Informational "Discipleship"

The last few years I have become more and more aware that we are people obsessed with information. We are consumed by it. We google, read articles in actual print form, download, surf, watch, engage, and what not (what they heck is that filler phrase anyway? what not? stop saying it, it means nothing) trying to get more information so we can be "smarter", "in the know", what not. (See there it is again. We would not normally type it so quit saying it!) (ENOUGH FILLER WORD RANTING YOU SAY!) Agreed.

I spent the weekend with youth leaders in AZ and am about to spend the week with youth leaders from all over the US and Texas. (Most people from TX forget that they are actually US citizens). Many will come looking for more information to help them to be more effective in ministry to students. I love what I get to do, but more and more of the conferences that I lead are less about information and much more about transformation. We get information in order for God to use it in our lives to make us more like Him, not so we will know more.

One of the things I have been convicted about lately is how I approach reading God's Word. Instead of the first lens being "let me see what this passage says to me, so I can change the way I live", I have been reading asking God to reveal more of Himself to me so I can love Him more for Who He really is instead of my idea of what God should be like.

My wife and I fell in love one summer many years ago, and the main way I learned about her and fell in love with her is through the letters she wrote to me that summer. I did not read those letters trying to figure out who I was, but to learn more of who she was/is. (I did get excited when she mentioned me in her letters though for sure). I am asking God to transform me as I continue to discover more of Who He is. I cannot do that without spending time in His Word.

I have much to learn. Information can lead to transformation or I can stay consumed with myself and try to discover more and more about me and let God have a little influence where it fits. I am praying that He will continue to quicken me to continue to discover Him and His greatness.

Happy St. Patty's Day

This is one of my favorite accounts of what St. Patrick's Day is really all about. I have posted this many times over the years on this day. Enjoy and Happy St. Patty's Day. Click here to read.

Easter Sunday Invites

With Easter less than a month away, many participating in Lent, and many trying to figure out how to invite those "pagans you live by in your neighborhood" to church, I ran across this video from my buddies, The Skit Guys. You might not want to approach your neighbor invite this way though -

Stop It!

This past few days have been good ones including a pretty violent storm, hail damage to our roof and car, and some really good family time. This past weekend I found myself in northern Alabama during some crazy storms and then leading training at Clements Baptist Church. What a great group of leaders! I am always so encouraged to be around leaders who are willing to get at it differently when it comes to sharing Christ with students. I left Sat. morning refreshed by being around them.

I drove to Lipscomb University and watched the last quarter of DCAs win over USN in the DII-A State Championship. It was a great example of a group of boys encouraged by coaches and leaders achieving more than they should have because they believed in the mission and one another. I have included a little video below of the final seconds if you are interested. It was fun to watch them this season and I am honored to get to announce the home games. Great seat on the floor behind the table and in ear shot of Coach Pressley which is a hoot to say the least. He is the master of one liners.

Sunday I flew over to Orlando and participated in the Youth Pastor's Summit that Universal Studios does hosted by Jay Strack. It is always good to reconnect with ministry friends like Dr. Jay, Brent Crowe, Mike Calhoun, Jeff Lovingood, Ed Newton, Roger Davis, Mel Walker, Josh McDowell, Alvin Reid, David Nasser, Doug Fields, Maina Mwaura, Jeff Wallace, Dave Edwards and a host of other youth ministry folks I know and am privileged to learn from. I led a breakout on Tuesday called Stop Teaching the Bible as a Road Map to Life. The short premise on it is that most of us read Scripture trying to figure out how to live life through a great moral code instead of reading Scripture as a love letter from God. We read His letter to us to fall in love with Him and allow Him to bring about the transformation in our lives rather than us trying to work our way back into relationship with Him. Christ is the big deal in Scripture and not us.

Stormy Day in the Southeast U.S.

It has been a very active "winter" season lately in our neck of the woods. We had a little snow two weeks ago but most of this "winter" has been very unstable air that has resulted in some pretty good thunderstorms. Today was another one of those days with some pretty violent storms throughout the SE region. Unfortunately there has been quite a bit of damage, injuries and even deaths. Thankfully, it has not been as violent today as they had predicted. We did get some hail damage to one of our cars and my best guess is that our roof on the house has some damage. I traveled to Northern Alabama this afternoon, missed the storms in Nashville, but did capture this video of a storm that passed just north of the hotel I am staying in. I provided a little commentary as well but not at the first of the video.