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Quick thoughts: Ortberg on preaching
“If I’m to preach to people effectively, I must be freed from my need for their approval and applause. As long as I am chained to that need, then my preaching will really be trying to fill up something in me that I can never fill.” –John Ortberg is pastor of Menlo Park Presbyterian Church…
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Stealing time
How we use time says a lot about what we value. Sometimes, a time problem is really more of a value problem. Read this from Slow Leadership: Lack of time is an attractive excuse, because it implies that you’re blameless—a helpless victim of stress, overwork, and external circumstances. Of course, you may object that you…
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Passion’s response to the Virginia Tech tragedy
Go to hopeforthehokies.com to see what Passion is doing as part of its response to what happened at Virginia Tech. They’re offering a five-song EP of worship songs by Chris Tomlin, Matt Redman, David Crowder Band, and Charlie Hall for free through May. “Our desire is that these songs will encourage anyone at Tech or…
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Communication that sticks
Some people are experts in speaking with simple metaphors that help others understand larger concepts. Seth Godin is one of these. Just take a look at a few of his books … Unleashing the Ideavirus: Stop marketing AT people! Turn your ideas into epidemics by helping your customers do the marketing for you Purple Cow:…
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Empowering leadership: helping people find their fit
One of the most important things to remember in leadership is that – amazingly – everyone doesn’t think like you do. It’s a lesson I learn time and again. And I’m a little surprised every time! It’s like this. I’m the kind of deranged person who likes leading. I like speaking. I feel comfortable being…
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Church Resources: all in one place
One of the reasons I made the switch to WordPress.com was the system’s ability to make different pages on the blog. Now, in addition to the wonderful About and Links pages, you’ll find a Church Resources page filled with links to churches and small groups, media, church planting, and administrative resources. It’s really my excuse…
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Get independent artists … cheap
If you’re into independent artists and up for a little digging, you should check out Amie Street. It’s basically “an independent music store where all songs start free and rise in price the more they are purchased.” So, the more people who purchase a song, the more it sells for. I’d been wanting to buy…
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Influencing change: what could be
Ever notice something that needed to look different in an organization or group? Did you work to change it? How did you go about it? I’m realizing (again) that it’s much more important to paint a picture of what could be than to focus on the thing that needs to change. When we see changes…
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Hope in tragedy
J.R. Woodward, a pastor in LA who spent the last few days at Virginia Tech, wrote a powerful post on hope. It’s long, but it’s worth the time. When we look around at our world, we can see how much God loves diversity. We don’t look alike, we don’t act alike,we don’t dress alike. We…
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Bonhoeffer and Claiborne on community
“Love community and you will kill it. Love your brother and you will build it.” –Dietrich Bonhoeffer If that makes you think too hard, I also like Shane Claiborne‘s paraphrase: “If you love the vision you have for community, you will destroy community. If you love the people around you, you will create community.” [HT:…
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rain = productivity
It really doesn’t happen very often, but it’s a rainy, overcast day in Pasadena, which makes it a perfect day to hunker down, study, and get stuff done!
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Don’t just share, engage a whole society
Bob Roberts, Jr., pastor of NorthWood Church was interviewed in the May 2007 issue of Church Executive. What’s wrong with the way most churches do missions? Well, the first thing that’s wrong is they don’t [do missions], if you look at the overwhelming amount of money that’s being spent on the church as opposed to…
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Accountability – beyond the list
I love what Steven Furtick has to say about accountability: What if accountability was focused more on making each other great than making sure we were being good? We would all agree, and rightfully so, that if you see blatant sin in the life of another Christian, it is your responsibility to call it out. …
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Dealing with crisis within the church
When you get a chance, read this post and then watch the sermon video linked from it – not to gawk at a tragedy but to see how it was handled and learn from it. I was deeply impacted by Dan Sutherland‘s words and hope you are too… A few thoughts Purity matters Sin starts…
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Jon Sampson 