He may be the sweetest man ever.

“modern-day North American parallels with Babylon. Our cultural backdrop of access, alienation, and authority isn’t far removed from the spirit of Babylon nearly three millennia ago. At its worst, today’s western culture is indulgent, distracted, idol-following, and hedonistic. The time and place may be different, but the tension of living in-but-not-of lives describes the challenge for the faithful both then and now.”

From You Lost Me by David Kinnaman

I sure am thankful for this lady. Her constant affection and love for me is pretty profound. Here are some simple ways she has been constant all of my life.

• Constantly waking me up – I had the joy of waking up almost every morning to her “warming up her voice” since she taught music at a local school. So every morning her voice could be ringing around our walls, and in my ears. The secret to all this revealed her discipline… unmatched in our family.
• Constantly supporting me – If ever there was a woman who was gracious to let us do what we felt the Lord tell us to do, it was her.
• Constantly empowering me – She has always wanted us to do what we needed to do… and then actually go do it… like her.
• Constantly rooting for me – Everybody needs a fan – I think I’ve got my biggest one in my mom. She is the best cheerleader a guy could have. Sometimes over-the-top, but much appreciated.
• Constantly making cookies for me – There aren’t many chocolate-chip cookies like them. No really. Every time I went home in college (and even NOW) my mom has like 4 dozen cookies for me. It allowed me to have a few more friends in the dorm. I also think Abby married me for my mom’s cookies.
• Constantly praying for me – EVERY SUNDAY, I receive a text from her that simply states she is praying for me, the girls, Abby… and she does the same for my much less famous brother. It means the world to us. When my Grandmother passed away, I wondered who might take up the prayer life she had… well, my Mom owns this category.

So, I love you Mom!! Enjoy some of the photos…

There is an old English proverb that states “A man is known by the company he keeps.” The same is especially true in regards to family. Men are known for the families and generation they’re part of.

Life is interesting though since none of us really get to choose our families. It’s not like we’re standing with God, playing “Choose your own Adventure” with the family we want. We’re given (by God’s grace) the families we have, and the name ascribed to you is on you whether you change it legally or not.

This being the case, I’m thankful for the family I have. I’m especially thankful for the Pops I have. No, he isn’t perfect, but nobody has asked him to be. In fact, I’m glad he isn’t – because it has caused the grace of Jesus to be more fully displayed in his life… and in mine.

One think I’m thankful for in my father is in the way he loves my Mom. My Pops expresses his love through gifts. He loves to display and give good gifts. He is the model of Matthew 7:11 – this doesn’t’ mean my Pops is evil, rather he has shown that as a father he will give good gifts, and by giving these good gifts, he displays how MUCH MORE our heavenly Father will give when we ask. For instance, I remember a birthday for my Mom and he came home with the number of Roses of her age – I won’t tell you the age… but it was a lot!! Ironically, my Mom has many of those flowers, dried and hanging in their home.

So, Happy Birthday Pops! We love you! Enjoy some of these photos!

I first came across Propaganda at a conference in Austin. I’m thankful for his ministry, jealous of his dreads, and his gift of the spoken word.

Here is how he describes the Gospel. I love it!

The G.O.S.P.E.L.
G-God
O-Our
S-Sin
P-Paying
E-Everyone
L-Life

Yet, this is the tension of most conferences. The normal guy with a normal church with normal people is what is normal, not the massive churches that spend $200,000 on a flexboard on stage coupled with smoke and intelligent lights. That just isn’t normal for most normal people in most normal churches. I am actually really okay with Catalyst (and really any other conference) not inviting the normal church guy to speak. Why? Because I get to talk to that guy any particular week, but I don’t have the chance to hear from Andy Stanley, or John Maxwell, or Matt Chandler. So it’s nice to hear from someone who is at a different stage of church work and the complexities and challenges they face. We can learn from that.

The danger in Catalyst is to go home frustrated that your church doesn’t have that smoke or lights and has a pulpit instead of a table. That you’ll start thinking you’re doing something wrong or bad or not as good as someone else because the guy on stage has 10,000 people in their church and therefore they have some special connection to God that you don’t have. Ceratinly, this is not the design of the conference, the design is to equip leaders – inspire them even to be better leaders than they are where they are. That’s a really good thing.

With that understanding – I was challenged on some levels of my leadership. Let’s just call them deficiencies that needed to be sifted. As I’ve reflected, I’ve been given a new lens as to how to see these things. That was a major plus. I was encouraged to do the little things, because “God is in the little things and by saying yes of the little things, he blows it up to big things. Just be faithful to the little things.” (I can’t remember who said this). I was challenged to be faithful and let God determine my portion. In this particular stage of life, I think I often get worked up about being “behind” some of my peers in church life. I’m not behind anyone… I’m right where God wants me. This was a helpful critique to my flawed (and sinful) mindset.

