Many of my friends and those who encounter me know that I have been impacted and discipled from afar by the preaching and teaching of Mark Driscoll. Driscoll is a pastor and church-planter out in Seattle and in many ways the way he communicates and teaches is similar to the way I want to and also in ways that connect with my heart and mind. About a month or so ago Driscoll responded to a post by a Christian leader about a “hard” subject and Driscoll blasted him and another leader. I have to confess, I laughed at it and enjoyed it. One reason is because I totally disagreed with what this other leader was saying and, two, because I have a sarcastic demeanor that cuts people down. The ladder, and not the former, is the problem, because it’s not living a life congruent to the Gospel.

[Read more…]

Today for our Monday curriculum at the Training Center here at Athletes in Action’s home office we read a chapter from Os Guinness’ book, “The Call.” I have yet to read the whole of this book, but the chapter, entitled “A Focused Life,” we read for our workshop on “Time Management and Time Famine” blew me away and has me wanting to buy the whole book (which I don’t need to buy another book at the time, but the temptation is there). The whole chapter floored me, but what really struck a cord with me were some quotes from Dorothy L. Sayers.

Here they are for you!

[Read more…]

Happy Thursday! Today I have had the day off and I took full advantage of it! I slept in and got to chill a bit, which has been a blessing! See the last 4 days have been our Athletes in Action Spring Break Urban Immersion in downtown Dayton! It consisted of working at the Life Enrichment Center (LEC) and also hearing some great talks. They put us to work at the LEC and it was a privilege to serve there and also reach out to those who are less fortunate than many of us.

Over the next couple of days as I process a ton of things that God has been teaching me I will be posting some reflections of race, the marginalized, how seeing God’s heart for the disenfranchised affects the way we see and live the Gospel, and lastly some reflections on challenging the status-quo of our day. I figured if I actually wrote this that I would be disciplined to actually get these thoughts up on the blog. But until then, I thought I would share some lyrics and thoughts from the Jeremy Camp and Bethany Dillon concert I got to check out last night.

[Read more…]

For those of you who watched the Olympic coverage this evening and happened to see the coverage of SnowBoard Cross you might have seen a Czech named Michal Novotny ripping it up! He finished 13th and I’m stoked to say I know him and that he is a friend.

Michal attended the Sports Faculty University in Prague where I worked to see Czech students respond to Jesus’ offer of forgiveness and a full life! It was fun to hang out a ton with Michal while I was in Czech. We even went riding together a couple times and he taught be all about Skier and SnowBoard Cross. Sorry to say I’m not as good as Michal! Czech out this link to see the results! By the way Michal way to work the duct tape on that helmet! You’re keeping it real bro!

Okay I need to get on the phone! There happens to be only $83 of monthly support left to raise! Praise Jesus!

While I’ve been down here in Daytona Beach at New Staff Training I’ve been struggling with meeting and spending time with the Lord. It just seems as I’m sitting in hours upon hours of meetings and I have very little down time this creates a situation where I’m not practicing spiritual disciplines. So this morning as I was sitting in a another meeting (I have a confession – I’m not excited that I have to sit in this meeting room at 8:30 am. I have been praying that the Lord would help me with my attitude.) I was surfing and I found a great little piece, from CJ Mahaney, about spiritual disciplines. I pray it speaks to you as it spoke to me. He was asked to describe his present practice of the spiritual disciplines and this was his response:
[Read more…]

This past weekend we actually had time off! I didn’t know what to do with myself! I didn’t have any chapters to read, or a final exam to study for! So 10 of us made our way to the Magic Kingdom, at Disney World, this past Saturday and had a blast. I was with several new staff friends that had never been to Disney before and it was fun to see how they responded to the “Disney Experience.” There is so much that I could write about that came to mind throughout the day. But I’m going to zero in on two things; 1) the legacy of Walt Disney and beyond, and 2) a vision of heaven.

the legacy of Walt and beyond

Now I want to offer a disclaimer before I get rolling into this thought – I’m not sold out a 100% about everything that the Disney corporation does and/or supports, but it is amazing to think of the earthly legacy that the man Walt Disney has had on our planet. Think of how many children have smiled, and for that matter how many adults have smiled, due to his dreams that have come true.

[Read more…]

Before I began the trek down to New Staff Training, in Florida, I opened my iTunes and purchased a couple of albums for the road. This fall I discovered Derek Webb and I’ve been blown away whenever I have listened to his music. So one of the CDs I purchased is his new CD – Mockingbird. Nearly every song on the CD is challenging and I think the CD contains many messages that the Church needs to hear. Here are three of my favorites from his new CD. Read up and then open your iTunes and buy it! I’ll try to get some more posts up soon! I’ve been working on this month’s prayer letter on the new Mac and new programs which has been fun but time consuming! BE A REVOLUTION!
[Read more…]

Happy last day of classes of New Staff Training! Yes today is a glorious day and I will not have to do 6 hours of homework each afternoon and evening for the remaining two weeks down here! I have enjoyed the two classes we have taken, Bible Study Methods and Doctrinal Survey, but I have felt like I’ve been trying to put my mouth around the opening of fire hydrant. Do you know what I mean? Picture trying to get your lips and mouth around the edges of a fire hydrant as it is shooting out gallons, upon gallons, of water. It is impossible isn’t it!?

Well, that is what I have been doing and I’ll be straight with you all – I have loved it! I have been living on a steady stream of caffeine, through the means of lots of coffee, but I have truly enjoyed “loving the Lord with my mind” again over the last two weeks. Over the last year or so I’ve taken a little hiatus from study a ton of theology (the study of God) and apologetics (defending the faith) because there have been points where my mind gets light-years ahead of my heart.

[Read more…]