Grab a tissue on this one!
Take a look at this video of what Perry Noble’s church, NewSpring did for Mother’s Day. Better get a tissue as well!
Church of Oprah
CHURCH OF OPRAH
In his Serious Times Web site, James Emery White (a Preaching Magazine contributing editor) talks about the latest wave of Oprah influence: as America’s spiritual guide. Here is what he wrote.? Interesting stuff.
“Much of her guidance is deeply Christian and highly commendable, pulling from her Baptist upbringing. In her book, The Gospel According to Oprah, Marcia Nelson outlines some of the commendable aspects of Oprah’s spirituality, including the themes of forgiveness and generosity, self-examination, gratitude and community.
“But there’s more to her spirituality than a few broad, generic Christian themes. It increasingly reflects currents of thought embodied by such authors as Deepak Chopra, Marianne Williamson, and most recently, Eckhart Tolle (pronounced ‘toe-lee’), whose latest book, A New Earth, has seen nearly 5 million shipped with the Oprah seal on the front thanks to a series of 10 ‘live’ Monday night Web seminars, which began on March 3 featuring Tolle and Winfrey on Oprah’s website. So popular were the webcasts the first night brought down the server when more than 500,000 people tried to log on. Now, nearly 2 million have downloaded or streamed the first class. So what are people learning?
“As Tolle writes in the foreword to his book, Stillness Speaks, his thinking ‘can be seen as a revival for the present age of the oldest form of recorded spiritual teaching: the sutras of ancient India.’
“Translation? Hinduism. Or as he packages it, an eclectic gathering of gleanings from Hinduism, Buddhism and watered-down Christianity. Result? A fresh presentation of what is commonly called the New Age Movement, which tends to have four basic ideas: Read more
KidStuf Season One is in the Books!
We just had our final KidStuf of the 2007-2008 season last Sunday.? We had a really good crowd–a record number of children!? We have found it to be a great thing for us to do–difficult, but great.? One of the best things besides partnering with parents is the amount of volunteers who help with KidStuf.? It has quickly become our largest volunteer ministry.
Here is the video I put together of the first season . . . enjoy!
Tattoos and the Terrible Twos
As I wrote in my last post, Taylor turned 7 on Wednesday.? Taylor has a little brother named Tucker.? To say he is all boy, and in that terrible two stage would be an understatement!? He is awesome, but he is just willing to do absolutely ANYTHING and doesn’t care about the consequences!? Taylor would have never done some of the things that Tucker does on a regular basis.
Yesterday, Jenny and Tucker came by the church to drop off some things and say “hi” to me.? As Jenny was talking with Kris for like 30 seconds tops, Tucker had grabbed a Sharpie off of the welcome table and began to mark all over his arm.? Jenny asked him what he was thinking and he said he wanted “to be like the basketball players!”? How awesome is that??? Our kid wants to be a baller in every sense of the word!!
FYI, Sharpie takes a long time to get off of your skin.? Two baths and you can still see the “ink” on his arms.
Any good stories about your kids or you and mayhem??
Happy Birthday Taylor!!!
Our “little boy” is SEVEN!! Wow, where has the time gone? Taylor was born 7 years ago, April 16th (Tax Day that year) and the day after Easter. What a whirlwind of activity that afternoon and evening! He was breech and our doc tried to do an external aversion (externally manipulate the baby) on Friday and were excited to see him, but he didn’t cooperate. Jenny actually went to school to teach at Clever on Monday. I went out to Clever to get something from her and she said she was having some “back pain.” Her friend Gayle started timing the “back pains” and then told me in the hall that “we are probably having a baby soon.”
Jenny called the doctors office and they wanted her to head immediately to the hospital. She called me before she left school on a land line because she didn’t have any more cell phone battery!! And then drove HERSELF into the hospital! My dad got in her vehicle to take it back to Ozark and it would barely start–she was driving on fumes!! God was really watching over her! Good times. Our lives will never be the same without him.
Happy Birthday Taylor boy!!
Mom, here are some pictures of the cake(s). The basketball was the original cake and the small baseball was leftover batter that I decided to decorate as well. He has his own brand of sporting equipment–Taylor Boy, est. 2001.
D Now–Northside Baptist Church, Neosho
Finally got back into town from Neosho, MO around 5:45 p.m. I was the speaker for a Disciple Now at Northside Baptist Church where my lifelong friend Lyndall Jones is Music and Youth Pastor. We had a really good weekend. I haven’t done a Disciple Now weekend in any capacity since we planted Finley Crossings. I used to do several D Nows each year when I was a full time student pastor. I actually had a lot of fun talking to the students and hanging out with the band.
Something that I thought about this morning during the invitation time was the impact that these kind of events has on not just students, but the leaders. There was an awesome group of students from the BSM at University of Arkansas that were leaders at each house. There were several times during the weekend that some of those student leaders as well as other leaders from the church were at the alter praying.
I remember some of the most powerful events in my life were not “for” me, but they were for “the kids,” but the Lord had something else in mind for me. How about you? What were some of the best things in your life to help you spiritually?
Here is a video slideshow I put together to go along with the sermon on Sunday. I love the lyrics to this song! Still work to be done in this city!!
Friday is for Friends
Friday is for friends. This Friday is for church planter, Marc Backes. He is planting Eternity, a new church in his home town of Jefferson City, MO. Check out the website here. You can check out his blog here.
Here is a great video prospectus he put together. Reminds me of our video 6 years ago, eh Brad??
Old Guys Night Out (Missouri State vs. Mizzou)
I have never done this before, but I called in to a local sports talk show and got some free tickets to the Missouri State Baseball game versus #8 Mizzou tonight. It was a good game for the first few innings, but turned ugly quickly late in the game. Bears pitchers just couldn’t throw strikes and the pitches thrown for strikes didn’t have any movement and got beat around quite a bit. Actually, one home run still hasn’t come down yet, I think! It began to rain about half-way through the game, so after the Bears went down 8-3, we headed to the van. It’s a good thing we left when we did as it started pouring on the drive home and they delayed (and probably shortened) the game.
A former student in my youth ministry at Hopedale was there tonight at the game as a “Diamond Gal,” MSU’s baseball cheerleaders. Man, I am old. She gave Taylor a little baseball and had him come up and make “Bear Faces” on the TV camera in between innings.
I think Taylor had a good time. It was good to have some “big boy and daddy time” as Tucker stayed home with mommy. That is a huge sacrifice for mom, and we are grateful!! Surprisingly, we got out of there without spending a dime on concessions or souvenirs! Wow, I don’t know how that happened.
KidStuf Pics
Borrowed ur stole these pictures off of Eric Barb’s Facebook page! Enjoy the new picture gallery feature of the new WordPress Upgrade.
Lot’s of questions about “what is this KidStuf you speak of?” Here are a few answers. Read more
The Regeneration Devotional Continues on the 14th
We will begin a journey through the Book of Romans together on the Devo. It begins this next Monday, April 14th. Join us in the word . . . and on the web!!
