Jon Sampson

Via bob.blog: “I wish I could preach as well as Bono. The man knows how to put a very hard word right in the middle of some beautiful complements. Preachers and critics alike, take note…”

From Relevant Magazine: TV analysts are predicting that Fox’s American Idol will beat out NBC’s coverage of the Olympic Games when the two go head-to-head during Feb. sweeps. Another Fox show, Arrested Development, is airing its two-hour season finale during the opening ceremonies …2/2/06 | 12:05 PM There used to be a time when nothing…

Yeah. It’s not new. But some of you may not have heard of this wonderful store with great deals. Woot works like this: One product put up every day at midnight. It’s sold cheap. Once it’s gone, it’s gone. Everything from coffee makers to MP3 players to those little robotic vacuums to … well, you…

From Bill Craig: “‘Give me ten men who hate nothing but sin and love nothing but God, and we’ll change the world.’”– John Wesley

A great thought from a friend’s blog: Becoming: “Will I be a one value person where i value him above other people and stuff? I’m sliding…I’m moving there…I’m becoming a one value person.”

Ed Stetzer spoke at Glocalnet‘s Church Planting Turbo Training a few weeks ago. He mentioned an article that outlines some basic thoughts about the emerging church movement. There are more definitions of what an emerging church is than there are old men in speedos on a cruise ship, but I like the way he has…

From Bob Biehl’s Quick Wisdom: Questions If you ask profound questionsyou get profound answers!If you ask shallow questionsyou get shallow answers!If you ask no questionsyou get no answers at all!

I’ve been watching the blogs of a number of different church planters and pastors over the past few months and have loved learning from everything they are doing, growing in, and struggling with. But I’ve noticed one thing … pastors with the same ministry philosophies all hang out together, read each other’s blogs and talk…

Creative Preaching: “What does the unchurch look for in Preaching and Church? The unchurched says: 1: I do want a Catchy Title: it must tease, taunt and tantilize me2: I do want Visual Graphics: We are a visual cultural group. Catchy media, enough to peak my interest3: I do want TRUTH.: We have heard enough…

Ahhh, Gary Lamb. Telling it like he sees it. Amusing some, offending others, and he’s fine with the results. “‘Feeders’ are the young just out of high school Christians that think they dress cool (but it is really just sloppy), read relevant magazine, are looking for things to be ‘deeper’, don’t serve, attend EVERY worship…

Rhett Smith, a college minister in California, talks about an interesting article on his blog: “Fuller professor Eric Jacobsen is doing a lot of work as a theologian on what is termed the ‘New Urbanism.’ The New Urbanism stresses the importance of a ‘third place’, where people spend their time away from home and work.…

Here’s a question to consider. Do type A, driven, leadership people give sermons that appeal to type A, driven, leadership people? Are the things that get some people (including myself) excited enough to preach over the things that God is doing, or the things that God is doing in us? We have to resist the…

There’s a great discussion on church and business over at Evotional.com: “The article got under my skin because it assumed that a church that has good business practices has somehow sold out. Why is it that everyone thinks that a church that does everything with excellence is somehow soft-selling the gospel? “ Check out the…

The Apprentices – LeadershipJournal.net: “Revivals didn’t solve the problem, just as conferences don’t solve the problem today. If you study the lives of anyone commonly recognized as a great saint, you see that the transformation they experienced almost never happened to them in a meeting. During my few years as a pastor, I spent a…

The Monday Morning Insight Weblog posted these thoughts: “Too bad churches don’t go with that mentality. What if we said, lets do it. Lets reach people for Christ. Lets be all things to all people. Lets throw out tradition if it isn’t relevant. Lets be real. Lets make a real difference in our communities. Lets…