General

For the past six weeks we have been planning for an upcoming direct mail campaign. We were blessed with a donor who offered us matching funds and a friend who provided deep discounts on the postcards themselves. As part of the fundraising process, we solicited money from outside sources and planned for a special contribution at LifePoint. Yesterday was the day for our special contribution. For the uninitiated, a special contribution is simply a second offering. This would be our first special offering since starting LifePoint last year. Doing a special offering during summer is a bit risky because of the unpredictability of attendance patterns. Yet, in order to do the campaign this fall we needed to have this offering in July.So ... we began promoting it and encouraging people to make plans on how they could help. The Lord smiled down upon us. We had our largest crowd of…

I'm teaching this weekend from Acts 26 about the implications surrounding how we answer the question "What do you I believe about Jesus?" The chapter is essentially Paul retelling the story of his conversion before Festus and King Agrippa. As I was reading through it I was struck by this section:"I too was convinced that I ought to do all that was possible to oppose the name of Jesus of Nazareth. And that is just what I did in Jerusalem. On the authority of the chief priests I put many of the saints in prison, and when they were put to death, I cast my vote against them. Many a time I went from one synagogue to another to have them punished, and I tried to force them to blaspheme. In my obsession against them, I even went to foreign cities to persecute them" (Acts 26:9-11).What struck me about it…

I've been doing a bit of reading to get ready for my next teaching series in August ("Who is My Neighbor?"). It is a series that will look at the local and global implications of being a Christ-follower. One of the books I just picked up at Barnes & Nobles is "The Call to Conversion: Why is Always Personal But Never Private" by Jim Wallis. It was originally published in the 1980s but was revised in 2005. I didn't go to Barnes & Nobles intending to pick up a book by Jim Wallis. I've heard of Wallis throughout the years and mainly looked at him as a left-leaning wishy washy evangelical. He is the founder of Sojourners, a ministry described as "Christians for justice and peace." You can read his bio on the Sojourner website here.But I must admit ... this book is beginning to change my opinion of Jim…

After having three of our directional signs stolen, we had to order new signs for LifePoint. I used this opportunity to upgrade our signs to something a little nice (and they even weigh less). Here's what they will look like:

Tonya and the girls are in Memphis to visit her parents. Meanwhile, back on the homefront ...OK, I'm not necessarily your typical bachelor for the week kind of guy. I don't eat only off paper plates or use the same cup over and over. I have reused the same bowl and spoon for cereal, but only after washing them each time. I have shaved -- in fact, I've decided to grow my goatee back while the girls are away.But I do find that it's easier to eat out than to eat at home. After last night's planning session for LifePoint's booth at CityFest, we had left over pizza. No one would take it so it went in my fridge. And ... I had cold pizza for breakfast. While out and about, I went to Red Brick Pizza for lunch. It was close to where I was going to pick up…