UPDATE: AUGUST 24, 2005 Well, we have just finished going through the most difficult set of messages I have yet preached. We've covered some really tough ground, but we are now ready to dig into the next steps. What happens after we come through a time of confession and prayer? What next? We'll …
Leadership Summit 2005 Day 1.3
One of the most remarkable stories in South Africa is that of a small, poor, township known as Soweto. In this unlikely locale, Mosa Sono leads a thriving congregation of over 8,000 with a commitment to present the gospel of Jesus in a way that touches the practical lives of hurting people. …
Mad About Principles
For the past few months, I have been a very angry person at least on the inside, and I haven't been able to figure out exactly what was wrong. Mad at God I went to a session during the spring time about getting emotionally healthy as a pastor, and the teacher encouraged us to do an exercise where …
My Kryptonite
Superman had only one weakness (other than his crush on Lois Lane)---Kryptonite. If he was in the presence of this material, he would become as weak as a child. My kryptonite is lack of trust. …
028-05 — Obeying His Commands
In Nehemiah 1:9, it's clear that returning to God is only the first half of what God wants from his people. The other half is obedience. In order for God to release his blessings on his people, he requires them to return to him and obey him. In the original Hebrew, that word "obey" in the NIV was …
My own experience with email scams
Back when I first became a pastor, I got this email and was astounded. It was the first of its kind that I received. I have since learned my lesson, but at the time, I was quite interested. After I did more research, I became concerned about the whole deal and was mostly worried that other pastors …
bpshoppingspree.com is a scam
bpshoppingspree is no longer online... The popularity of this post has resulted in some backlash where some people don't believe my claims that bpshoppingspree.com is a scam. In fact, one commenter has accused me of failing to do my research. I've changed this post slightly to reflect some …
Leadership Summit 2005 Day 1.2
Leadership Is Stewardship -- Rick Warren The second session of the day was Rick Warren, pastor of Saddleback Community Church in Southern California, and author of the immensely popular and record-setting book, The Purpose Driven Life. It is no secret that The Purpose Driven Life is now the single …
My Transition Mission
For some time now, I have been wondering exactly what my role should be during this time of transition in our church. My wife and I are planning to move to Lafayette, Indiana to plant a new church, but Northwest Baptist is letting us stay here for some time during our fundraising efforts. I'm truly …
028-04 — Returning To God
As soon as Nehemiah has spoken the words of confession in his prayer to God, he asks God to "Remember" his promises to the people of Israel that he would restore them if they returned to him. In this message, I look at why returning to God is important, and what it requires. Download Now …
Leadership Summit 2005 Day 1.1
For the past few days, my wife and I have been attending the Leadership Summit at Willow Creek Community Church, one of the largest churches in North America. I've been to four of these conferences now, and each time I go, I end up getting motivated to be a better leader, to try harder, to rely on …
Summit 2005 is over
The Willow Creek Leadership Summit 2005 is over, and I have to tell you that it was an incredible experience as usual. A little different from previous years in a couple respects, but powerful nonetheless. I promised you that I would blog my thoughts, and I'll keep my word, it's just that I need to …
Blogging the Leadership Summit
During the next couple of days, my wife and I will be attending the Willowcreek Leadership Summit in their hip, happenin', brand-spankin' new Barrington campus. I still can't believe how much we are spending for these next few days, but honestly, when I consider how much my motivation level goes …
Email Notification Updated
Well, I thought it was time to update the ol' email feature of my site. Now, you should get nice and pretty emails like this one! …
028-03b — We Seek God’s Face
_This last Sunday, I wasn't able to preach because of my trip to New Jersey; however, I prepared a small group discussion guide to help the people in my congregation think through what it means to seek God's face._ Here it is... # The Challenge I want to thank those of you who've been …
Updated Email Notification Plugin
Something that has bothered me for a while is the [email notification plugin](http://watershedstudio.com/portfolio/software/wp-email-notification.html) for wordpress not being able to handle markdown... Well, I fixed that! I also added a feature for you to create an "email template" file. It's …