So what is multisite again?

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Here is a really good video that Zondervan has put out to advertise for two great books that you need to read to understand what I do a little bit better.? I like the concept here that the New Testament Church was actually a multisite church.? Interesting.

We have found that we are averaging almost 1000 people each weekend in our multisite campuses after only two short years.? It is really cool to be a part of a church, Forest Park, that truly cares about reaching people for Christ!? Some churches talk a good game, but Forest Park is trying to put our talk into action by sacrificing some of what we like and want so that others outside of the church might find Christ!

Multi-Site ? Being One Church in Multiple Locations from Zondervan on Vimeo.

Keep me accountable please

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I am (for about the billionth time) making a commitment to read the Scriptures daily. I have been challenged over and over that I need to be in the Word daily, for myself, my own walk. I am in the Word each day it seems, however, that is not always for my own personal time. It is often for a message or Bible study I am doing.

One of my buddies from way back at FBC-Springfield, Bryan Shaw is leading his church in OK through a “Read the Bible through in 90 days” deal. ?I thought to myself, self, if those folks can do that, then so can I. Terry Kendrick, my pastor at Hopedale in Ozark used to read through the Bible several times each year. ?He had broken down the Bible into chapters and into five different sections to read from each day. ?It is very similar to this reading program called “The Five Lane Reading Plan.” ?I also looked at Zondervan’s plans, specifically the 90 day plan but liked the 5 lane plan better because of the varied readings from 5 sections of the Bible, not simply a OT reading and a NT reading. ?(Basically, my ADHD kicks in about Genesis 10 and I can’t get any further than that! ?I can’t tell you how many times I have decided to read through the Bible in a year and on about January 15th I was totally off track and defeated.)

So here’s the deal. ?I am going to go for it and make my own read the Bible through in 90 days, or so. with the 5 Lane Reading Plan. ?I am choosing to do the plan that has 15 chapters per day, 5 chapters from 3 of the 5 sections. ?Again, you can go here and join me if you would like. Actually, I would love for you to join me as I need some motivation and support, as Nike would say, “Just do it!” ? I know 15 chapters is a lot of reading…but it probably isn’t near the reading I do on Facebook and reading blogs in my Google Reader! So, I am finally going to put my faith to action here and get going. ?I am praying tht the Lord will help me to stay on track with it this time!

Here is the essense of the plan…

According to this plan the Bible has been divided into 5 Sections.

  • Section 1: Beginnings: Genesis to Ruth (236 Chapters)Section 2: Nation Building: 1 Samuel to Job (242 Chapters)
  • Section 3: Poetry: Psalms to Song of Songs (201 Chapters)
  • Section 4: Prophets: Isaiah to Malachi (250 Chapters)
  • Section 5: New Testament: Matthew to Revelation (260 Chapters)

I will be doing the “Silver Plan” which is broken down, as follows…

Plan 2:?The Silver Plan

If you want to finish the Bible nearly 4 1/2 times in a year (nearly 9 times in two years); read 5 chapters from three sections every day.

After day 1, your record will look like this:

Genesis 6
1 Samuel 6
Psalm 6

After day 2, the continuation of your record will look like this:

Genesis 6
 1 Samuel 6
Psalm 6
Isaiah 6
Matthew 6
Genesis 11

On day 3 you can start reading from 1 Samuel 6

SO…Here goes day one…

Genesis 1-5; 1 Samuel 1-5; Psalm 1-5

Please feel free to comment and encourage me along this journey. ?I may not always do a post on this blog for every day, but I will however keep you updated on my progress!

Why? The Problem of Evil and Suffering

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I can remember in my Philosophy of Religion class in seminary spent a very long time discussing this issue.? I believe that Dr. Keith Putt knew that we would be facing this issue over and over in our daily lives and ministry.? It seems for a twenty something guy with “the world by the tail” something that might not be applicable at all.? However, it seems that my seminary education got personal very quickly.

One of my great friends is Jenny Crowder Long.? She was Jenny Crowder when I met her as a little 7th grade girl in my youth group.? She was also the youngest daughter of an amazing lady–Martha Crowder.? Martha was my secretary at First Baptist Battlefield, my first ministry position.? Basically, Martha kept me straightened out for the year and a half while I was a youth pastor there in Battlefield.

