Link love

• Seth Godin is one of my favorite bloggers.  He has incredible insight and is able to communicate his thoughts clearly and concisely.  He had a great post that I believe everyone should read.  It applies to those in corporate America as well as those on staff at a church.
• This post by Pete Wilson, pastor of Cross Point Church in Nashville, TN is a great reminder of how awesome Heaven is going to be.
• Tony Morgan wrote this week about some of his observations of churches he’s visited over the past few months.  This is a great eye-opener about how to “do church.”

one of my favorite videos

I love this video.  My kids love it.  We laugh out loud every time we watch it and creates at least an hour’s worth of imitations from our family.  I hope you enjoy it, too.

where have i been?

Last week, we took some time to go on a vacation with the family to Surfside Beach.  For those of you not familiar with the SC coastline, that’s just south of Myrtle Beach but quieter and more family-oriented.  We had a great time – in fact, here’s a quick recap of the week:

• Left Greenville Sunday afternoon.  Stopped at Rush’s in Columbia for a milkshake (can I get a witness?).
• Laid on the beach.
• Ate frozen lemonade from the people pushing the cart on the beach.
• Walked on the beach.
• Ate seafood.
• Ate ice cream from Painter’s just about every night.
• Walked around Broadway at the Beach.
• Played putt-putt.
• Searched for shells.
• Tried not to get taken by the rip currents.
• Huddled under the small beach umbrella while it rained for a short time.
• Laughed – a lot.
• Rode the body board.
• Tried to skim board.
• Walked on the pier. Our oldest son got to throw back a tiny shark a man caught.
• Saw the new Harry Potter movie.
• Got a little teary seeing the empty land that used to be the Pavilion in Myrtle Beach (LOTS of memories there).
• Played games at the arcade.
• Drove back home on Saturday, stopping at Rush’s in Columbia for a late lunch (we really love that place).

It was great to be away, spend time with family, and just enjoy being disconnected for a bit.  But it’s always good to be home.

Sunday recap (early)

Starting tomorrow, we’re taking a few days off and getting away as a family so I thought I’d go ahead and let you know what we’re doing on Sunday.

Set list:

• Rain Down
• Mighty To Save
• Jesus Paid It All
• All Because Of Jesus

We’re continuing our series on “The Basics.”  This week, Cliff is talking about “The Commitment” (Baptism).  After someone becomes a Christian, the next step is to go public in baptism.  There’s nothing magical about the water and baptism doesn’t save you.  But it does symbolize your commitment and it follows Jesus’ example.

Freedom Fellowship’s baptism is next Sunday evening (July 26) at Lake Lyman.  It’s not too late to sign up.  Just call the church (877.3604) and register.  And if you’ve already been baptized, then come out and support those who are stepping out and proclaiming their faith.  It’s gonna be a party!  I hope to see you there.

Link Love

Great links and reads for the week:

• Cliff wrote this great post on Steve McNair.  I’m a huge Tennessee Titans fan and his death was a big shock.  More shocking were the seemingly apparent circumstances.

• Perry Noble seems to punch me in the gut with a lot of what he says.  I’ve never known anyone to speak truth so boldly.  This post on “Innovation or Investigation” is no exception. It was refreshing to hear this from a church I know to be one of the most cutting-edge, innovative churches in the world.  My favorite quote from this post is “When we launch a ‘good idea’ that isn’t a ‘God idea, the results will prove to be fruitless.”  Wow.

• I had the incredible opportunity to pre-read Wasabi Gospel by Shawn Wood.  Read my review here.  You can also go see what other people are saying about the book here.  If you haven’t bought the book, go get it now.

• Michael Harrison is one of my “Twitter” friends.  We met through Twitter and have had the opportunity to meet briefly once.  He has been an incredible encouragement to me, consistently and genuinely caring about me and praying for me.  He wrote a very thought-provoking post on the memorial service of Michael Jackson that I’d encourage you to read.

• Casey Ross is one of those guys I’d definitely recommend reading if you’re looking to be challenged as a leader.  He recently wrote a post that dealt with setting yourself up to show that people do matter.

