It hit me about midway through our three Easter services that this morning was only the second time in 19 years I haven't preached on Easter. The only other time was in the months leading up to the grand opening of our church plant in San Diego -- when we didn't have any Sunday morning services. Truth be told, it felt a bit weird to not be preaching. I've always enjoyed the Easter crowd because it is so diverse in nature ... a challenge I find energizing and engaging. Plus, Easter lends itself to great themes which are fun to speak about: hope, redemption, transformation, and more. I'm learning to appreciate the different "angles" of worship. This morning, my view was from the side.
Read More
Warning: a techie tip is about to follow. For the non-geeks in the crowd, feel free to play Solitaire for a few minutes. Actually ... even the non-geeks will appreciate this. Have you ever needed to edit a photo or image and not have Photoshop installed on your computer? It happens to me on my work laptop on a regular basis (I have Adobe C3 installed at home). Pixlr is a free online image editor that looks pretty slick. I took it for a test drive this afternoon and it will do two-thirds of what most people need to do (and maybe more). Check it out!
Read More
"My experience suggests that excellent execution of simple ideas will yield better results than great ideas executed poorly." -- Tanmay Vora
Read More
It's a fact of life that most of us are short-sighted when it comes to the ripples we create. I still remember receiving a birthday card from my mother when I was in college that contained a short sentence of her confidence in me. Unfortunately, the physical card is long gone -- the victim of being given to an eighteen year-old with a teenager's perspective on things that matter. However, the words, the feelings expressed in that card live on to this day in my heart. They are ripples that continue to grow and expand with each passing year. Words of affirmation are like that. Much beyond the initial splash they may create, the lasting effect comes from the way they ripple through our remaining years. They become a point of reference that reminds us that though the world may seem a dark place, all is not lost. Just the…
Read More
I've begun leading our ministry leads in the process of greater collaboration among ministries. As a church, we have a mission of reaching people disconnected to God and helping them grow in their relationship with him. This -- by any measure -- is no small task. Ultimately, by doing more of what we do best the church will be more healthy and more lives will be impacted for good. In scanning a few leadership blogs* tonight (I'm tired but too wound up to sleep), I came across this post called "How Managers Can Amp Up Workplace Voltage." I'll share part of it here: According to Wikipedia, voltage is: The voltage between two points is a short name for the electrical force that would drive an electric current between those points. Specifically, voltage is equal to energy per unit charge. In the case of static electric fields, the voltage between two…
Read More