Church

As person who traffics in words for a living, I'm interested in how people use words and what that reveals about them. I fielded a call at Blue Have today and the customer says, "You only have eight products on your site." First of all, I know we have more than eight items -- many more -- because I personally created most of them. So what causes a person to exaggerate with such a low (and specific) number? Why pull the number eight out of a hat and not seven or eleven? So when I replied by saying, "Sir, we have many more than that" his response was: "I know but I don't like any of them." Which raises the question: why not just start with that since that was the obvious issue? Words. Interesting, revealing words.

Here is a map of where I'll be working in Denver: View Larger Map

Our girls had friends over to swim today and I had the opportunity to enjoy good conversation with the dad of the other two girls.  He's a deep thinker who is well-read on a variety of topics and has an ability to weave multiple threads together into one coherent paragraph.   I enjoy our conversations because I know they are going to cause me to think about something I haven't thought about before -- or to look at something in a different way.  Our conversation ranged from politics to economics to theology, often blending them into the same topic. Good conversation not only helps to pass the time, it helps to expand the mind.  Christ-followers ought to be among the most well-read folks around.  And not just reading books that reinforce an existing belief or position.  We need to read books that challenge and stretch us.  We (especially pastors) need to…

For the last few weeks I've been thinking and praying about my last teaching series at LifePoint.  When we launched LifePoint in 2005, my first teaching series was entitled, "The Point of Life."  (OK, it was an obvious play on words but I wanted to start from the beginning emphasizing why we were starting a new church).  As I've considered my last teaching series, I've been thinking about what final messages do I want to give before leaving. I've decided to call my last series "My Three Wishes."  Every good pastor harbors ambitions for the people he leads.  We enter into ministry because we believe God has a plan for each person's life and that part of our task is to help them discover and live that purpose.  Being a pastor is like being a coach -- no matter how old you get or how long it's been, you're always…

As many of you know, we began LifePoint in 2005 and for the first two years I worked full-time with the church. We had been granted start-up money that was used during the first two years to provide for salary, rental of our worship space, and other start-up costs. Beginning in 2007, I started working full-time at Blue Haven Pools and Spas since LifePoint was not at a point where it could continue to pay me a full-time salary. The idea was to draw my salary from outside the church while continuing to pastor the church as much as possible.The last two years have been physically and emotionally challenging for me; the last six months even more so (click here to read a post from February about working two jobs). But these were challenges of my own choosing. I do not regret making the decision to work outside the church.…