The Unlikely Disciple

It’s been a while since I’ve read a good book, so The Unlikely Disciple has been a great find. 

The basic premise — a student from crazy-liberal Brown University decides to take  a semester at Liberty, Jerry Falwell’s crazy -conservative University. I’m about halfway and the author, Roose, has been remarkably honest and kind and thoughtful and often hilarious.

I was immeditaely reminded of AJ Jacobs’ The Year of Living Biblically, so I wasn’t too surprised to discover that Jacobs is Roose’s boss. Anywho, so far, so good, if you’re looking for something to read. 

Random Update

Seems like I’ve been in a bit of a blog slump lately; no particular reason, really, other than I haven’t had any super awesome things to blog about (other than Crosspoint, and Tim does that). 

So here’s a series of random thoughts I came up with on the spot:

1. I hope the Penguins win the Cup. 

2. No matter how many times I clean my glasses, they’re always dirty. 

3.  I’m pumped about playing ball this summer. I skipped out on it last year (to, you know, have a baby) and missed it big time. We had our first exhibition game last week and it felt good to just be outside. I’m also one of those weirdo’s who would rather field ground balls for 3 hours than hit. 

4. I’m thoroughly enjoying the ’simple life’ in our tiny apartment. In fact, we were talking about doing another ’stuff purge’ this week because it still seems like there’s still too much laying around. Less really is more.

5. Our new multi-site launch has me feeling crazy excited and crazy overwhelmed. To be clear, I think when you’re feeling like there’s no way you can do something, it’s probably a good sign that you should do it. If the church only does stuff it’s confident it can pull off on its own…well, it’s probably missing the point. 

6. I still choose to use iMovie 06 for my editing. Never made the upgrade (or ‘downgrade’) to ‘08 because it messed around with the program too much and left stuff out. This will be the year I decide to take another step and learn my way around Final Cut Express. Baby steps…

7. The sound of a mosquito in your ear while laying in bed is one of the worst sounds on the planet.

Sermons and Pile Drivers

I spoke at the Hillside Rally last weekend and experienced a ‘ministry first’ — I got to preach from the center of an actual wrestling ring. Yup, it was pretty awesome. And yup, I threw myself against the ropes. 

Good times! And kudos to the Hillside crew for their ingenuity. 

Like a Child

My daughter received her first ‘big girl’ Bible (ie. “not for little babies”) this week from her fantastic children’s pastor, Amy. She was pumped to say the least, and lugged the hardcover book around with her at home all week. 

Yesterday, she took it to preschool for show and tell. 

I was proud. 

I was excited. 

And I was nervous. 

See, no one has told Emily that it’s not a good idea to show people your Bible.

No one has hinted at it not being cool to talk to other people about Jesus. She doesn’t know that she’s supposed to keep that quiet in order to keep up appearances. 

And I hope she never finds that out. 

All she knows is this — Jesus just became a part of her life, and that makes her happy. And so it’s worth telling everyone she knows. It’s worth lugging around a Bible that weighs nearly as much as you do. It’s worth begging to go to church so you don’t miss anything, or not being able to go to sleep unless Daddy prays with you. Again. 

I think I’m starting to understand a little bit more about what it means to have faith like a child. And sometimes, I wonder what happened to mine.

Mother’s Day Announcements

Um, what do you DO now?

I just completed my first full-time day as Creative Arts Pastor at Crosspoint. Crazy! I’ve been asked a few (hundred) times what exactly I do now, and Tim was nice enough to write it up.

Check it out here.