Pick one

The current series we are doing in student ministry has caused me to think a lot more about Jesus. This may sound crazy, but it is easy (especially as a pro pastor) to get caught up in A LOT of other junk related to Christianity, and lose focus of Christ (Wiki the Crusades for proof). In studying the ancient writings known as the Gospels, the polarizing nature of Christ has really sunk in. It is all about Him. All of history, good and evil, right and wrong, hinges on Christ. As a reasoning, intellectual human, you must believe one of two things: He was who said He was, or He was a VERY very successful liar and whack job. I know liars and whack jobs, and they are either in prison, in rehab, or are the dictator of North Korea… they do not have a massive number of worldwide followers spanning thousands of years.

Which do you believe?

Photo-A-Day Journal

What a way to keep a journal. This guy took a Polaroid photo each day of his life for 18 years before passing away in 1997. You can read the story HERE and check out the online photo gallery HERE.

My Tat

I got a tattoo on Tuesday night. It is a wedding ring with my wife’s initials (M and L) on either side of my finger. Heres the pics…

Simply Jesus

This is part of Creative Chaos. This video is 100%, pure, Grade A animation and is a message bumper for our current series, Simply Jesus. It was made by the ever talented Mike Andrew.

Beckham’s Boot

Its not secret who my man crush is. This weekend he kicked a goal from 10 yards BEYOND midfield. (see vide to the right) This is hard to do standing still with no other players around, try it. He did it in a game. Despite those who hate him for his fame, Becks continues to prove he is still one of the most accurate footballers in the world.

ASBO Latest

Internet Explorer is dumb

The more I learn, develop, design, and program the web, the more I feed my deep resentment for Internet Explorer. For everything you make that looks great in a decent browser, you have to make spend 4 times the time making it IE compatible. For instance, if you have been to this site in the last few week via IE 6 or below, you have experienced a totally different site than how it was made to be (hmmm, there are some spiritual connections there). I apologize and am working on it now.

If you are wondering, why bother with IE if it is so dumb? Well, because 65% of web users still use it. I am proud to report that only 40% of Rethynk visitors use it though… do the world a favor, and tell it about Firefox!

Bonhoeffer

“To deny oneself is to be aware only of Christ and no more of self, to see only Him who goes before and no more the road which is too hard for us.”

Rain in AZ

Its been raining here in the desert for 3 days now and snowing up in the AZ mountains. This is weird for Arizona in May. I like the rain. I find it soothing, relaxing, and cleansing. I also like watching my wife get worked up about how ridiculous Arizona drivers get when it rains. She is from TN and gets so spitfire mad that drivers on the road around her drive 5 MPH with their hazards on at the sight of drizzle. I just saw a new report that Phoenicians were actually calling out of work on Friday because of the rain… we even have a Storm Watch special on the news. And we, as a church staff, openly accept that attendance this weekend will be down due to the rain and Memorial Day. Phoenix is a strange place.

The Jesus Texts

The first paragraph is part of Creative Chaos.

We started a series about Jesus last week in student ministry called, “Jesus.” (see graphic below) As part of the goal to cause students to realize their first love, we set up The Jesus Texts. Through the tool provided us by MobiMark, students are invited to subscribe to get random quotes, facts, and teachings about Jesus sent to their phone throughout the week by our staff. Its a very useful tool. The idea is to keep Jesus in the conscious of our students and staff all week, not just on Sundays. We are finding that there are many creative options for ministry that can be had through text. If you want to subscribe, text the word “jesus” to 23907.

In my search to send out the first blast this week, I came across my daily devo at Upper Room. It made me pause. It seems like lately I have been keeping myself busy, a workaholic. I don’t understand where this comes from in ministry. Its not like I make more money the more I work or I get closer to God the more time I put in doing “his business.” It seems this has been something my colleagues have been going through too. Read more

Next Page »