Right after I took this Philosophy of Religion class, I got a phone call from Jenny saying that her mom had a very aggressive cancer and only had a short time to live.? Why? What do you say? Why would God do this? Eventually, Jesus took Martha home to heaven to be with Him.? That left a huge hole in the lives of those around Martha. The amazing part of this story is what God continues to do to help Jenny use this pain and suffering for His glory.? She is a psychologist and helps people every day to deal with the problems and issues in their lives.

One case in particular where I saw God use Jenny’s pain for His glory was the summer she was my intern in Burleson, TX.? One of my student’s mother was dying of, you guessed it, a very aggressive cancer.? This woman had gone through a battery of therapy to kill the cancer and she had “beat cancer.”? She beat cancer for less than a year.? She eventually was taken home to heaven the spring before Jenny came to be my intern.? God used Martha’s death to help Jenny minister to this young lady in her pain. Does it make the pain of either lady’s death less difficult? Absolutely not! However, God is sovereign over both blessings and suffering (see Job–“he gives and takes away…blessed be the name of the Lord.”)

If you have been living and breathing for very long, you will have to deal with this issue of suffering.? The problem is, especially with guys, we don’t deal with it very well, do we?? We tend to “clam up” and not want to discuss the issues.? We tend to push everything down deep into our hearts.? We often get mad at God and other people who are His representatives.

Our LifeGroup has been wrestling with this issue lately and I have been researching a bit on the topic.? Here is a great series from David Platt on this issue.? Check it out.? Has some great resources as well such as a Small Group curriculum.

Camille and Kevin?s Weekend?|?Buckhead Church Blog

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Check this out! ?What a cool deal! ?This couple got married on Saturday and then were baptized on Sunday at Buckhead Church in Atlanta. ?Click on the link below and watch their baptism videos. ?I absolutely love to hear stories of changed lives!

I am waiting on a couple as I write for some premarital counseling. ?I actually enjoy hearing each couples’ story. ?I get to hear theirs tonight here in a few minutes.

Camille and Kevin?s Weekend?|?The Official Buckhead Church Blog .

The Right People in the Right Places–Perry Noble, The Nines

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Leadership Network had an awesome free conference that was 100% online on 9.9.09 called “The Nines.” ?The entire set of 9 minute or less videos are available here.

Kevin Stratton sent me a link to this video of Perry Noble from New Spring Church in Anderson, SC. ?He has a lot of great things to say…all in less than 7 minutes!

Some great nuggets from the message I really connected with are:

  • A movement of God cannot be planned, but it must be prepared for.
  • We try to strategize what the Holy Spirit is going to do….we cannot dictate what God wants to do.
  • Acts 1…leadership challenge.
  • Are you dealing with a leadership challenge? ?Do you have the right people, in the right places, doing the right things? ?OR do you have a benevolence ministry going on because you are afraid to have a hard conversation with someone that can’t get a job done? ?(OUCH! emphasis mine)
  • We as Christians are called to higher standards and if we want to prepare for a movement of God, we’ve got to have the right people in the right places…
  • And then all of sudden things like Acts 2 CAN HAPPEN!

The question isn’t whether each person on our team should be ON our team. ?The question is WHAT PLACE on our team should that person be. ?As Jim Collins writes in his book Good to Great, each person needs to be on the bus, but maybe some people need to change seats! ?That is really one of the most difficult parts of my job, I think…having the discernment and wisdom to know which person needs to be in each seat on the bus. ?Also, there is that crazy little thing called a poor self-esteem that rears its ugly head and causes me to, as Perry Noble says, “have a benevolance ministry” because I am afraid to have a hard conversation. ?I mean, I just really want everyone to like me! ?And maybe if I don’t say anything, they will simply move to the right seat…maybe?…hopefully? ?Probably not, David.

Question: ?Are you the right person, in the right place, doing the right things on your team? ?Gut check time.

Here is the full ?YouTube video…enjoy!

New look for stonesthrowblog.com!

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For those of you who read blogs on a reader, like I do, you could care less about “how” my blog looks. You simply pull up your Google Reader, for example, and read my post (which happens on average once every two weeks!) I am going to try to work on the extreme length between posts.

I am a perfectionist (I know that seems like a load of rubish if you have seen my office, or garage). But I can’t seem to work unless everything is working properly and in its place. I don’t like to clean up my office, for example, because I can’t ever “do it right.” This blog is kind of like that…I simply don’t have time to keep tweeking and making it “just right.” The problem is that I get into a funk and don’t want to write anything because I want to say it “just right” and it needs to look “just right.” I can’t tell you how many drafts I have sitting ready to be published but haven’t been because I don’t have it just right.

