I've been asked to speak at LifeChurch in South Aurora on May 2. My topic? Ahab and Jezebel. In over 2o years of preaching, I think this will be the first sermon devoted entirely to Ahab and Jezebel. In doing research into this odd couple, I came across the following encounter between God and Elijah. Jezebel has sent a death threat to Elijah and he takes her at her word -- and runs for his life. Unfortunately, it's not quite the response God had been hoping for. After letting Elijah gripe about being "the only righteous" person left, here's what God says to Elijah: The LORD said, "Go out and stand on the mountain in the presence of the LORD, for the LORD is about to pass by." Then a great and powerful wind tore the mountains apart and shattered the rocks before the LORD, but the LORD was not…
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If you're looking for a convenient way to share bookmarks, files, links, notes, etc., across computers -- try Zotero. I love it because I can add a bookmark to a library folder on a certain topic from my home computer and access it from my work laptop. The same with notes, files ... Give it a try. It's free.
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As part of a church that has a vision to help plant church and launch new campuses, the following quote from a credit union has great meaning: "Before we put up branches, we put down roots.”
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I've begun leading a group of our ministry leads at church in a collaborative effort to improve how we do ministry. Rather than jump into the details of doing ministry, I decided to start with vision alignment. The idea is to help us explore and improve how well our individual ministries fit within the overall mission of our church. Momentum and growth are generated by having each ministry aligned as closely as possible with the main vision and mission of the church. To that end, I've started working with the ministry leads to define what a "win" looks like in their respective areas. Our Mountainview mission statement is similar to many others: to reach unchurched people and turn them into fully devoted followers of Jesus. We understand what it means to be unchurched. But what does a "fully devoted follower of Jesus" look like? What does that mean on the…
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I'm passing along this post from Christopher Witt entited "Words to Avoid." It's a good thought-starter for those of us who speak for a living. ********* Words to Avoid I always love lists of overused, trite, important-sounding words. The list from Lake Superior State University (found here) holds these words (rightly) up to ridicule: Shovel-Ready Transparent/Transparency Czar Tweet App Friend as a verb Teachable moment In these economic times…. Stimulus Toxic assets Too big to fail Bromance Chillaxin’ Obama-prefix or roots My least favorite phrase — it’s been around a long time — is “to make a long story short.” I appreciate the concept, but in my experience people who use the phrase are merely pausing in the middle of a boring recitation to catch their breaths. They then continue making a long story longer. What phrase or word irks, irritates, or rankles you?
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