Judged

A couple of months ago I read "unChristian."  It's a great book revealing how most people in America view "church-people."  I really wasn't all that surprised by what the book said.  Here's a quick overview:

Of people outside the church ages 16-29:

91% see the church as anti-homosexual

87% jugmental

85% hypocritical

75% too involoved in politics

72% out of touch with reality

70% insensitive of others

Then, I found this great video sermon.  I believe this is Judd Wilhite from Las Vegas...

Judged Message 10/19/2008 from David Tate on Vimeo.

Great Quotes

I found two great quotes by Dr. Conel West, professor of African studies (?) at Princeton.

Three questions for leaders:

1)  How deep is your love for the people?

2)  What kind of courage have you manifested in the positions you stand for?

3)  What are you willing to sacrifice?

"You can't lead the people if you won't love the people.  You can't save the people if you won't serve the people."

Got My Magazine Back

So here's the deal: one of my friends (who shall remain nameless) has the spiritual gift "teacher."  That's a great thing; I'm a teacher too.  But one of the problems with teachers is that they tend to over-keep stuff.  For example magazines.  I let my friend borrow my copy of Relevant magazine that I got back in June.

Relevant is a great magazine--especially this issue.  I really enjoyed reading it.  In fact, I think I read almost the whole magazine in three days.  It was so captivating that it was hard to stop reading.  But for some reason, my friend thought they would take 4 months and 2 weeks to read my magazine.  I know it's hard for him/her to return things [I tend to keep stuff too (sorry if I have ever borrowed anything from you)], but, I'm happy to say that I finally got my magazine back.

Oh look, an article about the upcoming Beijing Olympics...

Free at Last

Yesterday was a day of celebration.  It was a day for relief, reflection, and hope.  And not because Alabama is having such a great season.

Yesterday I had my interview with the District/Sectional Presbytery [A/G structures] to get my credentials approved.  The first step (the test) proved much easier than expected--and this was equally enjoyable.  I made a hundred on my test and provided some great laughs for the Presbytery (ok, so they were laughing at me, but who cares?)

Needless to say, yesterday marks the ending of a (really, really L-O-N-G) chapter of my ministry life.  It's good to be on this end of it.  Feels really good to be a "legit" preacher (or "Preacher-man" as Coach Gip likes to call me).

God has really set me up the whole way.  At every turn, He's been there providing whatever I need.  Can't wait to see what He's going to do with/in the rest of my life.

New books

I'm a little late posting this, but last Friday was one of the happiest days of my life (ok, that's a little over-dramatized, but you get the idea).  My wife, Amanda, and I were returning from an errand-run for the church.  On the way back, I decided to stop by LifeWay book store.  GREAT DECISION.  I found (and bought), not one, but two new books:  Wild Goose Chase by Mark Batterson, and Jesus Wants to Save Christians  by none other than Rob Bell.  

I've started Wild Goose Chase.  So far, it's easily one of the 5 best non-fiction books I've ever read.

I'm expecting the same for Bell's book.

Launch Conference with Nelson Searcy

Nelson Searcy, founder of Church Leader Insights and pastor of the Journey Church NYC is hosting a One Day Launch Conference (church planting seminar) on Tuesday, September 30 at Avalon Church in McDonough, GA (Atlanta area) from 9:00am to 4:00pm.

You can go to the https://nelsonsearcy.infusionsoft.com/cart/store.jsp?view=4&i=p235 for more details.

Creativity

Found this link on another blog.  It's an article in the Harvard Business Review about Pixar and their view on creativity.  Good stuff!