- Romans 13:8
Let’s make sure we’re putting something down on this debt today!
“So, my Reformed friends, let’s not only read 1st, 2nd, and 3rd John (that is, John Calvin, John MacArthur, and John Piper), let’s go plant some more churches. My emerging church friends, let’s take a pause from the theological rethink and head into the neighborhood and to tell someone about Jesus. My missional friends, let’s speak of justice, but always tell others how God can be both “just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus.” My house church friends, let’s have community, but let’s be sure it is focused on redemption. My Baptist friends, let’s focus more on convincing pagans than Presbyterians. And, my charismatic friends, let’s focus less on getting existing believers to speak in tongues and more on using our tongue to tell others about Jesus.”
BRAVO, Ed. Bravo!
Jan 29
Wanted to let you know I’ve added a new page on the blog called Recommended Books. I’m trying to get through 30 books in 2010, so each time I finish one I’ll add it to the page with my comments.
Two up (one link is having problems, which is a Barnes and Noble problem), and hopefully one every other week!
Today we remember the life and passion of the great Martin Luther King, Jr., who for a brief and all-too-short period of time was the mouthpiece of God to breakdown sinful and wretched beliefs, mindsets and practices along racial lines.
As a white pastor, I would like to take a moment to encourage other white pastors to honor MLK’s legacy and dream with more than self reflection and social media compliments. I’m far from a race expert(though one of my best friends is black [and he's so well-spoken!]), but since I believe it’s not just the responsibility of black pastors to talk about race, here’s my entry into the fray-
That’s my list. Anything you want to add? Anything you want to disagree with?
Jan 14
Well, kinda.
See, both have products people really love. YouVersion has these awesome new reading plans, AT&T has the iPhone. Both are so popular that they are causing their respective networks admitted problems and outages. We’re crucifying AT&T for this…so why aren’t we doing the same for YouVersion? Googling “I Hate AT&T” returns 1.24 million results. “I Hate YouVersion?” 15K results. However, none of them seem to actually complain about YouVersion!
I think the reason is because of the way the two companies are handling the outage. YouVersion.com regularly admits to server troubles on Twitter, talks to people with problems via Twitter, and even posted a “We know we’re having problems, it’s because of our awesome users, thanks so much, we’re working on it!” blog post.
AT&T? They tried to stop selling the phone in their problem areas. Well…that seems about right? Naw…
Look, when you have a problem, and EVERYONE knows it, why not just admit it, fix it, and be honest? How is that going to lose people? How will that not built trust and gain you a longer leash with your clients/users?
AT&T, you could learn a few things from YouVersion.com…
Jan 13
I know we were all excited about RSS when it came out year ago, but I think it’s turned into a bad thing for the web.
Ok, maybe not ALL of you. Some are still wondering what RSS even is.
Either way, getting our news and updates from RSS readers and Facebook notes (I’m sure some of you are even reading this in a Note!) erodes the design aspect of the web. There are some visually stunning websites out there, but you never see it because you’re stuck in your RSS reader. Here’s an example:
Neil Patrick Harris from How I Met You Mother, or as you know him, Doogie Howser, mentioned on Twitter one of his favorite websites was Uncrate.com. When I visited, I loved not only the unique products they highlight, but the amazing website. I visited a few days in a row, finally subscribing to their RSS feed. That’s where the fun died. Look at the difference-
OR……
Seriously, which one you rather look at? One is compelling, captivating, visually engaging. The other is informative and truthful, but boring as all get out. No more RSS for Uncrate.com!
Other websites, like this one and this one, are also visually compelling, but are probably not consumed in the way they were designed. So I say “Less RSS, more site visits!” Let’s get back to the good stuff!
Are there other beautifully designed sites you love to visit to, well, just look at?
Jan 12
This doesn’t quite qualify as a goal for 2010; it’s really more of lifestyle change my wife and I are committed to making.
Kelly and I’ve been at the same base level of giving (with various offerings on top of it) for years now, but we’re upping our baseline monthly giving by 1% in 2010. I think we’ve exhausted the amount of growth and faith we can have at our old level, and need to step forward in trusting God for greater things in our lives. We’re not doing this hoping for a greater financial return, or really to GET anything. We’re doing it to trust God and be a blessing.
Now isn’t the best time to make this change, financially. While we’re not talking about hundreds, or even one hundred dollars more a month going to the church, every dollar is crucial for us right now. But my God gives seed to the sower, not the one who waits until the perfect time to give.
Because there never is one.
Jan 11
I know I’m late on it, but here are my goals for 2010:
I'm husband to Kelly, father to Caroline, and lead pastor Trinity New Life Church, located in Trinity, Florida. I love Jesus, my family, and my church.
The ideas expressed here are totally my own and do not reflect the official positions of TNLC.