Sunday recap

• Set list:
  • All Bow Down
  • Majestic
  • How Great Is Our God
  • Revelation Song
  • Spring Of Life

• We continued our Basics series today talking about the promise of Heaven.
• Jesus promised life after death (John 14:1-4)
• Why will Heaven be amazing?  Many of us think about Heaven as a big family reunion and/or a place to get our questions answered about the Bible, aliens, why did Brad Pitt leave Jennifer Aniston, etc.
• Seeing friends and family won’t compare to seeing God.
• Everyone lives forever.  The question is where will you be living?  (John 14:4-7)
• Don’t be fooled in believing if you’re good, then you’ll go to Heaven and if you’re bad, then you go to Hell.
• There will be a lot of “good” people in Hell because how good you are won’t get you to Heaven.  It’s only through Jesus and through His grace.
• Favorite quote of the day:  “People think Ed McMahon is in Heaven saying ‘Heeeeeeere’s Michael’, and Michael Jackson comes out doing the moonwalk while Billy Mays is trying to sell Oxi-Clean to the angels.”

Wasabi Gospel

I was fortunate enough to get an advanced copy of Shawn Wood’s new book, Wasabi Gospel, and be a part of his Book Bomb on Amazon.  You can get the book here.

Shawn is a graduate of Charleston Southern University (which happens to be my alma mater – Go Bucs!) and is the Experiences and Creative Communications Pastor at Seacoast Church.  He previously wrote a critically-acclaimed book titled 200 Pomegranates and an Audience of One.  I’m not sure why Shawn names his books after obscure foods but I’m looking forward to Eggplant Jesus (just kidding – I made that up).

While I just started reading the book, I can tell already this is going to be a tough, gut-checking, toe-stepping, walk through the teachings of Jesus.  While it probably won’t be pleasant, it’s just the kind of thing we I need from time to time.  You see, I was raised in church and I have a tendency to read through stories in the Bible as if I’ve read through them 100 times (because I have).  The problem with that is I’ve read them 100 times and breeze through them without truly examining them. Shawn not only puts a microscope on these stories, he also makes you put a microscope on yourself and cause you to decide what you’re going to do about it.

I can tell you already this is worth a read.  Go get it here now.  Is it going to make you uncomfortable?  Yes. But we have to remember that in striving to be more like Jesus, we have to be less like ourselves.  And that is uncomfortable – but also very freeing and rewarding.

If you want to read more of what Shawn has written or just want to get to know Shawn better, check out these links:

www.wasabigospel.com

www.shawnwoodwrites.com

www.twitter.com/shawnwood

www.facebook.com/shawnwood

great links for the week

• Perry Noble wrote these gut-check questions for church leaders but they could easily be modified slightly for businesses.

• I needed Tony Morgan’s “gunky build-up” post.

• Jay Hardwick’s post on the SBC was a great reminder to be cautious about what conclusions we jump to.  It’s called “Every Family Has A Crazy Uncle” and it’s well worth a read.

• Seth Godin nailed it in this post about making room for things in your schedule.

• Los’s “7 Keys To Becoming An Effective Leader Of Worship” is something even I can remember.  This really goes for any one leading in a church.

Sunday Recap

Set list:

• Freedom Is Here
• Beautiful Jesus
• Till I See You
• From The Inside Out

Message recap:

• We began a new series called “The Basics.”  This week’s message was titled “The Call.”
• Because we see different levels of commitment in other areas of life (sports, job performance, etc.), we also think there are levels of commitment in Christianity.  However, Jesus had one call:  “Follow me.”  (Matt. 4:19; Matt. 9:9; Matt. 19:21)
• You are either following him or not.
• The call trumps everything else.  It is above family, country, anything.
• Following Jesus is THE most important thing in life.  (Matt. 8:21-22)
• He gives the same call to everyone.  (John 10:27)
• Are you following Jesus or are you just a fan?
• Being a fan means allegiance is easy to change.
• Jesus wants followers, not fans.

Our national anthem

I thought this video was extremely informative and moving – maybe you will too.