Church

A few weeks ago I spoke at Mountainview on the topic, "Casting Nets or Casting Stones" (listen to the podcast).  The basic idea was this: you can be a person who uses your influence to cast a net, helping draw people closer to God.  Or, you can be a person that is quick to cast a stone of judgment towards those who are disconnected from God. At the end of the message, I asked the crowd at all four services to look around at the empty chairs.  These chairs represent the people who live in your neighborhood, work in your office, or the kids you pass in the hallway at school.  These chairs are families who are on the brink of exploding, single moms wrestling with enormous challenges, or young adults contemplating suicide. Then I asked them to fast-forward to the last Sunday of 2010.  Imagine no empty chairs.  Imagine…

One of the bloggers/pastors that I enjoy reading (and following on Twitter) is Tim Stevens.  He is the executive pastor at Granger Community Church and his writings always give me something to think about.  I'm passing along two posts that reflect on a decade of change in the church.  I think you'll enjoy them, too. A Decade of Change, Part One A Decade of Change, Part Two

Another of our new E4U classes at Mountainview is "Creation Science." Course Description: Have you ever wondered if you are hearing the whole scientific story of how we came to be?  Has the age of the earth been scientifically established?  What about dinosaurs, fossils and long periods of geologic formation?  The information presented will be scientific in nature but should be understandable to adults and teens over the age of 13. Teacher Bio: Jeff Schuster is a professional engineer who has owned an energy engineering firm for the past 13 years.  Jeff graduated from Colorado State University with a Bachelor Degree in Mechanical Engineering in 1987 and has been fascinated with origin science since college.  Jeff has a lovely wife and two kids and has been attending Mountainview Church since the mid 1990’s.

We're launching a new spiritual formation initiative at Mountainview called E4U.  Organized around four tracks, we're seeking to help people develop and grow spiritually.  Over the next week or so I'll be previewing the classes here on the blog. The Firsts of Jesus Course Description: Things that are mentioned first and last in Mideastern cultures have special significance.  In this course we look at some important firsts in the life of Jesus.  They include His first act, His first public quote, His first miracle and His first parable.  We will examine these firsts to discover more about the process of transformation and to learn how each person can apply these discoveries in one's ongoing transformation. Teacher Bio: Brian Cook is a fellow traveler on the path of transformation that Jesus teaches us about. Raised as a Catholic, Brian attended seminary for a year and a half before becoming disillusioned with…

Soft drink companies are continually researching and developing new ideas.  In 1985, to much fanfare and after spending millions of research dollars, Coca Cola release New Coke.  The result?  It bombed.  Fast-forward to 2006.  Trying to dip a straw into the coffee market, Coca Cola introduced us to Coca Cola BlaK -- a cola drink infused with coffee.  The result?  Anderson Cooper tried it on live television and spit it out.  It bombed, too. In my own opinion, it's almost sacrilegious to taint the reputation of coffee in such a way. Why did these two products fail even though the company millions of dollars and untold hours testing and refining them?  The short answer: they weren't the original Coca Cola.  In fact, the company quickly discovered this and tried to market original Coke as "Classic Coke."  How often do you still here that phrase? When it comes to finding meaning…