Ok, so I am turning over a new leaf. (I say this about every three months…but I really mean it…at least until midnight or so!!) No, I really am turning over a new leaf…I am revamping the ol’ blog and making a commitment to do a better job of communicating what is going on in our lives and on my heart as a pastor. I am making a commitment to post more often and post entries that aren’t “totally cooked.” This might be a dangerous thing…especially to you English majors and teachers.

It may be a few weeks before everything is up and going smoothly, but I am working on it. I won’t be able to work on it much this weekend as we have SEVEN kids staying with us on Friday and Saturday nights! Taylor’s friend, Dakota is staying the night on Friday and our friends, the Clements have a funeral and their four are staying with us on Friday and Saturday night! That is a HUGE prayer request there my friends–seven kids and three dogs! Bright side=good blog-worthy stuff to write about, I bet!

P.S.–My mom has already voted against “all the changes.” She was very frustrated to have the Twitter feed on the “wrong side,” for starters. Then the colors, it is hard to see, etc., etc. etc. My dad laughed and said, “we love change…I mean, we’re Baptists…we love change–within reason!”

Hopefully a CHANGE for the BETTER!

David

flickr.com test with a great pic of Taylor boy!

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SANY0303

Originally uploaded by dalestine

I am trying to get an easy way to get pictures up on my blog and have come across flickr again. I think I will be able to post pictures from my iPhone and blog them with relative ease.

This is a great picture of Taylor is one of his last games of his season this summer. The guys did an awesome job of growing and improving this season and actually won the post season tournament. (I like to call it our own little World Series . . . but who’s keeping track!) The guys only lost one game the entire season–their first game against the Mudcats! They kept working hard and getting better. I am really proud of them!

Youth Camp–Monday Night

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We had an awesome night at youth camp last night!! The worship was really good and I felt good about the message! The theme is “fresh” for camp this year. I will be talking about four different passages where people had “fresh encounters” with the Lord and He changed their lives. Last night, we talked about Nicodemus. The Gospel in one verse–John 3:16!

We are in a TINY room with the boys! We “acquired” a mattress from one of the dorms for the boys to share and Jenny and I are on a double bed using their fleece throws that Grandma Betty made for them this Christmas. We didn’t bring double sheets, just twins as we thought we would all be in twin bunks or something like that.

Taylor and Tucker stayed in the worship service last night through the entire service–including my talk. Tucker loves the drums, so he needed mom to hold him up to see the drums during worship and Taylor stayed on the side all night to watch the band and dad from close up. I’m really proud of them, but they are wearing mom out right now in that TINY room while she is getting ready!! Pray for that deal!!

Pray for our house to sell!! Did I mention the house needs to sell?!?

Here are some pics from last night:

Sunday night reflections

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Wow, what a crazy weekend to end a great, but crazy week. I always feel like I am rushing to catch up after trips like we took on Monday and Tuesday to St. Louis. It is always awesome to get away and focus on ourselves, but it is always a feeling of trying to make up for “lost” time. I really need to get over that, don’t I. Time spent on my life and marriage is not “lost” time.

We went out on Friday to get some last minute things for KidStuf, including a Tuxedo tails coat for Ryan to wear during KidStuf (that was awesome–will get to that in a minute though.) The folks at Karl’s Tuxedos really helped us out by letting us borrow the coat for free for the production! Thanks Karl’s . . . it wouldn’t have been near as good without the tails! The maestro and CFC thanks you!

Speaking of KidStuf, it was awesome today!! We had a KidStuf attendance record this morning of 141!!? What was really cool about that 141 was the fact that there were a TON of guests with us! I hope that we will see more of them back with us soon!

I am still amazed at our kids who are inviting so many of their friends that they have to make their parents drive two vehicles to transport them all to church! I told our folks during prayer this morning that the key to their zeal is the fact that they don’t know they aren’t supposed to bring friends to church! They haven’t learned that we do “hide it under a bushel, yes!” Of course I am being a bit facetious, but not that much. I just love the passion that these kids have for their friends to come to church with them. Who knows how many we will have with the “contest” for next month’s KidStuf in the mix. Kids, get those friends here to win the iPod Shuffle!