Jon Sampson

It had already been a long day. Between figuring out apartment stuff, looking for jobs, unpacking boxes, and finding a mechanic to fix a problem with Grete’s car so she could have her car SMOG tested and registered in California, my lovely wife and I were already just a little on edge. Then as I…

Who are the heroes today? We all want our lives to count for something, and the only way our lives are going to count is if we exert influence in the areas where we’ve been gifted. Grete and I are moving to the LA area. For the past few months, I’ve been thinking about how…

Sometimes “new leases on life” can be short lived. I posted here that since the departure of the pet turtles from the Sampson household, my wife, (who loves animals) had turned her attention back to her pet hermit crab. She cleaned out Hermie’s home and put him in a new place of prominence in our…

Mark Driscoll (or someone with TheResurgence) has posted a short interview with Matt Chandler of The Village Church on Resurgence’s blog. In it, Chandler makes a great point. What one piece of advice would you give to emerging pastors? Let your wife worry about you clothes. Buy books and study. We don’t need any more…

Next week my wife and I will make a big move from Fort Worth to Pasadena, Ca. so I can finish up seminary! So, because of the important and time-consuming task of putting everything we own into boxes and then taking everything we own out of boxes, expect this space to be a little quieter…

Scott Hodge pulls some great leadership points from An Unstoppable Force by Erwin McManus. Here’s a sample: STORIES * If your stories are never personal, it will be very difficult for people to embrace a personal faith. * People want to know what you’re committed to. * They want to know what you know about…

David Allen on “The only two reasons to be efficient”: “I have concluded that there are only two good reasons for handling this physical material world as efficiently as possible: (1) The physical world is important, or (2) The physical world is not important. If you care a lot about material success or production, you…

Relationships are simpler than you think. Here’s how it works in the blog world: Do you want your people to start reading your blog? The solution isn’t to have the best blog ever, or to even say wonderfully profound things on your blog. That can help, but the best way to get readers is to…

From Ben Arment: “There is an epidemic of young men who doubt themselves and what God can do through them in ministry. Erwin McManus’ book Chasing Daylight follows the adventures of Jonathan, who acted on spiritual impulses and left the results up to God. The future of the church … and especially church planting ……

A great quote via Bob Hyatt: ‘Just because your voice reaches halfway around the world doesn’t mean you are wiser than when it reached only to the end of the bar.’ – Edward R. Murrow

Do you communicate with others? You may be saying something life-changing. But if no one’s listening, you’re just talking to yourself. Robert K. Johnston wrote “Using Movies in Worship,” a short article that appeared in the Fall 2001 issue of Fuller Seminary’s Theology, News and Notes. In it, he makes some powerful observations about how…

Hermie’s been neglected. You see, ever since my wife got two turtles as pets about three years ago, her little hermit crab has been largely ignored. He used to get a lot of attention. But slowly, the two larger animals took center stage. He was cared for (my wife’s great at taking care of anything…

Looks like Rick Warren has entered the blog world. Check it out here. Some people (especially young bloggers and the like), enjoy bashing his methods and ministry. Personally, I think it will be great to hear the thoughts and perspective of a man who has, and will continue to have, a tremendous Kingdom impact around…

Leadership Network’s newsletter has a great article on Balance. If you’re going to last in any field, you have to realize it can’t all be about one thing. We’ve seen the examples. A businessman excels at work but his family never sees him. A pastor connects with his congregation but doesn’t know his wife. In…

An observation from Tony Morgan’s Journey through the Bible: “We’re supposed to ‘Watch out for people who try to dazzle you with big words and intellectual double-talk. They want to drag you off into endless arguments that never amount to anything.’ And most of those people have blogs.”