I’ve had several people ask me how I felt about the conference, and mostly it’s been a shoulder shrug. Am I thankful I went…yes. Mostly because I was able to dialogue with my cohort for the D.Min at SWBTS. I think this conference leads you to have dialogue with others in the same field as you. I think this may have been my problem walking into the commence – we were instructed to go in with a critical eye… and I had to work hard to see the silver lining throughout.

I suppose this is the major problem or frustration I had with the conference – I’m grew tired of having to sift for nuggets of theological motivation in each of the talks. Too often I heard “just start another service” or “give away iPads” or “have a carnival” and people will come to your church. But what you win people with, you must keep them with. This type of bait and switch is bad for the local church and I think quite terrible.

I want my theology to motivate my mission and practice. I think too often in a conference like this I received a lot of mission and practice, but not a lot of theological foundation as to why we should do what we do.

That being said, I appreciated the challenges given. It defiantly was a more diverse gathering I’ve been to in some time. And I walked away with some practical challenges as to how I can better serve the church and participate in the Kingdom of God.

FINAL THOUGHT: As I engage the culture, i have to remember that other people will engage in ways that will be different than I do. If it isn’t heretical, I must leave it alone because I will never know what God is up to.

Mother’s day is special in this house because I married a woman who is selfless, caring, generous, firm, gentle, sweet, silly, beautiful, fervent, industrious, and godly. I don’t ever want to take for granted the grace God has displayed to me by giving me this gift… and I pray that Adele and Ruth always know they should follow the example of their mother… for if they do, they will live life to the glory of God.

Mother’s day matters in this house because my wife values being at home. Sure, she could be a successful professional photographer… in fact, she is! But being the mother to Adele and Ruth is more valuable to her. This was the sacrifice we made as a family so that Abigail could stay at home. Not many have that luxury. For that, I’m grateful.

Love you Abigail!

Speech Communication – What do you do? Just talk to people all day?? There’s a degree for that?
Recreation – Wait, you’re telling me you’re paying $46,902 a year to learn how to kick a ball and play tag?
Great Text – How can you be a Great Texts class and not even read the Bible? BTW, you know what Great Text graduates do… they teach Great Texts.

This conversation is only in jest and motivated out of a deep love for our people and the people who are actually in those majors. But I say all that because I secretly wish I could have been a Great Text major with a double minor in Speech Communication & Recreation. I wish that I could have had the opportunity to study humanities in this way… and to find ways the Bible feeds into and actually is superior Great Text. Then go talk about it over dodgeball.

What I’m trying to get at is I love the Bible. I really do. Sometimes reading it has become a chore, but that’s usually when I’m being confronted on my sin. Sometimes reading it has been a joy, only to again find myself wallowing in the shallows. But listen, if we really believe that the God of the universe who speaks and quasars are created! If that God speaks and has now spoken to us in His word, then why would we neglect such a thing?

So as I was praying last night, God reminded me of some passages that have helped shape me over the past 31 years and I thought I’d share just three of them with you. Now, I’m not giving any commentary on them – I’ll let the Spirit of God handle that.

1. Psalm 16:11 – You make known to me the path of life; in your presence there is fullness of joy; at your right hand are pleasures forevermore.
2. Philippians 3:7-11 – But whatever gain I had, I counted as loss for the sake of Christ. Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith-that I may know him and the power of his resurrection, and may share his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, that by any means possible I may attain the resurrection from the dead.
3. Acts 20:24 – But I do not account my life of any value nor as precious to myself, if only I may finish my course and the ministry that I received from the Lord Jesus, to testify to the gospel of the grace of God.

Obviously, there are and have been more passages that have challenged and shaped me, but as I lay in bed and before I nodded off to sleep, these three were being seared in my heart once again.

So, what verses have shaped you?

If you read my last post, you understand that I was a little frustrated with what I was hearing. Today was a better day. To help with how I would summarize today, I thought I’d share different quotes that hit home.

• Do for one what you wish you could do for everyone. -Andy Stanley
• You want to wreck your ministry, attach your ministry to your success. -Jon Acuff
• You must ask questions and be taught by everyone. -John Maxwell
• You can keep what you start, but if you keep it, it won’t be much when you end. -John Maxwell
• God called us not to be successful in the moment but to be faithful in the present. -John Maxwell
• Jesus doesn’t ask us to care about the least of these, he demands it. -Katie Davis (it seemed that her solution to every problem was, “Okay, come home with me!” It was beautiful… like tears moving.)
• Your calling before God is not to spectacular ministry, but a faithful and sincere heart before him. -Jud Wilhite
• When you’re at the end of your life, nobody cares about the ministry scorecard. -Jud Wilhite
• The world allows you a context to pour out what God has put inside of you. -Kirk Franklin
• Let us be faithful to God and let God decide our portion. Matt Chandler

Maxwell’s message hit home… despite him being a little weepy. Although, I think the weepy nature made it endearing. He delivered the talk in such a way that I felt like he was sitting across the table sharing some wisdom. There is value in this. The value is that he is a lot more reflective in his talk, and therefore giving us the nuggets he wants to be remembered by. It was good. One of the major points from his was consistency. The best way to be faithful and obedient in all things is to be consistent. Loved it.

Matt Chandler spoke tonight and he summed up a lot of my frustrations about the conference. He challenged the nature and tendency of having a bunch of ideas to go home with, but our affections never stirred for Jesus. You can have the right praxis, but if your heart is not delighting in God, it will burn out. He is just so faithful to the text and there is so much in me that isn’t. It was so good. So refreshing. And such a kick to the throat.

*Side-note, can we please stop singing songs that actually glorify self in a cloak of glorifying God? The focus of worship is not us, but God. So please, let’s sing songs that are theologically reflective of God and His work of redemption on the cross.

Looking forward to tomorrow.

There are moments I want to stand up and clap as I nod my head, and then other moments I want to stand up and jeer as I shake my head. Sadly, there has been more shaking my head than I like. I was always taught by my Pops that you should “eat the meat and spit out the bones” but several times during a LAB I felt that I was gnawing on more bone than eating any meat.

Don’t get me wrong – it has been stimulating. It has been thought provoking at times, but I feel I’m having to sift through so much stuff to get to what actually can be translated to my context. That’s probably more my problem than theirs, but it’s how I feel.

Look, I completely realize that criticizing a large conference that I paid to go to in which I had no say in the direction of is really easy. I mean, anybody can criticize – especially when they are clueless… and I certainly fall into that category. What concerns me the most is this trend I’m seeing among the audience of the LAB’s – people were lapping whatever they hear up like dogs, just because the person has a “platform” or is some internet “celebrity” or had “1,100 people saved” at Easter. What I mean is that just because someone is on stage does not mean you should agree with them… especially when they say something ridiculous. All the head nodding actually made me sad.

Granted, I was limited in which LABs I attended, therefore I am severely limited by my own experience, but out of the five offerings for the day, two were helpful. I guess I chose wrongly. As one friend said, “I felt like I heard a bunch of twitter quotes tied together.”

Granted, today were the LAB’s and the “heavy hitters” will be tomorrow and Friday. So, I look forward to tomorrows offerings. I really believe it will be better.

*side-note: I did not state which LABs I went to on purpose. I didn’t think it would be helpful for this type of blog post. Again, I’m thankful I’ve had the chance to attend and network with a bunch of people. I am also thankful for my wife who grants me the space to attend such a conference.

… but fake.

Here is the original:

Here are my two favorite parodies:

Obviously, I know that the second one is more if Microsoft oversaw the project, but I still found it oddly true… if you use a PC that is.

You are redeemed from slavery to sin (Rom. 3:24; 8:23)
You are reconciled to God (2 Cor. 5:18-20)
You are forgiven for all your sins (Col. 2:13)
You are free form the law of sin and death (Rom. 6:14; 8:1-4; Gal. 5:1-4)
You are adopted by God (Gal.3:26-4:7; Eph. 1:4-5)
You become a child of God (John 3: 3, 7)
You are justified by Jesus Christ (Rom. 5:1)
You are glorified with Jesus (Rom. 4:16-17; 8:30; Col. 3:4)
You are united in Jesus (Col. 2:9-10)
You possess every spiritual blessing (Eph. 1:3)
You are brought close to God (Eph. 2:13)
You are delivered from the power of darkness (2 Cor. 4:3-4; Col. 1:13)
You are transferred from Satan’s domain to the kingdom of God (Col. 1:13; 1 Thes. 2:12)
You are given as a gift (John 17)
You are circumcised in Christ (Col. 2:11)
You join the priesthood of believers (1 Peter 2:5; Rev. 1:6)
You join the people of God (1 Pet. 2:9)
You receive citizenship in heaven (Eph. 2:19; Phil. 3:20)
You are a member of the family of God (Gal. 6:10; Eph 2:19)
You take up fellowship of the saints (John 17:11-23; Eph. 4:1-3)
You are granted access to God (Heb. 4:16; 10:10-20)
You become an inheritance (Eph. 1:6, 18)
You receive an inheritance (Eph. 1:14; Col. 3:24; 1 Pet. 1:4; Heb. 9:15)
You become the light to the world (Eph. 5:8)
You are in God (1 Thess. 1:1)
God the Father is in you (Eph. 4:6)
You are in the Son (Rom. 8:1)
The Son is in you (John 14:20)
You are in the Spirit (Rom. 8:9)
The Spirit is in you (1 Cor. 2:12)

Lewis Sperry Chafer, Chafer Systematic Theology: Soteriology, vol. 3 (Dallas: Dallas Seminary Press, 1983), 234-65

Adele: Daddy, I want to watch a movie.

Me: Which movie would you like to watch?

Adele: Hee Haw!!

Me: What year were you born, 1980?

Adele: No, Daddy, I’m 2!!!

Not sure which movie she wanted to see, but now I’m scourging the Internet for Hee Haw.